3 October: Zlatan, the man who won everywhere

Zlatan Ibrahimović

Rosengård

He grew up in Rosengård, an immigrant neighbourhood in Malmö, the son of a Bosnian father and a Croatian mother. He made his debut for Malmö and in 2001 Ajax signed him. In Amsterdam he produced his first masterpiece: a goal against NAC Breda in 2004 in which he went past half their defence, left, right and left again, before scoring.

Italy, Barcelona and Paris

From Juventus, who lost their titles from those years in the Calciopoli scandal, he moved to Inter, with whom he won three league titles in a row. In 2009 Guardiola's Barcelona paid one of the highest fees of the time for him. He won La Liga, but the relationship with the coach broke down and a year later he was at Milan, where he was champion again.

At PSG he won four league titles in a row and was the first great symbol of the Qatari project. In November 2012, in a friendly against England in Stockholm, he scored four goals, the last an overhead kick from around thirty metres with the goalkeeper out of his area. He won the Puskás Award for it.

He never quite left

He won the Europa League with Manchester United, played in the United States for LA Galaxy and, when everyone had him down as retired, went back to Milan in 2020. At forty he was the leader of the dressing room that won the 2022 scudetto, the club's first in eleven seasons.

He said goodbye to San Siro in 2023. He never won the Champions League, and he turned it into a joke himself: it was the Champions League, he said, that had missed out.

Also born on 3 October

Claudio Pizarro, the Bomber of the Andes

🎂 turns 48

A Peruvian striker who spent almost his entire career in Germany, split between Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich. For years he was the highest-scoring foreign player in Bundesliga history, and he played in it past the age of forty. With Bayern he won the 2013 Champions League.

Born3 October 1978

CountryPeru

Positionforward

Clubs

• Club Deportivo Wanka 1996-1997 · 11 goals
• Club Alianza Lima 1997-1999 · 26 goals
• Werder Bremen 1999-2020 · 29 goals
• F. C. Bayern Múnich 2001-2007 · 71 goals
• Chelsea Football Club 2007-2009 · 2 goals
• Werder Bremen 2008-2009 · 17 goals

National teamselección de fútbol del Perú

↻ Dates, clubs and individual awards come from Wikidata and update themselves

Kepa Arrizabalaga, the most expensive goalkeeper

🎂 turns 32

A goalkeeper from Ondarroa who came through at Athletic Club. In 2018 Chelsea paid his release clause, around 80 million euros, making him the most expensive goalkeeper in history. A few months later he starred in a famous scene at Wembley: in the League Cup final he refused to be substituted before the penalty shoot-out.

Born3 October 1994

CountrySpain

Positiongoalkeeper

Clubs

• Athletic Club 2004-2012
• Club Deportivo Basconia 2011-2013
• Bilbao Athletic 2013-2015
• Sociedad Deportiva Ponferradina 2015
• Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol 2015-2016
• Athletic Club 2016-2018

National teamselección de fútbol de España

↻ Dates, clubs and individual awards come from Wikidata and update themselves

🔴⚪ Sporting Gijón players born this day

They played for Sporting Gijón and were born on this same day. There is only their data here: we would rather name them than leave them out, and rather give the bare facts than invent a story.

Another 45 internationally known footballers were born on this day. We do not list them for the sake of it: only those with a story to tell make it here.

Dates, clubs, individual awards and photos come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, under free licences, and update themselves. Ages are not written anywhere: they are calculated the moment you open the page, so this page always shows the right age, this year and twenty years from now. If any of these players signs for another club or wins an award, their profile picks it up on its own. What is written by hand is the story and the judgement: who the day belongs to, and why.