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Håkan Sjöstrand on the accusations against Zlatan
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Photo: JOEL MARKLUND / BILDBYRÅN
Håkan Sjöstrand and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Serious accusations are made against Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the leadership of the national team.
Now Håkan Sjöstrand answers.
– The black paint that is now made by Sweden’s greatest and most outstanding soccer player of all time, I do not defend it, says the general secretary of SvFF.
After the publications with excerpts from Olof Lundh’s new book “The National Team According to Lundh”, a veteran leader of the team, anonymously, came out and accused Zlatan Ibrahimovic of having been an adult bully during his time in the team.
The leadership of the national team, led by then-coach Lasse Richt, is also criticized for supporting “Ibra’s” behavior.
In an interview with Sportbladet, Richt has denied what is alleged.
“Significant difference”
Håkan Sjöstrand, who has been the general secretary of SvFF since 2014, is now speaking.
He says, first of all, that he has not read Olof Lundh’s book.
– So, honestly, I find it difficult to comment on several separate statements. I’m in Iceland with the women’s team and I focus entirely on other things besides the stories in a book which, if I got it right, also leans towards a lot of anonymous sources and what someone has heard or thinks they have heard. The book is called “The National Team According to Lundh”, not “The National Team According to the Truth.” That is a significant difference to me.
Although the accusations are made from several different angles. From players speaking anonymously in Lundh’s book, but also from a former leader speaking anonymously on Sportbladet. Don’t you think there may be some truth to what is alleged?
– I think like this: That you can warm up at the highest level where everything is about winning, it is part of these contexts. You cannot have a higher set of requirements than when you are part of the national soccer team. Of course, frustration sometimes arises in combination with adrenaline and other strong wills. But the black paint that is now made by Sweden’s greatest and foremost soccer player of all time, I do not defend. It seems completely strange and unfair to me. In addition, the players who were identified as victims have spoken out and denied and attenuated what is alleged.
Olof Lundh believes that this may have to do with the culture of silence that prevails in elite football. That what is said in the dressing room stays there. Do not you believe it?
– I think more that it’s about wanting to write about Zlatan and trying to dramatize and say things so that there is some interest in the book. To get public relations and “clicks”.
Do you think it is that simple?
– Yes.
I shouldn’t go to the bottom
Do you feel there is any reason for you (SvFF) to get to the bottom of this and find out if what is alleged is true? These are serious allegations that are directed not only at Zlatan Ibrahimovic personally, but also at how you, in the entire apparatus of the national team, handled what allegedly happened.
– Because someone has said something anonymously and someone has written a book alleging things? No. The women’s national team is playing an extremely important European Championship qualifier tonight and I would have liked the focus to be on that match rather than something anonymous people claim happened several years ago, says Håkan Sjöstrand.
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