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Soccer icon Zlatan Ibrahimovic throws first pitch at New York Yankees game

Wade-Peeryby: Wade Peery08/03/24
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© Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of the most decorated soccer players of all-time. The Swedish superstar could do things on the pitch that would absolutely blow your mind in his prime. He’s now retired from the game, but the soccer legend was offered up the opportunity to throw out a first pitch at a New York Yankees game on Friday night.

Shortly after the pitch on Friday evening, the Yankees thanked him for throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. He also got his picture taken with New York slugger Aaron Judge. Ibrahimovic has made some of the most spectacular goals in soccer history.

Like this one against England, when he did a bicycle kick from way outside the penalty box.

He was quite the acrobat with his feet, making some of the most spectacular plays the game has ever seen. He scored his 500th career goal with a roundhouse kick. Which is really, just mind-blowing.

He did the most damage in his prolific career with Paris Saint-Germain, scoring 113 goals from 2012-2016. And for his efforts, they put him in the Paris Saint-Germain Hall of Fame.

Once he hung up his soccer cleats, Ibrahimovic had won nearly every award imaginable. He was named the Swedish Forward of the Year: 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. Not surprisingly, he finished his career as the all-time goal scorer for the Swedish National Team, scoring 62 for his career.

And as you might imagine, with his unbelievable ability to score goals, that brought home some hardware, too. He won Swedish Goal of the Year in 2012 and 2013. Ibrahimovic set an endless number of records, too. He became the only player to score in the UEFA Champions League with six different teams: Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, and Paris Saint-German. He was also the only player to have scored 50 Serie A goals for both Inter Milan and AC Milan.

When he played for the LA Galaxy in the MLS, the soccer legend didn’t disappoint, scoring 30 goals in the 2019 season. It was the most goals ever scored by a player in the regular season in franchise history.

It was no doubt, quite a treat for baseball fans in New York to get to pay tribute to one of the true legends of their sport. It’ll be hard to find anyone quite like him again.