2026 World Cup: Zlatan Ibrahimovic Under Fire in the U.S. as Well

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is always in the eye of the storm: the former Swedish striker, who serves as a RedBird advisor to Milan president Gerry Cardinale and has been heavily criticized by Rossoneri fans, has also come under fire in the United States for his questionable performance as a television commentator on Fox News during the 2026 World Cup.

In particular, the former Malmö striker was the target of a scathing New York Times article, which tore him apart while praising the work of two other former soccer players who join him in the studio, Thierry Henry and Alexi Lalas. “The show would be better without Zlatan. So far, the problem with Zlatan is that he seems to know nothing specific about many of the teams or their players.”

“When Fox highlighted the story of Jesse Marsch, the American who became Canada’s head coach, ahead of his first game last week, it seemed as though Zlatan had never heard of him,” the Times wrote.

In recent days, Ibrahimovic had sparked debate with his assessment of Norwegian star Erling Haaland, who scored a brace in the Scandinavians’ debut match: “Better than me? I’m not sure; Haaland has to do a lot more to reach the level of a natural phenomenon. He scores goals. He’s a killer in the box, but I was more well-rounded—I liked playing with the ball.”

“He’s a killer in the box; he’s smart. He does what he has to do but doesn’t do more than he’s capable of. He doesn’t waste energy. I saw an interview in which he said his dream was to touch the ball twice and score two goals. I’d say the opposite: my dream is to touch the ball twice and score three goals.”