Zlatan Ibrahimović and Tom Brady are two of the most decorated athletes in the world. Ibrahimović has won league titles around the world with some of the biggest clubs, while Brady has seven Super Bowls and countless NFL records to his name. Another thing they both have in common: They’re never satisfied because of an insatiable drive to win. Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Ibrahimović sat down with Brady to talk about the differences in their sports and their desire to be the best. Brady summed up their attitudes well at one point: “We’d have been good teammates.” Ibrahimović won league titles in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France (12 in total), and he also won multiple trophies in his only full season with Manchester United. He scored more than 550 goals for his clubs and the Swedish national team throughout his career. “You’re never satisfied, that was my thing,” Ibrahimović said. “When I did good, the next day I forgot about what I did yesterday because I always wanted more and I think that’s mental also.” How much did the Swedish legend want to win? Brady brought up how locked in he was, especially when there was more to a matchup than just the game. “If you create the anger with the enemy, which in the sport is the opposing team, you’re the most focused,” Brady said. “You’re locked in completely. If you’re playing your brother in something, you want to beat him, but you don’t want to beat him that bad. It’s your brother, you love him, you care for him.” Ibrahimović disagreed. “I would smash him on the field,” he said. “Yeah, I would smash it. I don’t care. There’s only one winner, me or him. Then outside, hug.” Ibrahimović played 122 times for the Swedish national team and scored 62 goals, making him the country’s all-time leading goalscorer. He explained to Brady how his “must-win” mentality did not always mesh well with the national team. “Sweden, we used to do a lot of team building, different things and not football. Like outside the pitch we would do together, I don’t know, do some different events, different exercise mental and like the, how do you say the group thing, the team spirit and that. So just to gather everybody together. And Sweden, as a culture, is pretty soft. It’s nice. “I was the only one that was different compared to them because I had a different approach. I was demanding things and in Sweden, [it’s] like, ‘Let’s see what happens.’ No, no. That’s not my approach.” How intense did things get at times? During his club career, Ibrahimović said, “I had players that were crying.” Brady can definitely relate to Ibrahimović’s attitude. He noted that the teammates who were willing to put the extra time in and showed an ability to bounce back from adversity were the ones he gravitated toward. “I value the teammates that went through the hard things because I go, ‘Man, I would do anything for that guy,’ because I saw what he’s all about,” Brady said. “I saw when he had a game and everyone booed him and he went home and he got the next day by the coach and then he came out to practice the two days later with the best attitude, wanting to be better, stayed after practice, worked on the things that he wasn’t good at in the game. The next morning before anyone got there was working on the things that he wasn’t good at, then went to practice, showed improvements, stayed after practice, did more, stayed at the facility, watched more film. Then, the next Sunday, came out and he performed his best.”
