Offended followers public sale off Zlatan Ibrahimovic's nostril on eBay

A picture taken on December 22, 2019 shows a detail of the bronze statue of iconic football player Zlatan Ibrahimovic after it was vandalised and had its nose chopped off in Malmo, Sweden. - In Malmo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic's hometown, his supporters felt the iconic footballer could do no wrong, but his decision to invest in a rival club was an unforgivable sin to many. Since announcing a month ago that he was buying a stake in the football club Hammarby IF, based in Sweden's capital Stockholm, Ibrahimovic's bronze statue in Malmo has been regularly vandalised. (Photo by Johan NILSSON / TT NEWS AGENCY / AFP) / Sweden OUT

An image taken on December 22, 2019 reveals a element of the bronze statue of iconic soccer participant Zlatan Ibrahimovic after it was vandalised and had its nostril chopped off in Malmo, Sweden. (Picture by Johan NILSSON / TT NEWS AGENCY / AFP) / Sweden OUT

Offended Swedish soccer followers are auctioning replicas of the sawn-off nostril of a Zlatan Ibrahimovic statue to protest in opposition to the commercialization of the game and what they understand because the star’s betrayal.

Bids on web site eBay hit $610 (568 euros) on Tuesday.

The lifesize bronze statue of the Swedish famous person, erected in his hometown of Malmo in 2019, has been the goal of quite a few assaults since he invested in Stockholm-based soccer membership Hammarby in November 2019, angering supporters of Malmo FF, the membership the place he started his skilled profession.

The statue’s nostril was sawn off in December 2019, with the toes going the next month, inflicting it to break down in opposition to the barrier defending it.

Malmo FF followers mentioned they’d put three replicas of the unique nostril — which continues to be lacking — up for public sale “as a result of selecting cash over love can price you dearly”.

Ibrahimovic “selected cash over love of his hometown and the membership the place he started his profession”, they wrote on the specially-created web site www.vararnasan.se, Swedish for “the place is the nostril”.

“Soccer was initially a mass motion, but it surely has more and more changed into a hyper-commercialised mass trade, the place followers are seen as customers and gamers and golf equipment are handled like merchandise”, they wrote.

The sellers mentioned they deliberate to make use of the earnings from the public sale on efforts to fight “fashionable and business soccer and promote a sport the place the main focus is on love for the golf equipment and the sport”.

The artist who made the bronze sculpture, Peter Linde, was upset concerning the public sale.

“The sellers complain that soccer is popping the sport into huge enterprise, however they themselves are being profitable off a criminal offense”, he instructed day by day Sydsvenskan.

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