Coordinates	53°29′″N22°56′″N
company name	Nike, Inc.
company logo
company type	Public
traded as
foundation	1964 (as Blue Ribbon Sports)
founder	Bill BowermanPhilip Knight
location	Washington County, Oregon, United States (Near Beaverton, Oregon)
area served	Worldwide
key people	Philip Knight(Chairman)Mark Parker(President and CEO)
industry	Clothing and Sports equipment
products	Athletic shoesApparelSports equipmentAccessories
revenue	US$ 19.014 billion (FY 2010)}}

| operating_income = US$ 2.517 billion (FY 2010) | net_income = US$ 1.907 billion (FY 2010) | assets = US$ 14.419 billion (FY 2010) | equity = US$ 9.754 billion (FY 2010) | num_employees = 34,400 (May 2010) | homepage = Nike.com }} Nike, Inc. (; ) is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area. It is the world's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment with revenue in excess of US$18.6 billion in its fiscal year 2008 (ending May 31, 2008). As of 2008, it employed more than 30,000 people worldwide. Nike and Precision Castparts are the only Fortune 500 companies headquartered in the state of Oregon, according to ''The Oregonian''.

The company was founded on January 25, 1964 as Blue Ribbon Sports by Bill Bowerman and Philip Knight, and officially became Nike, Inc. on May 30, 1978. The company takes its name from Nike (Greek ''Νίκη'' pronounced ), the Greek goddess of victory. Nike markets its products under its own brand as well as Nike Golf, Nike Pro, Nike+, Air Jordan, Nike Skateboarding and subsidiaries including Cole Haan, Hurley International, Umbro and Converse. Nike also owned Bauer Hockey (later renamed Nike Bauer) between 1995 and 2008. In addition to manufacturing sportswear and equipment, the company operates retail stores under the Niketown name. Nike sponsors many high profile athletes and sports teams around the world, with the highly recognized trademarks of "Just do it" and the Swoosh logo.

Origins and history

Nike, originally known as "Blue Ribbon Sports", was founded by University of Oregon track athlete Philip Knight and his coach Bill Bowerman in January 1964. The company initially operated as a distributor for Japanese shoe maker Onitsuka Tiger (now ASICS), making most sales at track meets out of Knight's automobile.

The company's profits grew quickly, and, in 1967, BRS opened its first retail store, located on Pico Boulevard in Santa Monica, California. By 1971, the relationship between BRS and Onitsuka Tiger was nearing an end. BRS prepared to launch its own line of footwear, which would bear the newly designed ''Swoosh'' by Carolyn Davidson. The Swoosh was first used by Nike on June 18, 1971, and was registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on January 22, 1974.

The first shoe sold to the public to carry this design was a soccer shoe named ''Nike'', which was released in the summer of 1971. In February 1972, BRS introduced its first line of Nike shoes, with the name ''Nike'' derived from the Greek goddess of victory. In 1978, BRS, Inc. officially renamed itself to ''Nike, Inc.''. Beginning with Ilie Năstase, the first professional athlete to sign with BRS/Nike, the sponsorship of athletes became a key marketing tool for the rapidly growing company.

The company's first self-designed product was based on Bowerman's "waffle" design. After the University of Oregon resurfaced the track at Hayward Field, Bowerman began experimenting with different potential outsoles that would grip the new urethane track more effectively. His efforts were rewarded one Sunday morning when he poured liquid urethane into his wife's waffle iron. Bowerman developed and refined the so-called 'waffle' sole, which would evolve into the now-iconic Waffle Trainer in 1974.

By 1980, Nike had reached a 50% market share in the U.S. athletic shoe market, and the company went public in December of that year. Its growth was due largely to 'word-of-foot' advertising (to quote a Nike print ad from the late 1970s), rather than television ads. Nike's first national television commercials ran in October 1982 during the broadcast of the New York Marathon. The ads were created by Portland-based advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy, which had formed several months earlier in April 1982.

Together, Nike and Wieden+Kennedy have created many print and television advertisements and the agency continues to be Nike's primary today. It was agency co-founder Dan Wieden who coined the now-famous slogan ''"Just Do It"'' for a 1988 Nike ad campaign, which was chosen by ''Advertising Age'' as one of the top five ad slogans of the 20^th century, and the campaign has been enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution. San Franciscan Walt Stack was featured in Nike's first "Just Do It" advertisement that debuted on July 1, 1988. Wieden credits the inspiration for the slogan to "Let’s do it", the last words spoken by Gary Gilmore before he was executed.

Throughout the 1980s, Nike expanded its product line to include many other sports and regions throughout the world.

Acquisitions

As of November 2008, Nike, Inc. owns four key subsidiaries: Cole Haan, Hurley International, Converse Inc. and Umbro. Nike's first acquisition was the upscale footwear company Cole Haan in 1988. In February 2002, Nike bought surf apparel company Hurley International from founder Bob Hurley. In July 2003, Nike paid US$309 million to acquire Converse Inc., makers of the iconic Chuck Taylor All Stars. On March 3, 2008, Nike acquired sports apparel supplier Umbro, known as the manufacturers of the England national football team's kit, in a deal said to be worth £285 million (about US$600 million). Other subsidiaries previously owned and subsequently sold by Nike include Bauer Hockey and Starter.

Products

Nike produces a wide range of sports equipment. Their first products were track running shoes. They currently also make shoes, jerseys, shorts, baselayers, etc. for a wide range of sports including track and field, baseball, ice hockey, tennis, association football (soccer), lacrosse, basketball, and cricket. ''Nike Air Max'' is a line of shoes first released by Nike, Inc. in 1987. The most recent additions to their line are the ''Nike 6.0'', ''Nike NYX'', and ''Nike SB'' shoes, designed for skateboarding. Nike has recently introduced cricket shoes, called ''Air Zoom Yorker'', designed to be 30% lighter than their competitors'. In 2008, Nike introduced the ''Air Jordan XX3'', a high-performance basketball shoe designed with the environment in mind.

Nike sells an assortment of products, including shoes and apparel for sports activities like association football, basketball, running, combat sports, tennis, American football, athletics, golf, and cross training for men, women, and children. Nike also sells shoes for outdoor activities such as tennis, golf, skateboarding, association football, baseball, American football, cycling, volleyball, wrestling, cheerleading, aquatic activities, auto racing, and other athletic and recreational uses. Nike is well known and popular in youth culture, chav culture and hip hop culture as they supply urban fashion clothing. Nike recently teamed up with Apple Inc. to produce the Nike+ product that monitors a runner's performance ''via'' a radio device in the shoe that links to the iPod nano. While the product generates useful statistics, it has been criticized by researchers who were able to identify users' RFID devices from away using small, concealable intelligence motes in a wireless sensor network.

In 2004, they launched the SPARQ Training Program/Division.

Some of Nike's newest shoes contain Flywire and Lunarlite Foam. These are materials used to reduce the weight of many types of shoes.

On July 15, 2009, Nike+ Sports Band were released in stores. The Nike+ Sports Band recorded mileage ran, calories lost, kept time, and also gives runners new programs online they can try running.

The ''2010 Nike Pro Combat'' jersey collection will be worn by Miami, Alabama, Boise State, Florida, Ohio State, Oregon State, TCU, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, and Pittsburgh. Teams will wear these jerseys in key match ups as well as any time the athletic department deems necessary.

==Headquarters== Nike's world headquarters are surrounded by the city of Beaverton, but are within unincorporated Washington County. The city attempted to forcibly annex Nike's headquarters, which led to a lawsuit by Nike, and lobbying by the company that ultimately ended in Oregon Senate Bill 887 of 2005. Under that bill's terms, Beaverton is specifically barred from forcibly annexing the land that Nike and Columbia Sportswear occupy in unincorporated Washington County for 35 years, while Electro Scientific Industries and Tektronix get that same protection for 30 years.

Manufacturing

Nike has contracted with more than 700 shops around the world and has offices located in 45 countries outside the United States. Most of the factories are located in Asia, including Indonesia, China, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, Philippines, and Malaysia. Nike is hesitant to disclose information about the contract companies it works with. However, due to harsh criticism from some organizations like CorpWatch, Nike has disclosed information about its contract factories in its Corporate Governance Report.

Human rights concerns

Sweatshops

Nike has been criticized for contracting with factories (known as Nike sweatshops) in countries such as China, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mexico. Vietnam Labor Watch, an activist group, has documented that factories contracted by Nike have violated minimum wage and overtime laws in Vietnam as late as 1996, although Nike claims that this practice has been halted. The company has been subject to much critical coverage of the often poor working conditions and exploitation of cheap overseas labor employed in the free trade zones where their goods are typically manufactured. Sources of this criticism include Naomi Klein's book ''No Logo'' and Michael Moore's documentaries.

During the 1990s, Nike faced criticism for use of child labor in Cambodia and Pakistan in factories it contracted to manufacture soccer balls. Although Nike took action to curb or at least reduce the practice of child labor, they continue to contract their production to companies that operate in areas where inadequate regulation and monitoring make it hard to ensure that child labor is not being used.

In 2001, a BBC documentary uncovered occurrences of child labor and poor working conditions in a Cambodian factory used by Nike. In the documentary, six girls were focused on, all of whom worked seven days a week, often 16 hours a day.

Campaigns have been taken up by many colleges and universities, especially anti-globalisation groups as well as several anti-sweatshop groups such as the United Students Against Sweatshops. Despite these campaigns, however, Nike's annual revenues have increased from US$6.4 billion in 1996 to nearly US$17 billion in 2007, according to the company's annual reports.

A July 2008 investigation by Australian Channel 7 News found a large number of cases involving forced labour in one of the biggest Nike apparel factories. The factory located in Malaysia was filmed by an undercover crew who found instances of squalid living conditions and forced labour. Nike have since stated that they will take corrective action to ensure the continued abuse does not occur.

As of July 2011, Nike stated that two-thirds of its factories producing Converse products still did not meet the company's standards for worker treatment. A July 2011 Associated Press article stated that employees at the company's plants in Indonesia reported constant abuse from supervisors.

China

Nike also caused controversy during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, when their sponsored Chinese athlete, Liu Xiang, withdrew from the Olympic 110 metre hurdles, leaving the track after a false start by another competitor. Liu claimed that he withdrew due an ankle injury. However, an anonymous message was posted on the internet, purportedly from a source close to Nike, claiming that the corporation had forced Liu to withdraw as he was unlikely to win, thereby tarnishing their image. Nike responded by announcing that "we have immediately asked relevant [Chinese] government departments to investigate those that started the rumour".

Environmental record

The consistently growing [textile industry] often negatively impacts the environment. Because Nike is a large participant in this manufacturing, many of their processes negatively contribute to the environment. One way the expanding textile industry affects the environment is by increasing its water deficit, climate change, pollution, and fossil fuel and raw material consumption. In addition to this, today's electronic textile plants spend significant amounts of energy, while also producing a throw-away mindset due to trends founded upon fast fashion and cheap clothing.

Although these combined effects can negatively alter the environment, Nike tries to counteract their influence with different projects. According to a New England-based environmental organisation Clean Air-Cool Planet, Nike ranks among the top 3 companies (out of 56) on a survey conducted about climate-friendly companies. Nike has also been praised for its Nike Grind program (which closes the product lifecycle) by groups like Climate Counts. In addition to this, one campaign that Nike began for Earth Day 2008 was a commercial that featured Steve Nash wearing Nike's Trash Talk Shoe, a shoe that had been constructed in February 2008 from pieces of leather and synthetic leather waste that derived from the factory floor. The Trash Talk Shoe also featured a sole composed of ground-up rubber from a shoe recycling program. Nike claims this is the first performance basketball shoe that has been created from manufacturing waste, but it only produced 5,000 pairs for sale.

Another project Nike has begun is called Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program. This program, started in 1993, is Nike's longest-running program that benefits both the environment and the community by collecting old athletic shoes of any type in order to process and recycle them. The material that is created from the recycled shoes is then used to help create sports surfaces, such as basketball courts, running tracks, and playgrounds.

A project through UNC found worker exposure to toxic isocyanates and other chemicals in footwear factories in Thailand. In addition to inhalation, dermal exposure was the biggest problem found. This could result in allergic reactions including asthmatic reactions.

Marketing strategy

Nike's marketing strategy is an important component of the company's success. Nike is positioned as a premium-brand, selling well-designed and expensive products. Nike lures customers with a marketing strategy centering around a brand image attained by distinctive logo and the advertising slogan: "Just do it". Nike promotes its products by sponsorship agreements with celebrity athletes, professional teams and college athletic teams. However, Nike's marketing mix contains many elements besides promotion. These are summarised below.

Advertising

In 1982, Nike aired its first national television ads, created by newly formed ad agency Wieden+Kennedy, during the New York Marathon. This was the beginning of a successful partnership between Nike and W+K that remains intact today. The Cannes Advertising Festival has named Nike its ''Advertiser of the Year'' on two separate occasions, the first and only company to receive that honor twice (1994, 2003).

Nike also has earned the Emmy Award for best commercial twice since the award was first created in the 1990s. The first was for "The Morning After," a satirical look at what a runner might face on the morning of January 1, 2000 if every dire prediction about Y2K came to fruition. The second Emmy for advertising earned by Nike was for a 2002 spot called "Move," which featured a series of famous and everyday athletes in a stream of athletic pursuits.

In addition to garnering awards, Nike advertising has generated its fair share of controversy:

Beatles song

Nike was the focus of criticism for its use of the Beatles song "Revolution" in a 1987 commercial, against the wishes of Apple Records, the Beatles' recording company. Nike paid US$250,000 to Capitol Records Inc., which held the North American licensing rights to the Beatles' recordings, for the right to use the Beatles' rendition for a year.

Apple sued Nike Inc., Capitol Records Inc., EMI Records Inc. and Wieden+Kennedy advertising agency for $15 million. Capitol-EMI countered by saying the lawsuit was 'groundless' because Capitol had licensed the use of "Revolution" with the "active support and encouragement of Yoko Ono Lennon, a shareholder and director of Apple."

According to a November 9, 1989 article in the ''Los Angeles Daily News'', "a tangle of lawsuits between the Beatles and their American and British record companies has been settled." One condition of the out-of-court settlement was that terms of the agreement would be kept secret. The settlement was reached among the three parties involved: George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr; Yoko Ono; and Apple, EMI and Capitol Records. A spokesman for Yoko Ono noted, "It's such a confusing myriad of issues that even people who have been close to the principals have a difficult time grasping it. Attorneys on both sides of the Atlantic have probably put their children through college on this."

Nike discontinued airing ads featuring "Revolution" in March 1988. Yoko Ono later gave permission to Nike to use John Lennon's "Instant Karma" in another advertisement.

Minor Threat advertisement

In late June 2005, Nike received criticism from Ian MacKaye, owner of Dischord Records, guitarist/vocalist for Fugazi & The Evens, and front-man of defunct punk band Minor Threat, for appropriating imagery and text from Minor Threat's 1981 self-titled album's cover art in a flyer promoting Nike Skateboarding's 2005 East Coast demo tour. On June 27, Nike Skateboarding's website issued an apology to Dischord, Minor Threat, and fans of both and announced that they tried to remove and dispose of all flyers. They state that the people who designed it were skateboarders and Minor Threat fans themselves who created the advertisement out of respect and appreciation for the band. The dispute was eventually settled out of court between Nike & Minor Threat. The exact details of the settlement have never been disclosed.

Chinese-themed advertisement

In 2004, an ad about LeBron James beating cartoon martial arts masters and slaying a Chinese dragon in martial arts offended Chinese authorities, who called the ad blasphemous and insulting to national dignity and to the dragon. The advertisement was later banned in China. In early 2007, the ad was reinstated in China for unknown reasons.

Nike 6.0

The company rolled out a new campaign in June 2011 called "Nike 6.0" that is aimed at extreme sport athletes. As part of the campaign, Nike introduced a new line of T-shirts that include phrases such as "Dope" and "Get High" - sports lingo that is also a double entendre for drug use. Boston Mayor Thomas Menino expressed his objection to the shirts after seeing them in a window display at the city's Niketown and asked the store to remove the display. "What we don't need is a major corporation like Nike, which tries to appeal to the younger generation, out there giving credence to the drug issue," Menino told ''The Boston Herald''. A company official says the shirts are meant exclusively to pay homage to extreme sports, and that Nike does not condone the illegal use of drugs.

Sponsorship

Nike pays top athletes in many different sports to use their products and promote/advertise their technology and design.

Nike's first professional athlete endorser was Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase, and the company's first track endorser was distance running legend Steve Prefontaine. Prefontaine was the prized pupil of the company's co-founder Bill Bowerman while he coached at the University of Oregon. Today, the Steve Prefontaine Building is named in his honor at Nike's corporate headquarters.

Besides Prefontaine, Nike has sponsored many other successful track & field athletes over the years such as Carl Lewis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Sebastian Coe. However, it is the signing of basketball player Michael Jordan in 1984, with his subsequent promotion of Nike over the course of his storied career with Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon, that proved to be one of the biggest boosts to Nike's publicity and sales.

During the past 20 years especially, Nike has been one of the major clothing/footwear sponsors for leading tennis players. Some of the more successful tennis players currently or formerly sponsored by Nike include: James Blake, Jim Courier, Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Martín del Potro, Andre Agassi, Rafael Nadal, Pete Sampras, Marion Bartoli, Lindsay Davenport, Daniela Hantuchová, Mary Pierce, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams.

Nike is the official kit sponsor for the Indian cricket team for 5 years, from 2006 till end of 2010. Nike beat Adidas and Puma by bidding highest (US$43 Million total).

Nike sponsors some of the leading clubs in world football, including the national teams of India, France, Brazil, Portugal, the Netherlands, the United States, and Malaysia.

Nike sponsors several of the world's top golf players, including Tiger Woods, Stewart Cink, Lucas Glover, Michelle Wie, Trevor Immelman, and Paul Casey.

Nike also sponsors various minor events including Hoop It Up (high school basketball) and The Golden West Invitational (high school track and field). Nike uses web sites as a promotional tool to cover these events. Nike also has several websites for individual sports, including nikebasketball.com, nikefootball.com, and nikerunning.com.

Drug promotion shirts controversy

In June 2011, Nike was forced to replace a line of shirts that read "Dope" "Get High" and "Ride Pipe" due to complaints that they promoted drug use. When asked Nike, Inc stated that the shirts were sport related and had on them terms used by skaters, snowboarders, and participants in other extreme sports.

See also

Nike sweatshops

List of companies of the United States

List of swimwear brands

References

Further reading

External links

Nikebiz.com – Business Site

Oregon Senate Bill 887, as signed by Governor Ted Kulongoski

Company summary, from the New York Stock Exchange website

Nike at the Open Directory Project

* Category:Athletic shoe brands Category:Clothing companies of the United States Category:Companies based in Beaverton, Oregon Category:Companies established in 1964 Category:Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Category:Shoe companies of the United States Category:Sporting goods manufacturers of the United States Category:Sportswear brands Category:Swimwear manufacturers Category:Publicly traded companies

ar:نايكي az:Nike bn:নাইকি bg:Найк ca:Nike, Inc. cs:Nike da:Nike, Inc. de:Nike (Unternehmen) et:Nike (ettevõte) es:Nike eu:Nike fa:نایک fr:Nike (entreprise) ga:Nike gl:Nike ko:나이키 hr:Nike, Inc. id:Nike, Inc. it:Nike (azienda) he:נייקי kn:ನೈಕ್‌, Inc. kk:Nike lv:Nike lt:Nike hu:Nike, Inc. mr:नाइके ms:Nike Inc. nl:Nike, Inc. ne:नाइकी (कम्पनी) ja:ナイキ no:Nike, Inc. oc:Nike uz:Nike pl:Nike (firma) pt:Nike Inc. ro:Nike, Inc. ru:Nike sq:Nike, Inc. simple:Nike, Inc. sk:Nike, Inc. sr:Најки (компанија) fi:Nike (yritys) sv:Nike (företag) ta:நைக், இன்க். th:ไนกี้ (บริษัทเสื้อผ้า) tr:Nike (şirket) uk:Nike vi:Nike zh:耐克

Coordinates	53°29′″N22°56′″N
playername	Laurent Blanc
fullname	Laurent Robert Blanc
dateofbirth	November 19, 1965
cityofbirth	Alès
countryofbirth	France
height
position	Sweeper
currentclub	France (manager)
youthyears1	1981–1983 |youthclubs1 Montpellier
years1	1983–1991 |clubs1 Montpellier |caps1 251 |goals1 76
years2	1991–1992 |clubs2 Napoli |caps2 31 |goals2 6
years3	1992–1993 |clubs3 Nîmes |caps3 29 |goals3 1
years4	1993–1995 |clubs4 Saint-Étienne |caps4 70 |goals4 18
years5	1995–1996 |clubs5 Auxerre |caps5 24 |goals5 2
years6	1996–1997 |clubs6 Barcelona |caps6 28 |goals6 1
years7	1997–1999 |clubs7 Marseille |caps7 63 |goals7 14
years8	1999–2001 |clubs8 Internazionale |caps8 67 |goals8 6
years9	2001–2003 |clubs9 Manchester United |caps9 48 |goals9 1
totalcaps	627 |totalgoals 134
nationalyears1	1989–2000 |nationalteam1 France |nationalcaps1 97 |nationalgoals1 16
manageryears1	2007–2010 |managerclubs1 Bordeaux
manageryears2	2010– |managerclubs2 France }}

Laurent Robert Blanc (; born 19 November 1965 in Alès) is a French association football manager and former player. He is the head coach of the French national team, having replaced Raymond Domenech in the wake of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. He was previously the manager of Bordeaux. Blanc formerly played professional football for numerous clubs, notably Montpellier, Barcelona, Marseille, Internazionale, and Manchester United, often operating in the sweeper position. He is also a former French international, playing in several international tournaments, which includes the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2000, both of which France won. On 28 June 1998, Blanc scored the first golden goal in World Cup history against Paraguay. Blanc has the nickname ''Le Président'', which was given to him following his stint at Marseille in tribute to his leadership skills.

Club career

Early years

Laurent Blanc's career started in Montpellier, where he signed his first professional contract in 1983. A very technical player, he played as an offensive midfielder and helped Montpellier get promoted to Division 1 in 1987. Only a few years later did he settle as a defender following the advice from Michel Mézy, a position in which his physical stature (1.91 m, 82 kg) and his temper would prove invaluable. His game being perfectly fitted for the French league, he managed to score at least 12 goals in every season at Montpellier, for the most part penalties and headers. He also won the Coupe de France in 1990, scoring a goal in the final.

Domestic success

In 1991, Blanc tried a first experience abroad when he left Montpellier for Napoli in the Italian Serie A. Despite a decent season during which he managed to score six goals, he felt like he could not fully express his potential and returned to France after just one year, to Nîmes and then Saint Étienne, where again he not only imposed himself as one of the best defenders in the league, but also scored goals (13 in his last season with Saint-Étienne). Saint-Étienne, however, were struggling at the time and got almost relegated, only staying up because Marseille were not allowed to return to Division 1 because of their financial difficulties.

Guy Roux, impressed by Blanc and looking for a replacement for Dutch international Frank Verlaat, convinced him to join Auxerre in 1995. Despite injuring himself early in the season, Blanc came back strongly and played a great part in Auxerre's double that year.

Barcelona

Laurent Blanc's performances on the pitch, emphasized by Auxerre's success, drew the attention of several big European clubs. He finally signed for Barcelona. That second abroad experience turned out not to be as successful as he could have hoped. Johan Cruyff, who had wanted Blanc and persuaded him to sign for Barça, was sacked on the very day Blanc agreed to join the club. Blanc won the Supercopa de España against Atlético Madrid, but injured himself quickly afterwards. He came back and played regularly but was sent off during the Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final against AIK, then injured himself again against Extremadura, which forced him to miss the ''Clásico'' and the Cup Winners' Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain. After this disappointing season and only one year away from the World Cup, he decided to leave.

''"President"''

Rolland Courbis managed to convince Blanc to join Marseille, which proved beneficial for both Marseille and Blanc. Blanc quickly became a leader in a Marseille side desperately lacking confidence, and helped them reach an honourable fourth place for his first season, scoring 11 goals and earning the nickname ''Le Président'' (the President) in the process. The season following the World Cup was both successful and frustrating for Blanc and Marseille, as they finished runners-up in the championship, only one point shy of Bordeaux, and reached the UEFA Cup final, only to lose 3–0 to Parma, with Hernán Crespo intercepting Blanc's back pass to Stéphane Porato to score the opener.

He then left Marseille for Internazionale, where he enjoyed some success in defence, even winning the ''Pirata d'Oro'' (Inter Player of the Year) in 2000.

Manchester United

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson had attempted to lure Blanc several times since 1996 and finally succeeded in 2001. Despite his age of 35 years, Blanc was brought in to replace the departing Jaap Stam. He was criticised for poor performances in the early months of his stay at Old Trafford. This was compounded when United suffered their first five losses of the season to Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool, Arsenal, Newcastle United, and Chelsea (coincidentally, the first letters of each team spell out "BLANC"). He retired two years later, having helped his club to the 2002–03 Premier League crown. He scored four goals during his time at Manchester United. One of these came in the league against Tottenham Hotspur, and the other three all came in the Champions League in games against Olympiacos and Boavista (both home and away).

International career

Laurent Blanc won the 1988 European Under-21 Championship, beating Greece in the final. On 7 February 1989, he made his debut for the national team against Ireland.

France, then in reconstruction after the retirement of numerous key players, did not manage to qualify for the 1990 World Cup. Shortly after that, they started an impressive 19-game unbeaten streak, including eight wins out of eight in Euro 1992 qualifying, making them one of the favorites to win the competition. They would, however, get knocked out in the pool stage by eventual winners Denmark.

After France failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup, Laurent Blanc was heavily criticised, as well the rest of the team, and he subsequently decided to retire from international football. Aimé Jacquet, after taking over the managerial position of the national team, made it one of his priorities to convince Blanc to change his mind. Blanc then became one of the key players of this new French squad which reached the semi-finals of the Euro 96, only to lose to Czech Republic in a penalty shoot-out.

France then entered the 1998 World Cup, which was held on home soil. Blanc was exemplary during the competition and, on 28 June 1998, scored against Paraguay in the Round of 16, the first ever golden goal in World Cup history. He missed the final after being sent off in the semi-final against Croatia for elbowing Slaven Bilić, although replays showed that Bilić had clearly feigned the injury, earning the Croat heavy criticism afterwards. The sending off was the first (and only) red card of Blanc's professional career.

Blanc was also part of the team that won Euro 2000 during which, despite having been criticised for his age and lack of speed during the qualifications, he proved reliable in defence and even scored a goal against Denmark in the group stage.

He announced his retirement from international football after Euro 2000, following the example of his captain Didier Deschamps.

Blanc was also well-known for kissing good friend and goalkeeper Fabien Barthez's head before the start of every match, supposedly for good luck (the two did repeat this ritual when they played together for Manchester United, but only for Champions League matches). Overall, he recorded 97 caps and scored 16 goals.

In 2006, the readers of ''France Football'' magazine voted him the fourth best French player of all time behind Michel Platini, Zinedine Zidane, and Raymond Kopa.

Coaching and management

Bordeaux

On 8 June 2007, Blanc was named the new manager of Bordeaux, replacing Brazilian Ricardo. For his first season on the bench, he led Bordeaux to a very good second place in the league and won the Manager of the Year award. His second season was extremely successful, as Bordeaux won the final 11 games of the season, setting a new French record for consecutive wins, and clinched the 2008–09 Ligue 1 championship title, three points clear of Marseille, having already won the Coupe de la Ligue that year. Blanc was again nominated for Manager of the Year but lost to Marseille's Eric Gerets.

France

On 16 May 2010, Blanc confirmed his departure from Bordeaux after three seasons in charge of the French outfit. After resigning from his position, Blanc contacted the French Football Federation to inquire about the France national team job, which was eventually vacated by Raymond Domenech following the 2010 World Cup. Later that day, FFF president Jean-Pierre Escalettes confirmed that Blanc was a candidate for the position. On 18 May 2010, with Blanc's appointment to the position becoming more probable, Bordeaux chairman Jean-Louis Triaud demanded compensation from the Federation. On 20 May 2010, the club reached an agreement with the Federation for €1.5 million. On 26 June, French media confirmed that Blanc had signed a two-year contract with the Federation to lead the team to UEFA Euro 2012. The deal was finalized a week later and Blanc was officially named as manager of the team on 2 July.

Blanc's first move as manager was to suspend all 23 players from the 2010 World Cup squad from his first game, as collective punishment for a number of negative incidents involving the squad, which had occurred during the course of the competition. He also reversed the policy on providing only halal meat at team lunches. On 11 August, in his first game as manager, France lost 1–2 to Norway at the Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo. However, Blanc's team soon managed to top their Euro 2012 qualifying group and achieve friendly wins, such as a 2–1 over England and a 1–0 over Brazil.

Controversy

On 28 April 2011, French investigative website Mediapart released a story which claimed that the French Football Federation had been attempting to secretly put in place a race-quota system in order to limit the number of dual-nationality players in its national academies. Quoting a senior figure in the FFF, the organization was said to have wanted to set a cap of 30% on the number of players of non-white origin by limiting places in the academies in the 12–13 age bracket. On 29 April, Blanc, who, in the report, was claimed to have agreed with the decision to implement the quotas, held a personal press conference at the l'Hôtel Le Régent in Bordeaux, in which he also denied the report declaring that he had "not heard of such a project". On the following day, after Mediapart announced that it had a taped audio recording of the November 2010 meeting, Blanc released a statement on the FFF's website in which he apologized for possible offending comments he made during the meeting, while also declaring he was misquoted and denying he was racist stating "I do not withdraw the remarks I made yesterday. I admit that some terms used during a meeting on a sensitive subject can be ambiguous, out of context, and, if in my case, I've hurt some feelings, I apologize. But being suspected of racism or xenophobia, which I am against all forms of discrimination, I do not support it".

Former national team player Lilian Thuram said of the allegations, "Initially I thought this was a joke. I'm so stunned I don't know what to say", while Patrick Vieira declared that the comments Blanc allegedly made at the meeting were "serious and scandalous". Blanc was defended by several former players, most notably his 1998 FIFA World Cup-winning teammates Christophe Dugarry, Bixente Lizarazu, Didier Deschamps, Zinedine Zidane, Marcel Desailly, and Emmanuel Petit, current players, such as current national team captain Alou Diarra, and external sources, which included Pathé Diba, the president of L’Association Soutien aux Handicapés Africains (). On 9 May, Blanc gave testimony at a hearing set up by the federation to investigate the quota matter. On 10 May, the results of the inquiry was revealed and Blanc was cleared of any wrongdoing by the federation.

Honours

Player

Club

;Montpellier

Coupe de France (1): 1989–90

;Barcelona

Supercopa de España (1): 1996

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1996–97

;Auxerre

Division 1 (1): 1995–96

Coupe de France (1): 1995–96

;Manchester United

Premier League (1): 2002–03

International

;France U-21

UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship (1): 1988

;France

FIFA World Cup (1): 1998

UEFA European Football Championship (1): 2000

Individual

1990 French Player of the Year

1996 UEFA Euro All-Star Team

1998 ''Chevalier'' (Knight) of the Légion d'honneur 2000 Internazionale Player of the Year (Pirata d'oro)

2000 UEFA Euro All-Star Team

2004 Trophée d'honneur UNFP

2009 French Manager of the Year

Manager

;Bordeaux

Ligue 1 (1): 2008–09

Coupe de la Ligue (1): 2008–09

Trophée des Champions (2): 2008, 2009

Statistics

Player

|- |1983–84||rowspan="8"|Montpellier||rowspan="4"|Division 2||15||0||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1984–85||32||5||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1985–86||29||6||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1986–87||34||18||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1987–88||rowspan="4"|Division 1||24||6||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1988–89||35||15||||||||||2||0|||| |- |1989–90||36||12||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1990–91||38||14||||||||||6||1|||| |- |1991–92||Napoli||Serie A||31||6||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1992–93||Nîmes||Division 1||29||1||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1993–94||rowspan="2"|Saint-Étienne||rowspan="2"|Division 1||33||5||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1994–95||37||13||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1995–96||Auxerre||Division 1||23||2||||||||||1||0|||| |- |1996–97||Barcelona||La Liga||28||1||5||0||colspan="2"|-||5||0||38||1 |- |1997–98||rowspan="2"|Marseille||rowspan="2"|Division 1||31||11||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |1998–99||32||2||||||||||10||1|||| |- |1999–00||rowspan="2"|Internazionale||rowspan="2"|Serie A||34||3||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| |- |2000–01||33||3||||||||||9||0|||| |- |2001–02||rowspan="2"|Manchester United||rowspan="2"|Premier League||29||1||2||0||0||0||15||2||46||3 |- |2002–03||19||0||1||0||0||0||9||1||29||1 428||110||||||||||19||1|||| 98||12||||||||||9||0|||| 28||1||5||0||0||0||5||0||38||1 48||1||3||0||0||0||24||3||75||4 602||124||||||||||57||4||||

|- |1989||6||1 |- |1990||7||1 |- |1991||6||2 |- |1992||8||0 |- |1993||8||3 |- |1994||7||0 |- |1995||4||1 |- |1996||10||3 |- |1997||7||0 |- |1998||13||3 |- |1999||9||0 |- |2000||12||2 |- !Total||97||16 |}

International goals

Stadium Municipal, Toulouse, France 21 January 1990 20 February 1991 14 August 1991 17 February 1993 17 February 1993 8 September 1993 26 April 1995 1 June 1996 18 June 1996 9 October 1996 25 February 1998 29 May 1998 28 June 1998 26 April 2000 11 June 2000

Goal !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
1	18 November 1989	|		2 – 0	2–0	1990 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)#Group 5>1990 World Cup Qualification
2	|	Kazma SC Stadium, Kuwait City, Kuwait		0 – 1	0–1	Exhibition game>Friendly
3	|	Parc des Princes, Paris, France		3 – 1	3–1	UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying>Euro '92 Qualification
4	|	Stadion Miejski in Poznań>Stadion Miejski, Poznań, Poland		1 – 4	1–5	Exhibition game>Friendly
5	|	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel		0 – 2	0–4	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)#Group 6>1994 World Cup Qualification
6	|	Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel		0 – 3	0–4	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)#Group 6>1994 World Cup Qualification
7	|	Ratina Stadion, Tampere, Finland		0 – 1	0–2	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification (UEFA)#Group 6>1994 World Cup Qualification
8	|	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes, France		3 – 0	4–0	UEFA Euro 1996 qualifying#Group 1>Euro '96 Qualification
9	|	Mercedes-Benz Arena>Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart, Germany		0 – 1	0–1	Exhibition game>Friendly
10	| St James' Park, Newcastle, England ||		1 – 0	3–1	UEFA Euro 1996#Group B>Euro '96 Group Stage
11	|	Parc des Princes, Paris, France		1 – 0	4–0	Exhibition game>Friendly
12	|	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France		1 – 1	3–3	Exhibition game>Friendly
13	|	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca, Morocco		1 – 1	2–2	Hassan II Trophy
14	|	Stade Félix-Bollaert, Lens, Pas-de-Calais>Lens, France		1 – 0	1–0	1998 FIFA World Cup#Round of 16>1998 World Cup Round of 16
15	|	Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France		2 – 2	3–2	Exhibition game>Friendly
16	|	Jan Breydel Stadium, Bruges, Belgium		1 – 0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2000#Group D>Euro 2000 Group Stage

Managerial stats

''Last updated 19 April 2011''

150 9159

Nat	Team	From	To	Record
!G!!W!!L!!D!!Win %!!GF!!GA!!+/-
			8 June 2007		16 May 2010		|	90	32	28	%	248	153	+95
			2 July 2010		Present		|	6	2	1	%	12	4	+8
colspan="4"	Total Career		|	96	34	29	%	260	157	+103

References

External links

Category:French footballers Category:France international footballers Category:Association football central defenders Category:Montpellier HSC players Category:S.S.C. Napoli players Category:Nîmes Olympique players Category:AS Saint-Étienne players Category:AJ Auxerre players Category:FC Barcelona footballers Category:Olympique de Marseille players Category:F.C. Internazionale Milano players Category:Manchester United F.C. players Category:La Liga footballers Category:Premier League players Category:FIFA World Cup-winning players Category:1998 FIFA World Cup players Category:UEFA Euro 1992 players Category:UEFA Euro 1996 players Category:UEFA Euro 2000 players Category:UEFA European Football Championship-winning players Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Serie A footballers Category:Ligue 1 players Category:Ligue 2 players Category:French expatriate footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in Spain Category:Expatriate footballers in Italy Category:Expatriate footballers in England Category:French football managers Category:FC Girondins de Bordeaux managers Category:France national football team managers Category:Ligue 1 managers Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Category:People from Gard

ar:لوران بلان be:Ларан Блан be-x-old:Ляран Блян bg:Лоран Блан ca:Laurent Blanc cs:Laurent Blanc da:Laurent Blanc de:Laurent Blanc es:Laurent Blanc fa:لوران بلان fr:Laurent Blanc ko:로랑 블랑 hr:Laurent Blanc id:Laurent Blanc it:Laurent Blanc he:לורן בלאן hu:Laurent Blanc nl:Laurent Blanc ja:ローラン・ブラン no:Laurent Blanc pl:Laurent Blanc pt:Laurent Blanc ro:Laurent Blanc ru:Блан, Лоран simple:Laurent Blanc sk:Laurent Blanc fi:Laurent Blanc sv:Laurent Blanc tr:Laurent Blanc zh:羅倫特·白蘭斯

Coordinates	53°29′″N22°56′″N
playername	Josep Guardiola
fullname	Josep Guardiola i Sala
dateofbirth	January 18, 1971
cityofbirth	Santpedor
countryofbirth	Spain
height
position	Defensive midfielder
currentclub	Barcelona (Manager)
youthclubs1	Gimnàstic Manresa
youthclubs2	Barcelona
youthyears2	1983–1990
medaltemplates	| years1 1990–1992
years2	1990–2001
years3	2001–2002
years4	2002–2003
years5	2003
years6	2003–2005
years7	2005–2006
clubs1	Barcelona B
clubs2	Barcelona
clubs3	Brescia
clubs4	Roma
clubs5	Brescia
clubs6	Al-Ahli
clubs7	Dorados
caps1	59
caps2	263
caps3	11
caps4	4
caps5	13
caps6	36
caps7	10
goals1	5
goals2	6
goals3	2
goals4	0
goals5	1
goals6	7
goals7	1
totalcaps	378
Totalgoals	17
nationalyears1	1991–1992
nationalyears2	1992–2001
nationalyears3	1995–2005
nationalteam1	Spain U21
nationalteam2	Spain
nationalteam3	Catalonia
nationalcaps1	2
nationalcaps2	47
nationalcaps3	7
nationalgoals1	0
nationalgoals2	5
nationalgoals3	0
medaltemplates	}}

| manageryears1 = 2007–2008 | manageryears2 = 2008– | managerclubs1 = Barcelona B | managerclubs2 = Barcelona | pcupdate = | ntupdate = }} Josep "Pep" Guardiola i Sala (; born 18 January 1971 in Santpedor, Barcelona, Catalonia), is a Spanish football manager and former player. Guardiola played as a defensive midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career with FC Barcelona, whom he currently manages. He was part of Johan Cruyff's ''dream team'' that won Barcelona's first European Cup. Guardiola also played for Brescia Calcio and A.S. Roma in Italy; Al-Ahli in Qatar; and for Dorados de Sinaloa in Mexico while attending managing school. While playing in Italy, he served a four-month ban for a positive drug test although he was cleared of wrongdoing on appeal by Michel Platini as President of UEFA. As an international, he played for Spain and Catalonia.

After retiring as a player, Guardiola became coach of FC Barcelona B. On 8 May 2008, Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced that Guardiola would succeed Frank Rijkaard as the first team manager. He signed his contract on 5 June 2008. In his first season as manager, Barcelona won the treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. In doing so, Guardiola became the youngest UEFA Champions League winning manager ever. The following season, Guardiola and Barcelona won the Supercopa de España against Athletic Club Bilbao, the UEFA Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk, and the FIFA Club World Cup against Estudiantes, bringing the manager's tally to the maximum of six trophies in six competitions in one year, thus completing the first ever sextuple.

Club career

Guardiola joined La Masia at the age of 13 and rose through the ranks at the youth academy of Barcelona for six years, making his début in 1990 against Cádiz. As Phil Ball writes in ''Morbo'', Johan Cruyff utilised the young defensive midfielder in the absence of the suspended Guillermo Amor. He became a first team regular in the 1991–92 season and at only 20 years old was a key component of a side that won La Liga, the European Cup and the Spain national side that triumphed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The prestigious Italian magazine ''Guerin Sportivo'' heralded Guardiola as the finest player in the world under the age of 21.

Cruyff's Dream Team went on to retain the La Liga title in the 92–93 and 93–94 seasons. The side was strengthened by the recent signing of Romário, again reached the UEFA Champions League Final, but were humbled by Capello's Milan in Athens, and lost the match 0–4.

Cruyff left in 1996, with Barcelona finishing 4th in the 1994–95 season and 3rd in the 1995–96 season, but Guardiola retained his position at the center of Barcelona's midfield. In the 1996–97 season, Barcelona, this time led by Bobby Robson, won three cups – the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Super Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup. Much of the Dream Team had by this time left, with new signings such as Luís Figo and Ronaldo taking over from Hristo Stoichkov and Michael Laudrup. At the end of the 1997–98 season, Barcelona rejected offers from Roma and Parma (of around 300 million pesetas) for Guardiola. After prolonged and complicated contract talks, Guardiola signed a new contract with the Catalan club which extended his stay until 2001. His buyout clause was fixed at 15.000 million pesetas, the second highest in the Spanish league.

A calf muscle injury ruled Guardiola out of most of the 1997–98 season, in which Barcelona won a league and cup double under new manager Louis van Gaal. He returned to action the following season and Barcelona once again won the league thanks largely to the performances of Rivaldo and Figo. On 8 June 1998, Guardiola underwent surgery to try to solve once and for all the problems that he was experiencing with his calf which had led to him missing the 1998 FIFA World Cup for Spain. A largely disappointing 1999–00 season ended once again in surgery as Guardiola missed the last three months of the season due to a serious ankle injury.

Barcelona didn't win any silverware during the 2001 season and finished fourth place in the league, but qualifying for the Champions League. On 11 April 2001, Barcelona's captain announced his intention to leave the club after 17 years of service. He stated that it was a personal decision and, in part, a response to what he perceived as football heading in a new, more physical, direction. On 24 June 2001, Guardiola played his last match with Barça in the last game of the season against Celtic.

Guardiola played 479 games for the club, in 12 seasons in the Barcelona first team, winning 16 trophies. At the press conference after the Celtic game, he said: "It's been a long journey. I'm happy, proud, happy with the way people treated me and I have made many friends. I cannot ask for more. I have had many years in the elite. I did not come to make history but to make my own history." Guardiola was slow, but intelligently gifted with skill and foresight, rarely scored goals but set up from difficult positions on the field, he won six league titles, a European Cup and Olympic gold, amongst other numerous trophies. Born in the Catalan town of Santpedor, schooled barely 100 metres from Camp Nou and resident at La Masia, the traditional farmhouse that stands incongruously in its shadow, he was a part of a gifted side Barcelona produced, ordering, constructing, constantly moving the ball. He has been called the hero of a number of Spain's current midfielders, as Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Cesc Fàbregas have all stated that Guardiola was their role model and hero.

Serie A

After leaving Barcelona in 2001 at the age of 30, he was linked with several clubs such as Newcastle United, Manchester United, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, plus both Milanese clubs of Milan and Internazionale. But Guardiola joined Italian side Brescia Calcio and then Roma in the Italian Serie A. However, his time in Italy was unhappy and included a four month ban after testing positive for Nandrolone. Six years later, on 23 October 2007, Guardiola was cleared on appeal of all charges that had led to the ban. However, CONI reopened the case against the player, because it considered the argumentation of the absolution unacceptable, but he was cleared once again on 29 September 2009. His time in Italy was not nearly as successful as his career at Barcelona. He played a number of Coppa Italia games and UEFA Champions League games, finishing with 71 games in Italy.

Al-Ahli

After his career with Brescia and Roma, at 34 years of age he chose to play in Qatar with Al-Ahli from Doha in the Qatar Stars League, where many fellow greats were playing, such as Gabriel Batistuta. He had rejected another offer from Manchester United, as he wanted to play elsewhere. He became a regular in the Qatar Stars League, often cited as one of the best players in the League. In 2005–06, he turned down offers from a number European sides, such as Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, as he felt his playing career was coming to a close.

Dorados de Sinaloa

In 2006 when Juan Manuel Lillo was appointed manager of Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa, he recruited Guardiola to play for the club, while he was in managing school in Axocopan, Atlixco, Puebla. He subsequently played for six months, before retiring definitively.

International career

Spain

Guardiola made his senior debut on 14 October 1992 in 0–0 draw with Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in a World Cup qualifier. In the same year, Guardiola captained Spain when they won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games. It was in this year when he won the Bravo Award, voted to be the world's best player under the age of 21. Between 1992 and 2001, Guardiola was a regular midfield maestro, playing over 47 times and scoring five goals for the senior Spain team, becoming a Spanish midfield player. He was a member of the Spain team during the 1994 World Cup, where he followed Spain to the quarter-finals, losing to Italy 2–1. He fell out of favour with Javier Clemente, the Spain manager, due to difference and disagreement between the two, and missed out on Euro 1996. He suffered a career-threatening injury in 1998, which kept him out of the 1998 World Cup, but he later played at Euro 2000, where he led Spain to yet another quarter-final appearance, this time losing to France by the same margin, 2–1. He led the Spain midfield until his final appearance for Spain, in 1–0 win in a friendly against Mexico on 14 November 2001, and scoring his last international goal against Sweden in a 1–1 draw, in his 45th appearance.

Catalonia

Guardiola has also played for and been a strong advocate of the Catalonia national football team, as well as of the independence of Catalonia itself. Between 1995 and 2005, he played seven friendly games for the national team of Catalonia.

Coaching career

Barcelona B

Guardiola was appointed coach of FC Barcelona B on 21 June 2007 with Francesc Vilanova his assistant. Under his guidance, the team subsequently won their ''Tercera División'' group and qualified for the 2008 Segunda División B playoffs, which the team won, thereby achieving promotion. FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced before the end of the 2007–08 season that Guardiola would be appointed manager of FC Barcelona to replace Frank Rijkaard at the end of the season.

Barcelona

2008–2009 Season

Upon being appointed Guardiola revealed that Ronaldinho, Deco, Samuel Eto'o and others were not part of his plans for the coming season. By the time of the announcement, Guardiola had already offloaded full back Gianluca Zambrotta to Milan, attacking midfielder Giovani dos Santos to Tottenham Hotspur, and midfielder Edmílson to Villarreal. Deco went to Chelsea, while the iconic Ronaldinho joined Gianluca Zambrotta in Milan. Lilian Thuram was initially going to join Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer but the discovery of a heart condition put a stop to the move, and the veteran retired to tend to his health. Oleguer Presas signed with Ajax, Santiago Ezquerro was released by Barça and Marc Crosas was sold to Celtic. The fate of Samuel Eto'o took much of the summer to unravel, with the Cameroonian linked with several clubs, but Guardiola finally declared that he would stay after his dedication in training and participation in the pre-season.

In association with Barça's director of sport, Txiki Begiristain, several new signings were made by Guardiola: Daniel Alves and Seydou Keita arrived from Sevilla, Martín Cáceres from Villarreal by way of Recreativo, Gerard Piqué returned from Manchester United, and Alexander Hleb was signed from Arsenal. Henrique was also signed from Palmeiras, but was immediately loaned out to Bayer Leverkusen. In interviews with the press, Guardiola stressed a harder work ethic than before, but also a more personal approach during training and a closer relationship with his players. Along with the new signings, Guardiola promoted ''canteranos'' Sergio Busquets, Pedro Rodríguez and Jeffrén Suárez, to the first team squad. His influences as a coach include mostly Johan Cruyff, but also Louis van Gaal and Juan Manuel Lillo.

Guardiola's first competitive game as coach was in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, in which Barça comfortably beat Polish club Wisła Kraków 4–0 at home. They then lost 1–0 in Kraków, but progressed with a 4–1 aggregate victory. Promoted Numancia also defeated Barcelona in the opening match-day of the La Liga, but the team then went on an undefeated streak for over 20 matches to move to the top of the league. Barça maintained their spot atop La Liga's table, securing their first league title since 2006 when rivals Real Madrid lost at Villareal on 16 May 2009. The most important match however was on 2 May when they defeated Real Madrid 2–6 at the Santiago Bernabéu. thumb|right|Guardiola celebrating Barcelona's 2009 UEFA Champions League Final with Manuel EstiarteThe league title was the second piece of silverware in Guardiola's first season at the Camp Nou. On 13 May 2009, Barcelona won the Copa del Rey, defeating Athletic Bilbao 4–1.

Guardiola finished the season by leading Barça to the final of the Champions League, where they beat Manchester United 2–0. In doing so, they became the first Spanish club to win the domestic cup, league, and European club titles (the treble) in the same season. Furthermore, Guardiola became the youngest coach ever to coach a Champions League winning team.

2009–2010 Season

During his second season as manager Barcelona traded Samuel Eto'o and €49M for Zlatan Ibrahimović. The club also signed Maxwell from Internazionale and Dmytro Chygrynskiy from Shakhtar Donetsk. Many players left the club on the same transfer window; Eiður Guðjohnsen was sold to Monaco, Sylvinho and Albert Jorquera's contracts ended and other players were loaned out, including Alexander Hleb to Stuttgart, Martín Cáceres to Juventus, Alberto Botía to Sporting de Gijón and Víctor Sánchez to Xerez.

Barcelona started the season defeating Athletic Bilbao in the Spanish Super Cup and Shakhtar Donetsk in the European Super Cup. On 25 September 2009, Barcelona gave Guardiola his 50th professional victory, away against Málaga and on 19 December they were crowned Club World Cup champions for the first time in their history. Guardiola finished the calendar year 2009 with a record 6 trophies – the Spanish League, Copa del Rey, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup, and Club World Cup – becoming the first manager in history to do so.

After winning every trophy they competed for in 2009, Barcelona suffered their first elimination under Guardiola in January 2010 against Sevilla in the Copa del Rey. January 2010 also saw Guardiola become Barcelona's longest serving Spanish coach, overtaking the record previously held by Josep Samitier. That same month, on the twentieth, he agreed to a one-year contract extension to keep him with Barcelona until the end of the 2010–11 season. February of the same year saw Guardiola coach his one hundredth match for Barcelona's first team. His record stood at 71 wins, 19 draws and 10 losses with 242 goals for and 76 against. On 10 April 2010, he became the first manager in Barcelona's history to beat Real Madrid four times in a row in El Clásico.

Barcelona reached the semi-finals of the 2009–10 Champions League, but lost 3–2 on aggregate to Internazionale. Despite this they managed to win their 20th La Liga title with a European record of 99 points by beating Real Valladolid 4–0 at home. The La Liga title was Guardiola's 7th trophy as manager of the club, tying Ferdinand Daučík for second behind Johan Cruyff and his 11 trophies.

On 8 June 2010, the Royal Spanish Football Federation fined Guardiola €15,000, following a formal inquiry opened by the Competition Committee regarding his actions and comments during and after a match against Almeria on 6 March 2010. Guardiola approached the fourth official with, according to the official report, malicious intent, berating the official and speaking into his microphone with phrases such as, "You are calling everything wrong." Following the match, Guardiola accused Carlos Clos Gomez and his assistant Jose Luis Gallego Galdino of "lying" in their match report. Barcelona were given 10 days to appeal the sanction. TV replays supported Guardiola's assertions. The game ended 2–2.

2010–2011 Season

His third season in charge saw the departure of two players who had arrived last season, Dmytro Chygrynskiy returned to Shakhtar Donetsk and Zlatan Ibrahimović moved to Milan. Rafael Márquez and Thierry Henry were released from their contracts and moved to New York Red Bulls, Yaya Touré also left the team and moved to Manchester City. The club signed Adriano from Sevilla, David Villa from Valencia CF and Javier Mascherano from Liverpool.

On 14 July 2010, Guardiola signed a new contract to stay with Barcelona until June 2011. On 21 August, Barcelona beat Sevilla 5–3 on aggregate to win the 2010 Spanish Supercup, his second in a row. On 29 November 2010, Barcelona beat Real Madrid 5–0, giving Guardiola five straight wins in as many matches in El Clásico. On 8 February 2011, Guardiola accepted the club's offer for a one-year deal extension, signing a contract until June 2012. On 16 February, in the first leg of the Champions League First Knockout Round, Barcelona were defeated by Arsenal 1–2 at the Emirates Stadium. The defeat prolonged Guardiola's record of never having won the away leg of a Champions League knockout tie. On 8 March, in the second leg of the Champions League First Knockout Round, Barcelona defeated Arsenal 3–1 thus defeating Arsenal 4–3 on aggregate, moving them into the quarter-finals.

Early April saw Barcelona move eight points clear of second placed Real Madrid in their domestic league, after a key away win against Villareal CF, making the most of Real Madrid's home loss against Sporting Gijón earlier on the same day. Barcelona managed to advance to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the fourth year (three last under Guardiola) in a row after thrashing Shakhtar Donetsk 6–1 on aggregate.

Following after the Champions League campaign, Barcelona continued their La Liga crusades for the second El Clásico in Santiago Bernabéu which ended 1–1. Messi scored for his team from penalty spot after Raúl Albiol was sent off. It was later replied by Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo from a penalty kick in the 80th minute of the match.

Guardiola suffered his first final defeat during Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the only goal for in the 103rd minute of the match during extra time, giving the club the first title since 2008, as well as José Mourinho's first title in his new club.

In the Champions League, however, Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2–0 at the Santiago Bernabéu in the semi-final first leg, and after a 1–1 draw at Camp Nou they proceeded to Guardiola's second Champions League final in three years as coach for Barcelona. On 11 May 2011, Barcelona won the title and third in a row after a 1–1 draw with Levante UD. On 28 May, Barcelona beat Manchester United 3–1 to win the Champions League.

2011–2012 Season

His fourth season in charge started with the departure of three players who had been part of the team for a long time, Gabriel Milito moved back to Independiente, Jeffrén Suárez was sold to Sporting CP and Bojan Krkić was sold to Roma. Two big signings where made: Alexis Sánchez came from Udinese for €26m plus bonuses and Cesc Fàbregas a former La Masia graduate returned from Arsenal for €29m plus bonuses. To complete the squad two players where promoted from the youth system: Thiago Alcântara and Andreu Fontàs.

The season started with a 5-4 aggregate win over Real Madrid for the Spanish Super Cup. Barcelona won their second trophy of the season on 26 August beating Porto in the UEFA Super Cup final 2-0. With the trophy won against Porto he became all-time record holder of most titles won as a coach at FC Barcelona. He has won now 12 trophy's in only 3 years.

Tactics

Under Rijkaard, Barcelona were known for a 4–3–3 with plenty of flair with Ronaldinho being the centre point of Rijkaard's time there. Under Guardiola they have become more disciplined with a greater focus on possession and a far more disciplined and aggressive pressing style. He often plays a high defensive line with the full backs (particularly Daniel Alves) pushing high up down their respective sides while relying on the metronomic passing of Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta to retain possession whilst employing an extraordinarily aggressive pressing style without the ball.

During Samuel Eto'o's time Lionel Messi was deployed on the right hand side, however, since his departure Messi has largely played in the centre forward role fulfilling a false nine capacity.

Coaching stats

''As of 29 August 2011. {|class=wikitable style=text-align:center |- !rowspan=2! width=70|Team !rowspan=2! width=60|Season !colspan=3|League !colspan=3|Cup !colspan=3|Europe !colspan=3|Other !colspan=8|Total |- !width=30|W !width=30|D !width=30|L !width=30|W !width=30|D !width=30|L !width=30|W !width=30|D !width=30|L !width=30|W !width=30|D !width=30|L !width=30|GP !width=30|W !width=30|D !width=30|L !width=50|Win % !width=40|GF !width=40|GA !width=40|GD |- |rowspan=4 align=center valign=center|Barcelona |2008–09 |27||6||5||7||2||0||7||5||1||1||0||1||62||42||13||7||67.74%||158||55||+103 |- |2009–10 |31||6||1||3||0||1||6||4||2||5||0||0||59||45||10||4||76.27%||138||39||+99 |- |2010–11 |30||6||2||5||2||2||9||3||1||1||0||1||62||45||11||6||72.58%||152||39||+113 |- |2011–12 |1||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||2||1||0||4||3||1||0||75.00%||12||4||+8 |- !colspan=2|Career totals !89!!18!!8!!15!!4!!3!!22!!12!!4!!9!!1!!2!!187!!135!!35!!17!!72.19%||460||137||+323 |}

Private life

Pep Guardiola was born in Santpedor, to Dolors and Valentí. He has two older sisters, Francesca and Olga, and younger brother, Pere. Guardiola has a partner, Cristina Serra, whom he met the first time in a clothing store when he was 18. The couple have three children: Maria (born 28 December 2003), Màrius (born 2001) and Valentina (born 5 May 2008).

He is a close friend of water polo great Manuel Estiarte, whom he has known since 1992. His close friends also include Luís Figo, Luis Enrique, Tito Vilanova, Juan Manuel Lillo, and Johan Cruyff.

Honours

Player

;Barcelona

La Liga: 6

:: 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1997–98, 1998–99

Copa del Rey: 2

:: 1996–97, 1997–98

Supercopa de España: 4

:: 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996

UEFA Champions League: 1

:: 1991–92

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1

:: 1996–97

UEFA Super Cup: 2

:: 1992, 1997

;Spain

Olympic Gold Medal: 1

:: 1992

Individual

Bravo Award: 1

:: 1992

UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 2

:: 1992, 2000

Olympics - Spain Best Player: 1

:: 1992

Manager

;Barcelona B

Tercera División: 1

:: 2007–08

;Barcelona

La Liga: 3

:: 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11

Copa del Rey: 1

:: 2008–09

Supercopa de España: 3

:: 2009, 2010, 2011

UEFA Champions League: 2

:: 2008–09, 2010–11

UEFA Super Cup: 2

:: 2009, 2011

FIFA Club World Cup: 1

:: 2009

Individual

IFFHS World's Best Club Coach of the Year (1): 2009

Don Balon Award for Best Coach of the Year (2): 2009, 2010

Onze d'Or for Best European Coach (1): 2009

Miguel Muñoz Trophy for Best Coach of the Year (2): 2009, 2010

World Soccer Magazine World Manager of the Year (1): 2009

UEFA Team of the Year Best Coach (1): 2009

LFP Coach of the Year (2): 2009, 2010

Catalan of the Year Award (1): 2009

Career statistics

|- |1990–91||rowspan=11|Barcelona||rowspan=11|La Liga||4||0||1||0||0||0||5||0 |- |1991–92||26||0||3||0||11||0||40||0 |- |1992–93||28||0||5||1||6||0||39||1 |- |1993–94||34||0||5||0||9||0||48||0 |- |1994–95||24||2||4||0||6||0||24||2 |- |1995–96||32||1||7||0||7||1||46||2 |- |1996–97||38||0||8||0||7||1||53||1 |- |1997–98||6||0||3||0||5||0||14||0 |- |1998–99||22||1||3||0||1||0||26||1 |- |1999–00||25||0||0||0||0||0||25||0 |- |2000–01||28||2||4||3||8||0||40||4 |- |2001–02||Brescia||rowspan=3|Serie A||11||2||2||0||-||-||13||2 |- |rowspan=2|2002–03||Roma||4||0||3||1||1||0||8||1 |- |Brescia||13||1||3||1||-||-||16||2 |- |2003–05||Al-Ahli|||Qatar Stars League ||18||2||9||3||9||2||36||7 |- |2005–06||Sinaloa|||Primera División ||10||1||6||1||4||0||20||2 263||6||43||4||71||2||384||11 28||3||8||2||1||0||37||5 18||2||9||3||9||2||36||7 10||1||6||1||4||0||20||2 319||12||66||10||85||4||470||26

|- |1992||2||1 |- |1993||5||0 |- |1994||7||1 |- |1995||0||0 |- |1996||5||1 |- |1997||4||1 |- |1998||0||0 |- |1999||9||0 |- |2000||8||1 |- |2001||7||0 |- !Total||47||5 |}

Bibliography

Josep Guardiola, ''La meva gent, el meu futbol'', with Miguel Rico and Luís Martín, Edecasa (Grupo Z), Colección Sport, 2001 Jaume Collell, ''Pep Guardiola: de Santpedor al banquillo del Barça'', Península, 2009 Josep Riera Font, ''Escoltant Guardiola: el pensament futbolistic i vital de l'entrenador del Barça en 150 frases'', Cossetania, 2009 Several authors, ''Paraula de Pep'', Ara Llibres, 2009 Several authors, ''Barça de las 6 Copas'', Edecasa (Grupo Z), Colección Sport, 2009

See also

List of sportspeople cleared of doping charges

List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managers

Notes

References

External links

FC Barcelona profile

BDFutbol player profile

BDFutbol coach profile

Transfermarkt profile

National team data

FC Barcelona Legends

Alex Ferguson Manchester United}} Barcelona|years=2008–2009, 2010–2011}} - Barcelona|years=2008–2009}} José Mourinho Internazionale}} |- Dick Advocaat Zenit Saint Petersburg}} Barcelona|years=2009, 2011}} Gheorghe Popescu| title=FC Barcelona captain| years=1997–2001| after= Sergi Barjuán}}

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:People from Bages Category:Spanish footballers Category:Catalan footballers Category:Association football midfielders Category:La Liga footballers Category:FC Barcelona Atlètic footballers Category:FC Barcelona footballers Category:Serie A footballers Category:Brescia Calcio players Category:A.S. Roma players Category:Al-Ahly Doha players Category:Primera División de México players Category:Dorados de Sinaloa players Category:Spanish football managers Category:La Liga managers Category:FC Barcelona B managers Category:FC Barcelona managers Category:Spain under-21 international footballers Category:Spain international footballers Category:1994 FIFA World Cup players Category:UEFA Euro 2000 players Category:Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Category:Olympic footballers of Spain Category:Olympic gold medalists for Spain Category:Olympic medalists in football Category:Spanish sportspeople in doping cases Category:Doping cases in association football Category:Spanish expatriate footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in Italy Category:Expatriate footballers in Qatar Category:Expatriate footballers in Mexico

ar:جوسيب غوارديولا az:Xosep Qvardiola bg:Хосеп Гуардиола ca:Josep Guardiola i Sala cs:Josep Guardiola da:Josep Guardiola de:Josep Guardiola el:Ζοζέπ Γκουαρντιόλα es:Josep Guardiola eu:Josep Guardiola fa:جوزپ گواردیولا fr:Josep Guardiola gl:Josep Guardiola ko:주제프 과르디올라 id:Josep Guardiola it:Josep Guardiola he:ז'וזפ גוארדיולה jv:Josép Guardiola lv:Hoseps Gvardiola lt:Josep Guardiola hu:Josep Guardiola mk:Жузеп Гвардиола nl:Josep Guardiola ja:ジョゼップ・グアルディオラ no:Josep Guardiola pl:Josep Guardiola pt:Josep Guardiola ro:Josep Guardiola ru:Гвардиола, Хосеп sq:Josep Guardiola simple:Josep Guardiola sk:Josep Guardiola sl:Josep Guardiola ckb:جۆسێپ گواردیۆلا fi:Josep Guardiola sv:Josep Guardiola th:ชูเซบ กวาร์ดีโอลา tr:Josep Guardiola uk:Жузеп Гвардіола vi:Josep Guardiola zh:何塞普·瓜迪奥拉

Coordinates	53°29′″N22°56′″N
playername	Zlatan Ibrahimović
fullname	Zlatan Ibrahimović
dateofbirth	October 03, 1981
cityofbirth	Malmö
countryofbirth	Sweden
height
position	Striker
currentclub	Milan
clubnumber	11
years1	1999–2001
clubs1	Malmö FF
caps1	40
goals1	16
years2	2001–2004
clubs2	Ajax
caps2	74
goals2	35
years3	2004–2006
clubs3	Juventus
caps3	69
goals3	23
years4	2006–2009
clubs4	Internazionale
caps4	88
goals4	57
years5	2009–2011
clubs5	Barcelona
caps5	29
goals5	16
years6	2010–2011
years7	2011–
clubs6	→ Milan (loan)
clubs7	Milan
caps6	28
caps7	0
goals6	14
goals7	0
nationalyears1	2001–
nationalteam1	Sweden
nationalcaps1	67
nationalgoals1	28
pcupdate	10 April 2011
ntupdate	7 June 2011 }}

Zlatan Ibrahimović (; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Milan and the Swedish national team for which he is captain.

Ibrahimović started his career at Malmö FF in the late 1990s under Roland Andersson. He was signed by Ajax, and made a name for himself under Ronald Koeman. Years later, he signed with Juventus for €16 million. Ibrahimović gained fame in Serie A, benefiting from his strike partnership with David Trézéguet. In 2006, he signed with league rival Internazionale, where he won individual awards such as the Oscar del Calcio, the Guldbollen, and was named in the 2007 and 2009 UEFA Team of the Year, in addition to finishing as the league's highest scorer in 2008–09 while winning three straight ''Scudetti''. In the summer of 2009, he transferred to Barcelona before moving to Milan the next season.

Ibrahimović holds the record for the second highest transfer fee in football history, with a total of €69 million for his transfer from Internazionale to Barcelona. He is currently the seventh highest-paid footballer in the world.

Early life

Ibrahimović was born in Sweden to a Bosnian father that immigrated to Sweden in 1977, Šefik Ibrahimović, and a Croatian mother, Jurka Gravić, who emigrated to Sweden, where they first met. Ibrahimović grew up in Rosengård, a Malmö neighbourhood known for its immigrant communities, along with his three sisters and two brothers. Zlatan's father is Muslim, while his mother is Christian. However, he is not very strict about either religion. After receiving a pair of football boots, Ibrahimović began playing football at the age of six, alternating between local junior clubs Malmö BI and FBK Balkan. He has stated in an interview that while his team was down 4–0 during halftime, he came on as a substitute for his Balkan youth team and dramatically scored eight goals. While in his early teens, he was a regular for his hometown club Malmö FF. At the age of 15, Ibrahimović was close to quitting his football career, in favour of working at the docks in Malmö, but his manager convinced him to continue playing. Ibrahimović successfully completed junior high school in the ninth grade. Though he was admitted to Borgarskolan and had above average grades, he soon dropped out of high school to focus on his football career.

Club career

Malmö FF

Ibrahimović signed his first contract with Malmö in 1996, and moved up to the senior side for the 1999 season of Allsvenskan, Sweden's top-flight league. That season, Malmö finished 13th in the league and were relegated to the second division, but returned to the top flight the next season. Arsène Wenger unsuccessfully tried to persuade Ibrahimović to join Arsenal, while Leo Beenhakker also expressed interest in the player after watching him in a training match against Norwegian side Moss FK. On 22 March 2001, a deal between Ajax and Malmö regarding Ibrahimović's transfer to Amsterdam was announced, and in July, Ibrahimović officially joined Ajax for Swedish krona 80 million.

Ajax

Ibrahimović received little playing time under manager Co Adriaanse, but when Adriaanse was sacked on 29 November 2001, new coach Ronald Koeman inserted Ibrahimović into the starting lineup as Ajax won the 2001–02 Eredivisie title. The next season, Ibrahimović scored twice in a 2–1 victory over French champions Lyon in his Champions League debut on 17 September 2002. He scored four Champions League goals overall as Ajax fell to Milan in the quarter-finals. In his final season with Ajax, Ibrahimović's profile rose when he scored a breathtaking goal against NAC on 22 August 2004, a goal that was eventually voted the "Goal of the Year" by Eurosport viewers. He netted only once in the 2003–04 Champions League (against Celta Vigo on 22 October) as Ajax were eliminated in the group stage.

On 18 August 2004, Ibrahimović injured fellow Ajax teammate Rafael van der Vaart during an international match against the Netherlands, which led to accusations from van der Vaart that Ibrahimović had hurt him intentionally. This led to Ibrahimović's sudden sale to Juventus on 31 August.

Juventus

Ibrahimović moved from Ajax to Juventus for €16 million. He was promptly inserted into the starting eleven due in part to top scorer David Trezeguet's injury problems, and scored sixteen goals. Near the end of the season, Juventus reportedly rejected a €70 million bid for him from Real Madrid, which was later revealed to be a publicity stunt initiated by Ibrahimović's agent, Mino Raiola, in order to increase his market value. On 14 November 2005, he was awarded the ''Guldbollen'', a prize awarded to the best Swedish footballer of the year.

The following season was poor compared to his first season; his role in Juventus' attack changed, as he became less of a goalscorer and moved more to the sidelines, taking much part in the build-up play, especially as a target player, and his assist numbers increased. In the 2005–06 season, Juventus fans often got frustrated with him due to his anonymous presence in certain important games such as the Champions League defeat to Arsenal. Juventus were stripped of their last two ''Scudetti'' as part of the verdict from the ''Calciopoli scandal'', and were relegated to Serie B. The new staff tried to persuade Ibrahimović and other top players to stay with Juventus, but the player and his agent were adamant to move on, with Raiola threatening legal action in order to extricate Ibrahimović from his contract.

Internazionale

On 10 August 2006, Ibrahimović completed a €24.8 million move to Internazionale, signing a four-year-deal, this coming only a few days after Patrick Vieira had completed his transfer. Zlatan revealed that he had supported Internazionale when he was young. He started his spell at the club by scoring one goal and assisting another in a league match against Fiorentina and ended his first season as Inter's top goalscorer with 15 goals. Inter won the league for the first time in 17 years. They finished the league with 97 points, a league record, a feat Ibrahimovic would go on to repeat at F.C Barcelona. During the season Inter also broke the European Big Five League Record for most consecutive wins, 17. The record still stands.

Ibrahimović played his 100th Serie A match on 16 September 2007. His contract was renewed in 2007, it was due to expire in June 2013. He was estimated as the top of footballer wages. He scored two Champions League goals in the group stage against PSV on 2 October, which marked his first European goals since December 2005 and his first goals overall in an Inter jersey, and finished with five goals in seven Champions League matches. Against Parma in the final league matchday on 18 May 2008, he returned from a chronic knee injury and scored both goals as Inter won 2–0, clinching their third straight ''Scudetto''.

On 16 November 2008, Ibrahimović said that he would not return to the Allsvenskan as an active player, but he would stay the rest of his active career as a player abroad.

Ibrahimović's 2008–09 season started brilliantly, hitting the back of the net in Inter's first league match. His goal against Bologna was voted "Goal of the Year". He scored it with his heel without moving and accurately into the net from a cross by Adriano. Ibrahimović's form in the season had been eye-catching, with clever movement on and off the ball, and his passing had been outstanding, such as his acrobatic pass against Lazio. He ended a month long goal drought against Genoa, handing them their first home loss of the season, making Inter the only team not to lose at home in the league. In the final league game of the season, Ibrahimović scored twice against Atalanta, securing the ''Capocannoniere'' for himself by finishing one goal ahead of Marco Di Vaio and Diego Milito with 25 goals in the domestic season.

Barcelona

After Maxwell completed his transfer to Barcelona, president Joan Laporta confirmed that there was an agreement in principle between Barcelona and Internazionale for Ibrahimović to join the club in exchange for Samuel Eto'o, plus a fee. Laporta revealed that the negotiations started when he decided to divert a flight, which was originally from Ukraine to Spain, in order to have talks with Massimo Moratti, the president of Internazionale, in Milan. Ibrahimović left Internazionale during their United States summer tour in the World Football Challenge on 23 July 2009 for negotiations with Barcelona, with his last match for Internazionale being against Chelsea. After Internazionale agreed terms with Eto'o and Barcelona with Ibrahimović, Barcelona announced Ibrahimović would arrive on 26 July 2009 and undergo a medical test on 27 July 2009. Ibrahimović passed his medical and was presented to a crowd of over 60,000 at Camp Nou. He signed a 5-year contract, for €46 million ($65 million) and the exchange of Eto'o (valued at €20 million) and loan of Alexander Hleb (with an option to buy for a €10 million fee), with a €250 million release clause, making Ibrahimović worth €66 million ($94 million). However as Hleb deal collapsed, eventually Ibrahimović cost Barcelona €69.884 million (including other fee). Inter received €69.5 million. and part of Inter fee (about 0.45%) redistributed to youth clubs as solidarity contribution (except Juventus).

Ibrahimović started the 2009–10 season with his competitive debut for Barcelona on 23 August 2009 by assisting on a goal by Lionel Messi, leading them to the Spanish Super Cup. In his next competitive match, Barcelona won the 2009 UEFA Super Cup. In his third appearance, he scored his first goal in Barcelona's La Liga season opener against Sporting Gijón in a 3–0 win. Ibrahimović went on to score in his next three appearances, thus setting a team record as the only player ever to score in his first four league matches.

On 20 October, he scored his first Champions League goal for Barcelona in a group stage match against Rubin Kazan. Five days later, he scored twice in a 6–1 thrashing of Real Zaragoza, giving him a league-leading seven goals in seven league matches while bringing Barcelona to the top of the table. However, on 7 November, Ibrahimović suffered a thigh injury that kept him out for three weeks. He returned to action in week 12 of the season against Real Madrid as a second-half substitute for Thierry Henry, and scored his eighth goal of the campaign. He finished with eleven goals and four assists in all but two of Barcelona's first fifteen league matches. Barcelona capped off 2009 by winning the Club World Cup against Estudiantes on 19 December.

Ibrahimović scored Barcelona's only goal in the 2009–10 Copa del Rey first leg match of the round of sixteen in a 2–1 loss to Sevilla on 5 January 2010. On 20 January, he was selected in the 2009 UEFA Team of the Year. His first goal of 2010 came on 14 February against Atletico Madrid. In his next appearance, Ibrahimović scored against Stuttgart in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League knockout stage fixture. He was sent off on 6 March in a league match against Almeria, which Barcelona appealed to no avail, and he was suspended for one game. A calf strain during warmups before the next La Liga match following his return from suspension against Athletic Bilbao ruled Ibrahimović out of the second leg 4–1 victory over Arsenal ,in which he scored two goals away from home, the return leg of the El Clásico against Madrid (which Barcelona won 2–0), and the next league match against Deportivo La Coruña. He made his return as a substitute in the 82nd minute in against Espanyol.

Ibrahimović finished the season with a sixth-best 16 league goals as Barcelona broke the world record of most points in a season in a 20 team league with 99 points in 38 matches. He scored his final goal for Barcelona in a Spanish Super Cup match on 14 August in a 3–1 defeat over Sevilla, and on 25 August, he played his last match for the club against Milan for the Joan Gamper Trophy, after which he claimed to the media that his relationship with coach Pep Guardiola had started deteriorating and that Guardiola had not spoken to him since March.

A.C. Milan

On 28 August 2010, A.C. Milan announced on their official website that they had acquired the services of Ibrahimović for the 2010–11 season. He will be loaned out to Milan for the 2010–11 season, with Milan having the option to purchase him outright from Barcelona for €24 million at the end of the season. He made his team debut in a 2–0 loss to Cesena on 11 September, in which he missed a penalty late in the match, and scored his first goals for the club when Milan defeated Auxerre in their first Champions League match of the season on 15 September. On 14 November, Ibrahimović scored the only goal in a 1–0 victory over former club Inter in the Milan Derby. On 20 November, he scored his seventh goal against Fiorentina in the 45th minute with an over-the-head bicycle kick, passing Alexandre Pato as the team's top goal scorer for the season. On 4 December 2010, in a game against Brescia, he assisted Kevin Prince-Boateng to give Milan an early lead and then scored the third goal by a powerful shot near the edge of the penalty box to give Milan a 3–0 win. On 12 December 2010, history repeated himself in the game against Bologna after he assisted Boateng to give Milan an early lead once again and scoring later that match to make it 3-0, leading him to 13 goals with 8 assists in 21 matches in all competitions, after which he has been compared to Milan legend Marco van Basten by both the media and van Basten himself. He received a 3 match ban after getting a red card during a Serie A match against Bari for punching an opponent in the stomach. He also received another 3 match ban on his return from the previous one for supposedly cursing at the ref. Ibrahimovic stated in his defense that he was talking to himself in frustration. He won his first ''Scudetto'' with Milan after a stalemate against AS Roma. He is therefore currently on a streak of eight straight league wins in three different countries and with five different clubs, including the later stripped wins with Juventus. All agreements between Milan and Barcelona have been confirmed on 18 June 2011.

International career

Even though Ibrahimović was eligible to play for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, he chose to play for Sweden, his country of birth.

Ibrahimović made his debut for Sweden in a 0–0 friendly against the Faroe Islands at the Värendsvallen on 31 January 2001 in the 2000–01 Nordic Football Championship. His first competitive match was a 2002 World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan on 7 October. Ibrahimović was part of Sweden's 2002 World Cup finals squad who were eliminated in the round of 16 by newcomers Senegal.

Ibrahimović was in the starting lineup for Euro 2004, scoring a penalty against Bulgaria and rounding off a fine performance against the solid defense of Italy by scoring a late equaliser. However, he missed a penalty as Sweden were sent home following a shootout loss to the Netherlands. He went scoreless during the 2006 World Cup finals as Sweden were again snuffed out in the round of 16, this time by Germany.

He was called up for a Euro 2008 qualifier against Liechtenstein on 6 September 2006, but two days before the match, he violated team curfew by leaving the hotel with teammates Christian Wilhelmsson and Olof Mellberg and visiting a nightclub. Though none of the players consumed any alcohol, they were nonetheless all sent home by Lars Lagerbäck as punishment and did not take part in the match. Mellberg and Wilhelmsson did not appeal the coach's decision, but Ibrahimović felt that it was unjust and therefore refused to take part in Sweden's next qualifiers against Iceland and Spain. He also skipped a friendly against Egypt on 7 February 2007, but ended his self-imposed boycott a month later, and returned for Sweden's loss to Northern Ireland on 28 March. He did not score in any of the 12 qualifying matches; his one goal was disallowed for offside in a 3–0 loss to Spain on 17 November. On 12 November 2007, Ibrahimović was awarded the 2007 Swedish Golden Ball as the "Country's Top Player of the Year."

Ibrahimović ended his international goal drought, which had lasted for over two years, against Greece in Sweden's Euro 2008 opener on 10 June 2008, and the next match against Spain four days later. He finished the tournament with two goals as Sweden were eliminated in the group stage by Russia.

Ibrahimović scored a goal in a 4–0 win against Malta on 10 June 2009 in a 2010 World Cup qualifier. On 5 September 2009, he scored a last second goal in Stadium Puskás Ferenc against Hungary in a 2–1 win for Sweden in their qualification match.

Ahead of the Euro 2012 qualifications, Ibrahimovic was named team captain on his return to the national team.

Personal life

Ibrahimović has two siblings and three half-siblings. His longtime partner is Helena Seger with whom he has two children, Maximilian (born 22 September 2006), and Vincent (born 6 March 2008). He currently resides in Milan, although he visits his summer home in Malmö annually. Ibrahimović received a black belt in taekwondo at the age of 17, where he attended classes at the Malmö Taekwondo club ''Enighet''. Ibrahimović is fluent in Swedish, Croatian, Bosnian, English, and Italian. He is of Bosnian and Croatian descent.

The name ''Zlatan'' was trademarked in May 2003 by PRV for "most likely being perceived as Zlatan Ibrahimović", which meant that he received exclusive rights to the name for certain products, including sporting goods, clothing, and shoes. He is under contract with Nike and features in their television advertising. He wears the Mercurial boot line and has the names and dates of birth of his sons embedded onto the external sides of his boots.

In the fall of 2007, Ibrahimović, with the help of Nike, self-funded a new football pitch in the streets of his hometown of Rosengård: he provided a playing mat, goalposts, lighting, and a modern fence. In 2008, he donated new Nike kits to his youth club, FBK Balkan.

Career statistics

.

1 12 3 — 13 13 3 — 7 3 17 25 7 0 11 0

Club	Season	League	Cup	Europe	Total
	!Apps	!Goals	!Assists	!Apps	!Goals	!Assists	!Apps	!Goals	!Assists	!Apps	!Goals	!Assists
rowspan=4	Malmö FF		6	|	—	—			—			6	1	''—''
Superettan 2000	2000	26	|	—	—			—			26	12	''—''
2001 Allsvenskan	2001	8	|	—	—			—			8	3	''—''
colspan=1>Total
rowspan=5	Ajax		24	6	|	3	0	—	6	2	—	33	8	—
Eredivisie 2002–03	2002–03	25	|	—	3	3	—	13	5	—	41	21	—
Eredivisie 2003–04	2003–04	22	|	—	3	0	—	6	2	—	29	15	—
2004–05 Eredivisie	2004–05	3	|	—	—			—			3	3	—
colspan=1>Total
rowspan=3	Juventus		35	16	|	0	0	—	10	0	—	45	16	—
2005–06 Serie A	2005–06	34	|	—	2	0	—	9	3	—	46	10	—
colspan=1>Total
rowspan=4	Internazionale		27	15	|	2	0	1	7	0	1	36	15	5
2007–08 Serie A	2007–08	26	|	9	1	0	0	7	5	0	34	22	9
2008–09 Serie A	2008–09	35	|	7	3	3	0	8	1	2	46	29	9
colspan=1>Total
rowspan=3	Barcelona		29	16	|	2	1	0	10	4	2	41	21	9
2010–11 FC Barcelona season	2010–11	0	|	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
colspan=1>Total	! 29!!16!!7!!3!!2!!0!!10!!4!!2!!42!!22!!9
rowspan=3	Milan		28	14	|	4	3	0	7	4	1	39	21	12
2011–12 Serie A	2011–12	0	|	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	1	0
Total	!28!!14!!11!!5!!4!!0!!7!!4!!1!!40!!22!!12
Career total		! 328!!161!!37!!25!!12!!1!!77!!26!!6!!435!!199!!44

|- |2001||5||1 |- |2002||10||2 |- |2003||4||3 |- |2004||12||8 |- |2005||5||4 |- |2006||6||0 |- |2007||7||0 |- |2008||7||2 |- |2009||6||2 |- |2010||4||3 |- |2011||1||3 |- !Total||67||28 |}

International goals

|- | 1. || October 7, 2001 || Råsunda Stadium, Solna Municipality, Sweden || || 3–0 || 3–0 || 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 2. || August 21, 2002 || Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow, Russia || || 1–1 || 1–1 || Friendly |- | 3. || October 12, 2002 || Råsunda Stadium, Solna Municipality, Sweden || || 1–1 || 1–1 || UEFA Euro 2004 qualification |- | 4. || April 30, 2003 || Råsunda Stadium, Solna Municipality, Sweden || || 1–1 || 1–2 || Friendly |- | 5. || September 6, 2003 || Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden || || 3–0 || 5–0 || UEFA Euro 2004 qualification |- | 6. || September 6, 2003 || Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden || San Marino || 5–0 || 5–0 || UEFA Euro 2004 qualification |- | 7. || March 31, 2004 || Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden || || 1–0 || 1–0 || Friendly |- | 8. || June 14, 2004 || Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal || || 4–0 || 5–0 || UEFA Euro 2004 |- | 9. || June 18, 2004 || Estádio do Dragão, Porto, Portugal || || 1–1 || 1–1 || UEFA Euro 2004 |- | 10. || August 18, 2004 || Råsunda Stadium, Solna Municipality, Sweden || || 2–2 || 2–2 || Friendly |- | 11. || September 4, 2004 || Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta || || 0–1 || 0–7 || 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 12. || September 4, 2004 || Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta || Malta || 0–2 || 0–7 || 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 13. || September 4, 2004 || Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta || Malta || 0–3 || 0–7 || 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 14. || September 4, 2004 || Ta' Qali Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta || Malta || 0–5 || 0–7 || 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 15. || June 4, 2005 || Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden || Malta || 4–0 || 6–0 || 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 16. || September 3, 2005 || Råsunda Stadium, Solna Municipality, Sweden || Bulgaria || 3–0 || 3–0 || 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 17. || September 7, 2005 || Stadium Puskás Ferenc, Budapest, Hungary || Hungary || 1–0 || 1–0 || 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 18. || October 12, 2005 || Råsunda Stadium, Solna Municipality, Sweden || || 1–1 || 3–1 || 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 19. || June 10, 2008 || Wals Siezenheim Stadium, Salzburg, Austria || || 0–1 || 0–2 || UEFA Euro 2008 |- | 20. || June 14, 2008 || Tivoli-Neu, Innsbruck, Austria || || 1–1 || 1–2 || UEFA Euro 2008 |- | 21. || June 10, 2009 || Ullevi, Gothenburg, Sweden || Malta || 3–0 || 4–0 || 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 22. || September 5, 2009 || Stadium Puskás Ferenc, Budapest, Hungary || Hungary || 1–2 || 1–2 || 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |- | 23. || August 11, 2010 || Råsunda Stadium, Solna Municipality, Sweden || || 1–0 || 3–0 || Friendly |- | 24. || September 7, 2010 || Swedbank Stadion, Malmö, Sweden || San Marino || 1–0 || 6–0 || UEFA Euro 2012 qualification |- | 25. || September 7, 2010 || Swedbank Stadion, Malmö, Sweden || San Marino || 5–0 || 6–0 || UEFA Euro 2012 qualification |- | 26. || June 7, 2011 || Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden || Finland || 2–0 || 5–0 || UEFA Euro 2012 qualification |- | 27. || June 7, 2011 || Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden || Finland || 3–0 || 5–0 || UEFA Euro 2012 qualification |- | 28. || June 7, 2011 || Råsunda Stadium, Solna, Sweden || Finland || 4–0 || 5–0 || UEFA Euro 2012 qualification |}

Awards and honours

;Ajax

Eredivisie: 2001–02, 2003–04

KNVB Cup: 2001–02

Johan Cruijff Shield: 2003

;Internazionale

Serie A: 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09

Supercoppa Italiana: 2006, 2008

;Barcelona

La Liga: 2009–10

Supercopa de España: 2009, 2010

UEFA Super Cup: 2009

FIFA Club World Cup: 2009

;AC Milan

Serie A: 2010–11

Supercoppa Italiana: 2011

;Individual

Serie A Top Scorer: 2009

Serie A Foreign Footballer of the Year: 2005, 2008, 2009

Serie A Footballer of the Year: 2008, 2009

Guldbollen (The Golden Ball): 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010

UEFA Team of the Year: 2007, 2009

Swedish Male Athlete of the Year: 2007, 2010

Jerringpriset: 2007

References

External links

Zlatan Ibrahimović statistics – ESPNsoccernet

FC Barcelona statistics

Zlatan Ibrahimović at Nike.com

Zlatan Ibrahimović – UEFA.com

Profile at SoccerSurfer.com

{{navboxes colour |title=Sweden squads |bg= #FFF01C |fg= #005B99 |bordercolor= #005B99 |list1= }} {{navboxes colour |title=Awards |bg=gold |fg=navy |list1= }}

Category:Swedish footballers Category:Association football forwards Category:Malmö FF players Category:AFC Ajax players Category:Juventus F.C. players Category:F.C. Internazionale Milano players Category:FC Barcelona footballers Category:A.C. Milan players Category:Allsvenskan players Category:Eredivisie players Category:Serie A footballers Category:Serie A topscorers Category:La Liga footballers Category:Sweden international footballers Category:2002 FIFA World Cup players Category:UEFA Euro 2004 players Category:2006 FIFA World Cup players Category:UEFA Euro 2008 players Category:Swedish expatriate footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Category:Swedish expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Category:Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Category:Swedish expatriate sportspeople in Spain Category:Expatriate footballers in Italy Category:Expatriate footballers in Spain Category:Swedish people of Croatian descent Category:Swedish people of Bosniak descent Category:Swedish people of Bosnia and Herzegovina descent Category:People from Malmö Category:Swedish taekwondo practitioners Category:1981 births Category:Living people

ar:زلاتان إبراهيموفيتش ast:Zlatan Ibrahimović az:Zlatan İbrahimoviç bs:Zlatan Ibrahimović bg:Златан Ибрахимович ca:Zlatan Ibrahimović cs:Zlatan Ibrahimović da:Zlatan Ibrahimović de:Zlatan Ibrahimović et:Zlatan Ibrahimović el:Ζλάταν Ιμπραΐμοβιτς es:Zlatan Ibrahimović eu:Zlatan Ibrahimović fa:زلاتان ابراهیموویچ fr:Zlatan Ibrahimović ga:Zlatan Ibrahimovic gl:Zlatan Ibrahimović ko:즐라탄 이브라히모비치 hr:Zlatan Ibrahimović io:Zlatan Ibrahimović id:Zlatan Ibrahimović it:Zlatan Ibrahimović he:זלאטן איברהימוביץ' jv:Zlatan Ibrahimović ka:ზლატან იბრაჰიმოვიჩი kk:Златан Ибрагимович ku:Zlatan Ibrahimović la:Zlatan Ibrahimović lv:Zlatans Ibrahimovičs lt:Zlatan Ibrahimović lmo:Zlatan Ibrahimović hu:Zlatan Ibrahimović mk:Златан Ибрахимовиќ mr:झ्लाटन इब्राहिमोविच ms:Zlatan Ibrahimović nl:Zlatan Ibrahimović ja:ズラタン・イブラヒモビッチ no:Zlatan Ibrahimović pl:Zlatan Ibrahimović pt:Zlatan Ibrahimović ro:Zlatan Ibrahimović qu:Zlatan Ibrahimović ru:Ибрагимович, Златан sq:Zlatan Ibrahimoviç scn:Zlatan Ibrahimovic simple:Zlatan Ibrahimović sk:Zlatan Ibrahimović sl:Zlatan Ibrahimović sr:Златан Ибрахимовић fi:Zlatan Ibrahimović sv:Zlatan Ibrahimović th:ซลาตัน อิบราฮิโมวิช tr:Zlatan Ibrahimović uk:Златан Ібрагімович vec:Zlatan Ibrahimović vi:Zlatan Ibrahimović zh:兹拉坦·伊布拉希莫维奇

Coordinates	53°29′″N22°56′″N
name	Luol Deng
width	270px
position	Small forward
height ft	6
height in	9
weight lb	220
team	Chicago Bulls
number	9
nationality	British and South Sudanese
birth date	April 16, 1985
birth place	Wau, Sudan (current South Sudan)
high school	Blair Academy
college	Duke (2003–2004)
draft round	1
draft pick	7
draft year	2004
draft team	Phoenix Suns
career start	2004
years1	2004–present
team1	Chicago Bulls
highlights	NBA All-Rookie First Team (2005) NBA Sportsmanship Award (2007) USBWA National Freshman of the Year (2004)
bbr	denglu01
letter	d
profile	luol_deng }}

Luol Deng (born April 16, 1985) is a South Sudanese-British professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association's Chicago Bulls and the Great Britain national basketball team. He plays the small forward position.

Early life

Deng was born in Wau, Sudan (current South Sudan) and is a member of the Dinka ethnic group. When he was young, his father Aldo, a member of the Sudanese parliament, moved the family to Egypt to escape the Second Sudanese Civil War. In Egypt, they met former NBA center Manute Bol, another Dinka, who taught Deng's older brother, Ajou Deng, how to play basketball while also serving as a mentor for Luol himself. When they were granted political asylum, his family emigrated to Brixton, South London. Deng developed an interest in soccer, admiring Faustino Asprilla of Newcastle United, but also continued to play basketball, and was invited to join England's 15-and-under teams in both sports. During this time, he began his career at Brixton Basketball Club. At the age of 13, he played for England's squad in the European Junior Men's Qualifying Tournament, averaging 40 points and 14 rebounds. He was named the MVP of the tournament. Next, he led England to the finals of the European Junior National Tournament, where he averaged 34 points and earned another MVP award.

At the age of 14, Luol moved to the United States to play basketball at Blair Academy in New Jersey, where one of his teammates was future NBA player Charlie Villanueva. Deng was also named a Tri-Captain at Blair along with Villanueva . During his senior year, Deng was considered the second most promising high school senior in America after LeBron James. He was named First Team All-America by ''Parade Magazine'' and USA Today, and was selected to play in the McDonald's High School All-America game, but could not play due to a foot injury. After graduation, he decided to attend Duke University. In one season at Duke, he appeared in 37 games and made 32 starts. He averaged 30.1 minutes and scored 15.1 points per game en route to a berth in the 2004 Final Four. He is only the 10th freshman in ACC history to lead all rookies in scoring, rebounding, and field goal percentage.

Professional career

2004–05 season

After one year at Duke, Deng entered the 2004 NBA Draft. He was picked seventh overall by the Phoenix Suns, but was immediately traded to the Chicago Bulls by prior agreement. Deng suffered a season-ending wrist injury late in his rookie season, but still made the NBA All-Rookie First Team to help the resurgent Bulls return to the playoffs for the first time in seven years. Deng played in 61 games and averaged 11.7 points per game. On February 8, Deng recorded his first double-double vs. the Dallas Mavericks.

2005–06 season

In his second season, he posted strong performances throughout March and April to help the Bulls earn their second consecutive playoff berth. His offensive statistics improved in his sophomore season, increasing his scoring to 14.3 points per game, and increasing his rebounding to 6.6 per game, up from a 5.3 average his rookie season. Deng had four straight double-double performances from February 28 to March 5, with at least ten points and rebounds in each game. In the playoffs, the Bulls faced off against the Miami Heat in a best of 7 game series. Deng came off the bench in all six games, averaging ten points per game.

2006–07 season

For the 2006–07 season, Deng was the only Bull to start all 82 regular season games. All of his numbers continued to improve, and he led the team in minutes played (37.5) and field goal percentage (.517), while playing a strong second scoring option to Ben Gordon, with a marked improvement to 18.8 points per game. Deng also notably rarely committed fouls on defense (2.00 per game), despite the minutes he played and frequently being outsized in matchups against power forwards such as Kevin Garnett.

On December 27, 2006, Deng was driving in the lane when Miami Heat player James Posey grabbed him, causing concern that Deng may have re-injured his wrist. Posey earned a flagrant foul, was ejected and suspended for one game. Deng scored 32 points against the Cavaliers just three nights later, resolving concern that the wrist would be re-injured. On March 26, 2007 Deng posted a new career-high 38 points to lead the Bulls to a home victory against the Portland Trail Blazers. Deng was in rhythm, converting a spectacular 18 of his 25 shots from the field.

Deng has won three major sportsmanship awards. On May 3, 2007, Deng won the NBA's sportsmanship award in a vote by players. The award honors the player who best exemplifies ethical behavior, fair play, and integrity on the court. For that award, the league will donate $25,000 on his behalf to Pacific Garden Mission, the oldest continuously operating rescue mission in the country. Deng also won the 2006–2007 Golden Icon Award for Best Sports Role Model. The awards are presented by the Travolta entertainment family. Most recently, he won the 2008 UN Refugee Agency's Humanitarian of the Year Award as part of the UNHCR's ninemillion.org campaign to bring education and sports to millions of displaced children.

2007–08 season

Near the beginning of the season, the Bulls started negotiating a contract extension for Deng. Negotiations were mostly handled by Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf. The team offered Deng a five-year extension for $57.5 million. However, Deng decided to reject the deal and wait until the season ended to continue negotiations.

In the 2007–08 season, Luol played in sixty-three games, missing 19 mostly because of left Achilles tendinitis. Despite injuries, Deng still averaged 17.0 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per game. He had his best game against the Milwaukee Bucks when he scored 32 points in a 151–135 victory. The Bulls missed the playoffs in the 2007–08 season.

2008–09 season

Before the season started, Deng agreed to a contract extension for six years and $71 million. The agreement was announced by Bulls general manager, John Paxson. Paxson said in a statement "Signing Luol has always been a priority for this organization and we have always felt that he was a big part of our future. We are very happy that Luol will now be with us long term as we continue to grow as an organization."

Due to injury, Deng only played in 48 games. During the regular season Luol's scoring dropped to 14.1 points per game and his rebounding dropped to 6.0 per game. The Bulls made the playoffs, but Luol missed the entire playoffs due to injury.

2009–10 season

Deng scored 27 points twice during the season, his season-high. Deng played in a total of 70 games during the 2009–10 season, also increasing his scoring and rebounding to 17.6 and 7.3 respectively, helping the Bulls make the playoffs again. He missed 11 straight games at the end of March because of a sprained right calf.

During the first-round of the playoffs, Deng averaged 18.8 points per game along with 5.0 rebounds per game against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He scored 26 points in the final game, but couldn't prevent the Bulls being eliminated by the Cavs.

2010–11 season

On November 1, 2010, Deng scored a new career-high 40 points, hitting 14 of his 19 shots, along with 9 of 11 free throws, against the Portland Trail Blazers. On February 24, 2011, Deng scored 20 points, 10 rebounds, and hit the game winning 3-point shot with 16 seconds left on the clock in a game against the Miami Heat. Throughout the season, Deng significantly improved his 3-point shooting after coach Tom Thibodeau asked him to. In the past four seasons, Deng attempted 132 3-point shots, whereas this season he attempted 333, hitting 115 for a 34%.

Deng finished the season averaging 17.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, being the third lead scorer for the Chicago Bulls behind Derrick Rose (25.0) and Carlos Boozer (17.5). This was also Deng's seventh season averaging double figures. During the first round of the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers, Deng averaged 18.6 points and 6.2 rebounds per game, being the second leading scorer of the team behind Derrick Rose.

On March 31, 2011, Eric Bressman of ''Dime'' magazine called Deng "the most underrated player" writing he was "never the face of the franchise but always the backbone". Coach Thibodeau has consistently called Deng the "glue" that holds the Bulls together. "Luol's professional. He practices hard. He prepares well. He studies his opponent. He's great at executing offensively and defensively. He's helped this team get better every day" said Thibodeau.

Deng was the Bulls' second leading scorer during the playoffs. In the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Miami Heat, Deng was praised for his defense on LeBron James. However, the Miami Heat went on to eliminate the Bulls in five games. Deng averaged just under 43 minutes, 16.9 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game during the playoffs.

Citizenship

Since his birth in Sudan, Deng has lived in Egypt, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Deng represented England at Under-16 and Under-19 level, and is an ambassador for the London 2012 Olympic Games. In October 2006, Deng became a naturalized British citizen in a ceremony in Croydon and was called up to play in European competition for the Great Britain team. He made his debut against Georgia in Pau, France on 9 August 2007, scoring 19 points. In his first competitive qualifying game representing Great Britain, Deng collected 32 points, 16 rebounds, 11 assists, 8 steals and 2 blocks against Slovakia, at Birmingham's National Indoor Arena on August 21, 2007.

Due to the independence of South Sudan on July 9, 2011, Deng has the available option to play in the future for its national team.

Contract negotiations

On July 31, 2008, Luol Deng officially agreed to a six-year deal with the Bulls worth a guaranteed US$71 million. With incentives he could get up to US$80 million.

Off the court

Deng is involved in numerous charities, such as the UK children's charity School Home Support. He has been noted for his work on behalf of the Lost Boys of Sudan and other refugees. During the summers of 2006 and 2007, Luol went to Africa, Asia and Europe with the NBA for their Basketball Without Borders Tour. He is also a spokesperson for the World Food Programme. "He really does epitomize everything I had hoped for as a person and a basketball player," general manager John Paxson said. "I think it's one of the reasons we've gotten to the level we're at this year. I'm truly proud of him. I think the world of him as a person and as a player."

He counts himself a fan of English Premier League side Arsenal F.C.

Deng has been the cover athlete for NBA Live video games in the UK.

Following the 2009–2010 season, Deng made a highly publicized first return to his native Sudan.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

|- | align="left" | 2004–05 | align="left" | Chicago | 61 || 45 || 27.3 || .434 || .265 || .741 || 5.3 || 2.2 || .8 || .4 || 11.7 |- | align="left" | 2005–06 | align="left" | Chicago | 78 || 56 || 33.4 || .463 || .269 || .750 || 6.6 || 1.9 || .9 || .6 || 14.3 |- | align="left" | 2006–07 | align="left" | Chicago | 82 || 82 || 37.5 || .517 || .143 || .777 || 7.1 || 2.5 || 1.2 || .6 || 18.8 |- | align="left" | 2007–08 | align="left" | Chicago | 63 || 59 || 33.8 || .479 || .364 || .770 || 6.3 || 2.5 || .9 || .5 || 17.0 |- | align="left" | 2008–09 | align="left" | Chicago | 49 || 46 || 34.0 || .448 || .400 || .796 || 6.0 || 1.9 || 1.2 || .5 || 14.1 |- | align="left" | 2009–10 | align="left" | Chicago | 70 || 69 || 37.9 || .466 || .386 || .764 || 7.3 || 2.0 || .9 || .9 || 17.6 |- | align="left" | 2010–11 | align="left" | Chicago | 82 || 82 || 39.1 || .460 || .345 || .750 || 5.8 || 2.8 || 1.0 || .6 || 17.4 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | | 485 || 439 || 35.0 || .471 || .327 || .764 || 6.4 || 2.3 || 1.0 || .6 || 16.0

Playoffs

|- | align="left" | 2006 | align="left" | Chicago | 6 || 0 || 30.0 || .429 || .200 || .571 || 4.8 || .5 || .8 || .7 || 10.2 |- | align="left" | 2007 | align="left" | Chicago | 10 || 10 || 41.0 || .524 || .000 || .807 || 8.7 || 2.4 || 1.0 || .7 || 22.2 |- | align="left" | 2010 | align="left" | Chicago | 5 || 5 || 40.6 || .463 || .083 || .731 || 5.0 || 1.4 || 1.4 || .8 || 18.8 |- | align="left" | 2011 | align="left" | Chicago | 16 || 16 || 42.9 || .426 || .324 || .839 || 6.6 || 2.7 || 1.5 || .6 || 16.9 |- | align="left" | Career | align="left" | | 37 || 31 || 40.0 || .463 || .279 || .777 || 6.7 || 2.1 || 1.2 || .7 || 17.5

Notes

External links

Duke profile

USA Today Article

Britball.com Article

Category:1985 births Category:Living people Category:Expatriate basketball people in the United States Category:British expatriate basketball people Category:British expatriate sportspeople in the United States Category:Chicago Bulls players Category:Dinka people Category:Blair Academy alumni Category:Duke Blue Devils men's basketball players Category:Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom Category:English basketball players Category:English people of South Sudanese descent Category:McDonald's High School All-Americans Category:Parade High School All-Americans (boys' basketball) Category:People from South Norwood Category:Phoenix Suns draft picks Category:Small forwards Category:South Sudanese basketball players Category:South Sudanese expatriates in the United States Category:South Sudanese emigrants to the United Kingdom Category:Black British sportspeople Category:British basketball players

ar:لوول دينغ ca:Luol Deng de:Luol Deng es:Luol Deng fr:Luol Deng hr:Luol Deng id:Luol Deng it:Luol Deng he:לואל דנג lv:Luols Dengs lt:Luol Deng nl:Luol Deng ja:ルオル・デン no:Luol Deng pl:Luol Deng pt:Luol Deng ru:Денг, Луол simple:Luol Deng sr:Луол Денг fi:Luol Deng ta:லுவால் டெங் tr:Luol Deng zh:罗尔·邓