Brazil, Spain, Germany, obviously Sweden: Ibrahimovic picks World Cup favourites

The former Sweden centre-forward will attend the World Cup matches in partnership with Visa.

Published : Jun 12, 2018 22:14 IST

Zlatan Ibrahimovic quit as an international footballer in 2016 after the European Championship.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic quit as an international footballer in 2016 after the European Championship.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic quit as an international footballer in 2016 after the European Championship.

LA Galaxy striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, will be in Russia watching the FIFA World Cup 2018 as an ambassador of Visa's Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) Campaign. In May, after signing up for the campaign, Ibrahimovic had famously said, "A FIFA World Cup without me is not worth watching."

With just over 48 hours to go before the 21st edition of the World Cup kicks off, Ibrahimovic picked his favourites to win the coveted trophy, the players to watch out for and more in an interview with FIFA.com .

READ: Nestor Pitana to referee 2018 World Cup opening match

"I think it will be amazing," Zlatan said about Russia hosting the World Cup. "It’s a huge country with a lot of people. It will be nice having a World Cup there. I think it will be amazing, just like every World Cup. It’s the biggest party in the world, so wherever it is I just want to be there, see it live or see it on TV and enjoy. I would not miss it."

Asked to pick his favourites to win the tournament, Ibrahimovic named three of the universal favourites... and included Sweden too.

"I think Brazil, Spain, Germany, obviously Sweden. Argentina also, even if they don't want to talk about themselves as favourites," he said.

Ibrahimovic said the unpredictability of the tournament could work in Sweden's favour. "They (Sweden) beat some big nations to reach the World Cup, so let's see. Everything is exciting and new. You never know what will happen. It’s all about the moment. Whoever is best in the moment is the one that will do well."

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He also picked the two Frenchmen, Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe, to make an impact at the showpiece event. "I think [Paul] Pogba for sure, who everybody knows is fast and skilful. [Kylian] Mbappe, an upcoming star who still has more to give to get to the top, but he will for sure arrive there…there are so many players who are exciting at the moment that for sure some other star that nobody has been talking about will dominate."

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