Swedish-born forward Zlatan Ibrahimović led his team to a 2-0 victory as the sole scorer against Toronto FC at the California-based Dignity Health Sports Park, but soccer fans around the world appeared a little distracted by the back of his jersey, which featured a glaring misspelling: "IRBAHIMOVIC."
Before the team’s victory, netizens hopped on social media to troll LA Galaxy’s flub, creating “#Irbahimovic.”
Oops, who spelt Zlatan’s name wrong 😳🤣 pic.twitter.com/OJqZZe72DC
— Soccer Laduma (@Soccer_Laduma) July 5, 2019
Need to check the stats on this. Pretty sure #Irbahimovic only has 2 this year? https://t.co/hmN8m2x3dC
— Dylan (@3DinTO) July 5, 2019
Genius marketing by @LAGalaxy, that one of a kind #irbahimovic jersey will sell for millions
— Matthew Advani (@AdvaniMatthew) July 5, 2019
The lad's not bad either. 👏👏👏
— FotMob (@FotMob) July 5, 2019
But we can't seem to find #Irbahimovic in the app? 🤔pic.twitter.com/H9ejII0o4o
Zlatan's brother from another father. #Irba #Irbahimović pic.twitter.com/NCj3BE0coT
— Krisi Bee (@KrisiBee) July 5, 2019
Well that's awkward..#Irbahimovic #LAvTOR #TFCLive pic.twitter.com/ONDHAjEfmo
— Marco D'Onofrio (@Kubani7) July 5, 2019
You see, Zlatan is so good he sent his stunt double #Irbahimovic and still scored two goals #LAvTOR #MLS https://t.co/3fYDjWHbAK
— Juan S. Pimiento (@PimientoFutbol) July 5, 2019
Zlatan anotó dos goles ante Toronto... pero el MVP se lo lleva el encargado de material del Galaxy, que escribió mal el apellido del sueco #Irbahimovic 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/OGkiAinyqv
— Àlex Pareja (@Alexparella) July 5, 2019
The change in spelling, however, may have been a lucky charm for the player, because prior to the July 4 game, Ibrahimović had been on a month-long scoring dry spell. While it’s likely that the mistaken jersey was a simple clerical error or manufacturer mistake, MLS Soccer notes that Chris Wondolowski achieved a similar feat in breaking the 2013 US men’s national team’s scoreless run while wearing a jersey that read "WONDOWLOWSKI."
The comparisons didn’t stop there. Twitter user @089968Raph provided some highlights of similar misspellings from years past.
Ibrahimovic isn't the first footballer this has happened to 😅... #Ibrahimovic #LAGalaxy #LAGTOR #MLS ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/XRwvaTopy5
— Raphael Wilson (@089968Raph) July 5, 2019
Ibrahimović, a former player for Manchester United, Barcelona FC, Paris Saint-Germain FC and AC Milan, appeared unbothered on social media as he mentioned nothing of the error and has since only posted a flick of him successfully completing the viral “bottle cap challenge”
The only comment he made concerning the matter was made during postgame media availability. Ibrahimović noted that he saw pictures of the jersey, but said he was not too worried about the mishap, because “people know my last name.”
Språkföralla (Zoran) you are welcome @paulpogba you are next #bottlecapchallange pic.twitter.com/r2cPxXa9tH
— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) July 5, 2019
Let’s just hope LA Galaxy didn’t make a bulk order!