Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has accused the Swedish media and Swedes in general of racism before, has sparked strong reactions with his protracted feud with the Swedish football team's national team coach Janne Andersson.
In a recent interview with Expressen, Ibrahimovic attacked Andersson, claiming that he has destroyed everything he has built in 20 years and accusing him of deliberately leaving out players with a non-Swedish background, such as himself.
In support of his stance, Ibrahimovic retweeted a link to an Instagram post by notorious Islamist Rashid Musa, lauding it as a “good take”.
Bra reflektionhttps://t.co/HLWOWDjZAK
— Zlatan Ibrahimović (@Ibra_official) 17 октября 2019 г.
In his post, Rashid Musa accused coach Janne Andersson of excluding black- and brown-skinned players from team Sweden, which he called “structural racism”. Musa also attacked a number of journalists who came to Andersson's defence and suggested that he has chosen players to can take a collective responsibility, work for the team and can take directives from the coach, by accusing them of determining the players' qualities based on race and thereby applying “scientific racism”.
Rashid Musa is the chairman of Sweden's Young Muslims (SUM). The organisation has previously been criticised for having links with the Muslim Brotherhood and regularly inviting anti-Semitic lecturers. In 2018, SUM lost state financing over its Islamist ties and had to pay back $1.37 million (roughly $140,000).
Rashid Musa has previously refused to distance himself from Daesh.
Perhaps ironically, in 2017 Rashid Musa led a seminar on Islamophobia organised by the Stockholm chapter of Swedish Social Democratic Youth League (SSU), where white people were barred from attending.
Ibrahimovic's recent tweet didn't go well with his Swedish fans.
“Look who you are linking to, Zlatan”, a user begged him.
Läs på vem du länkar Zlatan.
— 2019 (@Davidlee650) 17 октября 2019 г.
“My king, if you are going to get involved in the Swedish debate, avoid from allying yourself with Rashid Musa, he is a terror apologist and is part of the Muslim Brotherhood”, another one implored.
min kung om du ska engagera dig i svensk debatt ska du inte liera dig med Rashid Musa, han är terrorapologet och är en del av de muslimska brödraskapet
— Kevın Kəsrəvi ن (@kasravist) 17 октября 2019 г.
Others suggested that even Zlatan had “no free pass” at doing so and that he just made “his first self-goal”.
“Meh. Just because Rashid did not want to distance himself from Daesh, remains an active Islamist in today's Sweden, raises money through a bunch of associations with, according to the Swedish Tax Agency, undemocratic values, this does not mean that he is not a nice person. I believe the entire issue is Islamophobic, etc.” another one tweeted sarcastically.
Äsch då. Bara för Rashid inte ville ta avstånd från IS, är aktiv islamist i Sverige idag, som eskar pengar genom en drös föreningar med, enligt Skatteverket, odemokratiska värderingar, så betyder det inte att han inte är en fin människa. Jag tycker frågan är islamofobisk osv.
— snʞɹɐW. 👇🏻 (@MACKL0H) 17 октября 2019 г.
“Seriously! You have 6,111,003 followers, and you give exposure to Islamist Rashid Musa who represents the Muslim Brotherhood and has previously refused to distance himself from Daesh. Sick how ill-informed you are”, another one tweeted.
Seriös! Du har 6 111 003 följare, och ger exponering till islamisten Rashid Musas konto som företräder Muslimska brödraskapet och har tidigare VÄGRAT TA AVSTÅND FRÅN IS. Sjukt så dåligt insatt du måste vara 😡
— Sylvia (@Syloc) 17 октября 2019 г.
*Daesh (ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State), a terrorist group banned in Russia and a number of other countries