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Ibrahimovic's face on Swedish stamps
11/12/2013 1:40:35 PM
- Zlatan Ibrahimovic set to adorn a new range of stamps in Sweden
- The Swedish national football team captain nominated for 2013 Ballon d'Or
- The Paris Saint-Germain striker is also up for the goal of the year award
- Ibrahimovic has already had a giant burger named after him in Paris
(CNN) -- Swedish poster boy Zlatan Ibrahimovic has delivered again -- the Swedish Postal Service is to honor the Paris Saint-Germain forward with his own range of stamps.
Each year up to 60 different stamp motifs are commissioned in Sweden, with the initial decision about the subject made by the Postal Service's group of experts, with the finished Ibrahimovic product going on sale in March 2014.
Read: Parisians take a bite out of PSG star
"I've got to be on a corner of the stamp and it will be fun to see the finished result," said the 32-year-old striker in a statement.
"It's a great honor to be on a postage stamp, and I'm very proud to be selected," added the Sweden captain.
"I get a lot of bills and there are rarely great stamps. Maybe that will change now!"
2013 has been something of an annus mirabilis for Ibrahimovic.
The PSG forward has been nominated for the 2013 FIFA Ballon d'Or, an award given to the world's finest footballer, while an audacious overhead kick scored against England is a contender to win the prize for the year's best goal.
His talents have inspired a vast array of tributes, from the monstrous Zlatan burger on sale in a Paris cafe to a lovingly-composed flick book of his recent audacious volley against Bastia.
His autobiography -- entitled "I am Zlatan Ibrahimovic" -- containing the frank and forthright views for which the Swede is renowned is also selling well.
A two-legged playoff against Portugal, with the first match scheduled for Friday, will decide whether Ibrahimovic can deliver his country to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
Regardless of the outcome of the tie, which will conclude with the second leg in Stockholm on November 19, a range of Zlatan-inspired stamps will be released on March 27.
Read: Was Ibrahimovic's overhead kick the best goal ever?
"We know from experience that people choose stamps based on their images," said Britt-Inger Hahne, director of stamps at the Swedish postal service.
"I am very proud and happy to announce that next year we will publish a booklet of stamps picturing Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
"If these stamps can help us reach new audiences, people that today neither send nor receive letters, that would be fantastic."
Ibrahimovic's PSG teammate Thiago Silva is in no doubt as to the former Barcelona forward's talents.
Silva hopes Ibrahimovic will head off competition from four-time winner and former Barca teammate Lionel Messi and Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo to lift the Ballon d'Or in Zurich on January 13.
"As a football fan I love Ibrahimovic. I'm sure that he will be in the top three for the Ballon d'Or," Brazil captain Silva told Sky Italia.
"It will be difficult for him to win but I think he deserves it as he is performing better than Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi."
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