Zlatan Ibrahimovic Debuts His Sportswear Brand A-Z With a Punchy Motivational Film

Charismatic Swedish soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has pronounced that he's taking on the likes of Under Armour, Adidas and Nike with the launch of his own sportswear brand, A-Z Sport, and the debut commercial certainly takes the fight to those brands.

The glossy black-and-white ad, created by Forsman & Bodenfors, opens with Ibrahimovic, standing in front of a cracked mirror, telling viewers they will "sweat, cry, scream, bleed" in their quest for sporting greatness "but giving up is never an option."

We see various young athletes push themselves to their limits in training, as he urges them to develop their own inner voice and not listen to the doubters. Of course it's the kind of message we've heard before, but Ibrahimovic's delivery is pretty powerful, and when he pronounces phrases like "rip out their tongues and let their words be your meat," it sounds like he really means it.

Philippe Tempelman at Indio directed the spot, which broke as Ibrahimovic unveiled the sportswear range in Paris this week. It will initially air in 11 countries, including Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Holland, France, the U.K., Austria, Spain, Italy and Sweden.