Ibrahimovic's sponsor appearances were agreed to before he officially joined MLSGETTY IMAGES
The Galaxy "gave its blessing" to F Zlatan Ibrahimovic to leave the club during the World Cup, as he will be "working for companies he has endorsed during the event," according to Kevin Baxter of the L.A. TIMES. Visa earlier this month signed Ibrahimovic as the face of its World Cup campaign, and the credit card company "confirmed that Ibrahimovic would appear at one of its events." Visa is "one of FIFA's seven global corporate partners." MLS is not completely shutting down during the World Cup, though the Galaxy "have no games between June 9 and June 30, when group-stage games will be played." Galaxy President Chris Klein said that Ibrahimovic asked "for permission to leave during that time and the team gave its blessing." He added that Ibrahimovic's "sponsor appearances were agreed to before the player joined MLS." Klein: "He had some obligations and ran it by us, and we ticked all of the boxes in terms of approval from all of our people." Baxter noted Ibrahimovic "isn't the first Galaxy player to be given special travel previleges." David Beckham missed three games in '12 "to attend the London Olympics," and Steven Gerrard served "as a TV analyst" during the '16 European Championship (L.A. TIMES, 4/27).
