Swedish coach Erik Hamren claimed he's known about the possibility of his captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic quitting the international scene for a while now.

The rest of the world got to know the striker's final decision on Tuesday afternoon, but it's been an open secret since the beginning of the year.

"He told me today but I knew it was coming.

"When I called him in January/February to tell him I was leaving [the national team] he said 'I'm probably going to do that too, otherwise I would have persuaded you to stay'," Hamren told reporters.

Ibrahimovic made his national team debut in 2001 and is the best goalscorer in the history of the Swedish national team.

"If you want me to tell you what he has meant for Swedish football we would sit here for hours.

"But in short his importance has been immense, you can't measure it with anything.

"In my eyes Zlatan is at the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi," Hamren concluded.