A Swedish court has found the former head coach of the country’s athletics team guilty of aggravated libel against Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic for suggesting the footballer used performance-enhancing substances.

The district court in Karlstad ordered Ulf Karlsson to pay a fine of SKr24,000 (£2,170) for comments he made at a panel discussion at a sports conference in April. Karlsson implied Ibrahimovic, 35, must have used substances to bulk up as quickly as he had done during his time at Juventus.

The judge said: “The court’s opinion is that in the context of what was said Ulf Karlsson gave the impression that Zlatan was doping during his time at Juventus.”

Karlsson was the head coach of Sweden’s national athletics team from 2001–04. Ibrahimovic played for Juve from 2004–06 after leaving Ajax.