VIDEO: Viral campaign to lure Zlatan Ibrahimovic to World Cup gaining traction

After the football world was treated to a thrilling World Cup qualifying playoff between Portugal and Sweden last November, excitement quickly turned to despair as the reality of a tournament without Zlatan Ibrahimovic began to sink in.

We had Cristiano Ronaldo, sure, but it was cruel and unusual punishment to rob us of Ibrahimovic - especially considering the mercurial striker was in the form of his life at the time, scoring stunning goals for fun.

As the Swedish star proclaimed after the loss, "a World Cup without [him] is nothing to watch."

A collection of some of the most recognizable Brazilian celebrities and athletes seem to agree with that sentiment, and have launched a campaign to rectify this problem.

The likes of Ronaldo, Dani Alves, Bebeto and even Anderson Silva offered their time to create the following video, in the hopes of convincing Ibrahimovic that he should make the trip to South America in June.

The Twitter hashtag 'VEMIBRA' - which translates roughly to 'Come here, Ibra' - has been gaining steam over the past few days, and on Tuesday afternoon, those involved in creating the campaign seem to have received the response they were looking for from the big Swede.

The World Cup is worth watching again.