Who is Nadia Nadim? Nadia Nadim is a 33-year-old footballer who plays for Denmark, but she is not your average female player.
Triumphing in the face of challenges and misfortunes it’s no doubt the hallmark of a protagonist who really strives to achieve the unimaginable against all odds.
Nadia rode on the painful emotion of her late father’s death who was murdered in cold blood by the Taliban in 2000. To achieve the unthinkable as a footballer and a surgeon, she flee away from her town in Herat, Afghanistan.
There’s no limit to what you could accomplish if you put your mind to it and come out vindicated in the end. The new Racing Louisville forward’s story is an inspiration to many, and she has been a role model for young girls who were born in a society where women’s right has been seriously bastardized.
Nadia along with her family fled the city of Herat to Denmark following the death of her father, the nordic country where she now calls home after officially becoming a citizen through naturalization.
Nadia Nadim’s Striking Story
“We planned to escape to London, where we had a few relatives, and with forged passports, we came to Italy through Pakistan,” Nadia writes on her website.
“From there, me and my entire family went on a truck, thinking we were heading towards London.
“After a few days, we all turfed of the truck, expecting to see Big Ben. We did not. All we saw were trees. We asked a passer-by and found out that the bus had dropped us in Denmark.”
Getting to Denmark she believes that football could help her turn around the misfortune she has experience as a young girl back home in Herat. Nadia Nadim’s life, already turned upside down, was to be changed forever as she began to learn the “easiest language of all”: football.
“When I started playing football in a refugee camp as a kid and I fell in love with the game, I didn’t even know that women footballers could reach this level,” she says, relaxing at PSG’s Parc des Princes after a training session.
“But I kept training hard, kept believing, and slowly step by step we’re here,” pointing to the legendary stadium behind her.
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After applying for asylum, she began playing football with the youth team of B52 Aalborg. Her professional career began with IK Skovbakken from 2006-12, before moving to Fortuna Hjorring where she had a stellar spell with the second most successful club in Danish women’s football, winning the league for the in her stay there.
In 2009, Nadia became the first foreign-born player to play for the Red and White, while her talent also took her to some of the finest women teams in the world. She earned a reputation as a prolific goalscorer who has helped her team to several wins.
Her fantastic goal in the 2017 European Championship was one of the highlights of her impressive career. Prior to when she featured for the Danes, Danish nationality law couldn’t grant her citizenship until she turns 18.
When her citizenship was granted in 2008, FIFA eligibility rules also blocked her from playing because she has not been a resident for at least five years in Denmark after turning 18.
Eventually, FIFA’s legal department rules in her favor following the challenge she faced with the Danish Football Association and since then the rest they say was history.
Nadia Nadim isn’t just a footballer, she’s also studying to become a reconstructive surgeon at Aarhus University. She also does ambassadorial work because of her fight for gender equality on women’s education with the United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization, which has brought her quite a huge popularity.
“What I love most is the pressure and responsibility that’s on your shoulders. It makes you feel alive. I guess that’s probably the crossover.”
Having been helped a lot through her life, working as a doctor is her way of paying back.
“I’m probably going to be the last person who can make an impact on some person’s life – that interests me tremendously,” “Being able to do that for other people will be amazing.”
“I know I have a brilliant mind and I don’t want it to go to waste. As a doctor I’m probably going to make shit tonnes of money,” she laughs.
“If you really want to bring change, you need to have total freedom in terms of finances because in the end if you have brilliant ideas you need investors. And if someone’s hungry on the street they need food, not a hug.” Even if, as she admits, “A hug helps.”
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Life At PSG
The desire to succeed has driven her ever since. Nadia played one season at Man City in 2018, but the environment both on and off the pitch meant she didn’t find life in England suitable.
“Life is too short to be in places and do stuff I don’t want to do because there’s no need for it. Why should I?” she says.
When she got the chance to play for PSG feminine in January 2019, the opportunity to don the beautiful shirt as “Zlatan, Mbappé and Silva” was “a dream come true”. She “felt at home right away” in such a diverse team.
“I didn’t feel like an outsider because I look different, have different skin color or different beliefs because there are so many people like me.
“That’s one of the things I love the most, I’m not the only one standing out,” she laughs.
The former Paris Saint Germain feminine forward isn’t just considered one of the most influential footballers for nothing, her humanitarian works for young girls and women is definitely one of the qualities that make her stand out as an athlete.
She made history with Paris Saint Germain winning the Frauenliga 1 ahead of perennial champions Olympique Lyonnais scoring 13 goals and 13 assists in 16 matches last season.
Her stint with Portland Thorns FC also produced some level of success winning the 2016 NWSL with 9 goals in 20 games. Since her debut for the Danes, she has been brilliant for the national team scoring 38 goals in 98 appearances and also represent her adopted country in major tournaments.
Nadia Nadim’s Religion
You might not see her wear the conventional Muslim veil every time, but she holds her faith quite strong.
“Religion has kept me grounded and able to cope with stuff happening around me,” she says, adding that she feels relaxed in the club and prays “as much as I can”.
“I know if you look at me and I’m playing football then you’re like: ‘Oh she can’t be a Muslim’ but I think that’s such a wrong conception of what Islam is or what a religion is. In the end, it’s there for you to be a good human being…and I think I am.”
In her book, she refers to the “difficulties of being a Muslim in Europe at the moment” because of the way terrorists have hijacked the religion.
“Unfortunately you see the trend of Islamophobia and this fear of religion. It’s upsetting because I think a minority of Muslim people are ruining the religion’s name.”
Waving Off Penury
Nadim’s aunt Aryana Sayeed is an Afghan superstar too. Fire and ambition run in the family, Their father taught them to be tough, beating her elder sister when she dared to cry.
“We were like soldiers who always had to get up and go back into battle, no matter who our opponents were,” she writes.
“I definitely have passion in my genes,” she laughs. “My dad was really competitive, being a general, and he played sport himself. My mum was really competitive too.”
“What I’ve been through as a kid forged me into this person I am. I really enjoy winning and I want to succeed no matter what because I don’t want to go back to where I was as a kid being poor.
Nadia Nadim’s inspirational success story wouldn’t have been possible if not for her dedication and steadfastness in triumphing over adversity when she flees her homeland to Denmark, following the execution of her father by the Taliban.
For what she’s been able to achieve for herself, she’s no doubt a role model to a lot of young ladies out there, who would look at her story and ride on the self-belief, dedication, and perseverance she rode on to achieve success in her career away from her comfort zone.
Credits: Nadianadim.com
