Nadia Nadim

Nadia Nadim is, and rightly should be, an inspiration to all women.

When she was around 12 years old, Nadia Nadim fled her native Afghanistan with her mother and four sisters, after her father, a general in the Afghan army, was murdered by the Taliban.

In Afghanistan when Nadia was growing up, the Taliban had laws and rules that stated women could not work, go to school or venture outside of the family home. It was extremely hard for Nadia, her mother and four sisters, to live in the country, once her father had been murdered. Her mother wanted the best possible future for her daughters, so she hired a people smuggler to get the family out of Afghanistan. The plan was for the family to travel to England, where they had extended family, but they ended up in a tiny town in Denmark. Why they ended up in Denmark is still a bit of a mystery. As Nadia herself pointed out, in an interview in 2017: “I think, at that point, we were [just] happy we were safe.”

Growing up in Afghanistan, Nadia never saw any women competing in any kind of sports. Her father introduced his daughters to football. According to Nadia, “I knew I had to kick the ball, but I didn’t play.” When she was in the refugee camp in Denmark, Nadia started to play football with the other children and have competitions such as who could juggle the ball the longest. She played football daily with the other refugee children who were themselves from multiple other countries: Syria, Armenia, Palestine and Iraq. Day by day, her footballing skills improved.

When her family finally got to move out of the refugee centre, Nadia found that there wasn’t a football club close to her new home. The coach from the club near the refugee centre, who knew she was a skilful player, got in contact and offered her a trial. However, her mother refused, as the club was a long way from the family’s new home and they didn’t have the money. Her mother was working multiple jobs, just to make enough money so the family could survive. Somehow, Nadia convinced her mother to allow her to go to one trial session. The trial went well and Nadia was offered a place in the team. The young girl declined the offer, explaining how the family couldn’t afford the bus fare. The coach of the team said to her, “We’re going to figure out the transportation issue — we’ll get you a bus pass so you don’t have to buy [any bus tickets].”

As Nadia revealed in a magazine interview: “There are moments in my life when someone did a little thing from their side, but it had a huge impact on me.”

From that initial club, Nadia went from strength to strength. As a teenager, she signed for IK Skovbakken in the Danish town of Aarhus. While there, she had a phenomenal scoring record, firing in 88 goals in 91 appearances. Her striking record has followed her ever since, whether she was playing in the US, England or France. In 2006, she gained her first international cap playing for Denmark. At the UEFA Women’s European 2017 tournament, she was an instrumental member of the squad which reach the final. Though she scored a goal in the final, Denmark ultimately lost the game to the host nation, the Netherlands, 4 – 2.

Outside of football, Nadia Nadim is no less inspirational. She speaks nine different languages and attends medical school at Aarhus University (remotely during the football season), with the aim of becoming a surgeon when her playing days are over. In 2020, she began assisting surgeries in reconstructive surgery. Asked about her medical course, Nadia replied: “I know as a doctor, I’ll be able to [help] other people. I know 100 percent that I want to be a surgeon.”

In July 2019, Nadia was named UNESCO Champion for Girls and Women's Education. She received this in recognition for her role promoting sport and gender equality. It also recognised her contribution to UNESCO's educational action prioritizing young people and advocacy for girls and women's education on an international scale.

Having been born in Afghanistan, Nadia is also a Muslim. Talking about her faith she said: “I’m a Muslim and I wouldn’t hurt an ant. [People] put the blame on some group, and right now, it’s Muslims. I don’t understand people not learning from history. The only thing I can do is say, ‘That’s not true — not all Muslims are terrorists’. It has nothing to do with Islam.”

Nadia Nadim is once again playing her football in the US this season, for Racing Louisville FC in Kentucky, and is continuing to be an inspiration to all women.

Speaking about her success, she said: “I’m blessed to be in the position to be able to tell people that [success] is possible. I’m happy I can show that good stories can exist too.” Talking about refugees, she continued, “You just have to give people a chance.”