Paris: More than 200 goals, a Ligue 1 winners’ medal and a UNESCO badge – Nadia Nadim is more than what meets the eye. The Afghan-Danish footballer is an inspiration to many having waved her way through Portland Thorns to Manchester City and finally Paris Saint-Germain.
Born in the Afghan city of Herat, the 33-year-old was only 11 when her father – a general in the Afghan army – had to give up on his dear life. Striving for survival, Nadim along with her mother and four sisters had to flee through Pakistan forging passports, until Denmark offered them the shelter which she proudly calls home now.
“The only thing I was thinking of was staying alive, you know, surviving until the next day,” Nadim was quoted as saying to CNN Sport. “I was just looking: ‘Okay, what’s going to happen? What’s happening right now? How can I survive until the next morning?’
“And I think that’s the case for a lot of the people who are in these camps. You know, it is in the moment and then you’re trying to make the best out of it and then try to stay alive and hope for the best for tomorrow,” she added stating how optimistic she was.
While Nadim turned her passion into a profession, at the same time, she also started working for charity while away from football. Adjudged as one of the Forbes Most Powerful Women, Nadim does ambassadorial work for United Nations and uses her assets for the betterment of society.
Currently, Nadim has teamed up with PSG and KLABU – an organization that helps to build sports clubs for children in refugee camps. Nadim hoped to reach 10,000 children across for the cause and is particularly close to her heart.
Nadim, who has overturned her future for the better, is also learning to speak nine languages and training herself to be a regenerative surgeon. She said that it was in a refugee camp in Denmark where she found her passion for football seeing some kids play with a ball in fields close by.
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“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,” Nadim said on Spotlight on France podcast, 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. I was like: ‘It looks really cool, I want to do the same’,” she stated. “Since then, I’ve never left the football and look where it has brought me, to Paris Saint-Germain,” stated Nadim, who is just two games shy of making 100 appearances for Denmark.
Coming from war wretched Afghanistan, Nadim missed out on a childhood that changed once she reached Denmark. She hoped to do the same for the children in the refugee camps and believes that there will be many athletes finding their places because of her project. More than an outstanding athlete, Nadia would like to be remembered as a kind warrior who has set examples for all to come after her.
