Nadia Nadim, 35, Afghan-born striker for Denmark
Nadia Nadims passion for soccer was ignited when, as a child living in a camp for asylum seekers in central Denmark in 2000, she watched other girls through a fence playing at a neighbouring club. It was the first time Id seen girls play football, she remembers. I loved watching one particular girl and wished it was me. She looked so happy and free.Freedom had been in short supply for Nadims family in their native Afghanistan after her father, an army general, was murdered by the Taliban. Nadim was the second of five girls, and without a male to accompany them, the family was housebound. We couldnt go to school, so our mum taught us at home, explains Nadim.Her mother decided to hire people smugglers and flee the country. Armed with fake passports, they made it over the border to Pakistan and flew to Milan. There, they hid in the back of a truck as it rolled for two days across Europe. When they reached the Danish city of Randers, the driver told them it was time to get out.While living in the refugee camp, Nadim learned Danish in the morning and played soccer every afternoon with boys and girls in the camp until dark. Eventually she plucked up the courage to ask the girls whom shed been watching through the fence if she could join their club. She played her. first match in a too-small pair of football boots from a second-hand shop; she tried soaking them so theyd stretch, but I still got blisters, she recalls.Nadims skills and athleticism soon set her on an incredible soccer career. She became the first foreign-born player to appear for Denmark, at the Algarve Cup in Portugal in 2009. Nadim has played professionally for teams in Denmark and the U.K., and was with the venerable Paris Saint-Germain team that won the French womens league title in 2021. She currently plays for Racing Louisville FC in the U.S.
In 2006, Nadim started a soccerprogram with a friend in a deprived area of Randers where young people were often in trouble with the law. The project began with seven boys and grew to include more than 200 kidsboys and girls.She recalls the day she saw two Somali girls in headscarves playing soccer with the boys. Until then, the girls didnt think they could play. I realized football has power. It can change peoples point of view. Nadim was named UNESCO champion for girls and womens education in 2019.Giving back is what motivated Nadia Nadim to become a doctor. She juggled playing pro soccer with studying medicine at Aarhus University in Denmark, qualifying as a doctor in 2022.I want to be in a position where I can help people when I retire from the game, she says. When I walk the corridors of the hospital in my white coat, I get this feeling I can do great things.(Related: Why One Woman Started a Fund to Support Canadian Olympic Athletes)
