Top facts about Nadia Nadim, the Danish-Afghan female soccer player

The Afghan-Danish football player is currently the striker of the NWSL club Racing Louisville FC in addition to the Danish national team.

Right from the beginning, as one of the most impressive Top facts about Nadia Nadim, we can suggest that she is the most influential and greatest Afghan female football player of all time, especially due to her French league title in the 2020-21 season with

.

Not to mention that she was on Forbes list of Most Powerful Women in International Sports in 2018 while she was voted ‘Player of the Year’ in 2016 and 2017 in Denmark as well.

As she is a true force to be reckoned, her past is full of sad and painful stories;  be that as it may, she is undoubtedly a very distinguished player, in the light of her firm determination to be the best. 

Even it's hard to imagine how a long and difficult road Nadia Nadim has travelled to reach where she is now, being currently one of Denmark’s greatest soccer players, and the future doctor who might be specialized in reconstructive surgery since she is a medical student at Aarhus University.

Top facts about Nadia Nadim you need to know

With the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan, what better than to shed more light on Nadia’s story who is a true Afghan legend. So without further ado, here is everything there is to know on Top facts about Nadia Nadim.

Nadia Nadim facts in brief

• Full name

  : Nadia Nadim

• Date of birth

  : 2 January 1988

• Age

  : 33 years old

• Place of birth

  : Herat, Afghanistan

• Zodiac Sign

  : Capricorn

• Nationality

  : Afghanistan

• Religion

  : Islam

• Height

  : 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)

• Profession

  : Football player, Pundit, Medical student

• Net Worth in 2021

  : $1 Million - $5 Million

• Position(s):

  Forward

• National team

  : Denmark

• Current team

  : Racing Louisville FC

• Jersey number

  : 10

Nadia Nadim childhood and family

Nadia Nadim childhood

was spent in the city of Herat, Afghanistan alongside her mother, father and four sisters, as they lived in an area beside the president's family since her dad, Rabani Nadim was a general in the Afghan army.

They were benefited from security but not until the time of the Taliban arrival when Nadia was just 11-years-old. Thereby when they took the helm of the country, they executed her father and led her and her family to escape from the country at night in a small minivan.

With a slight hope for the best, they drove over the Pakistani border and from there, they stayed in Karachi for two months waiting for passports that would fit their profile.

After they found some documentation for their departure, they were disguised with some clothing so as to look like those people inside the passport.

Then they took a flight to Italy but since they were dropped off in Italy, they spent several days inside a truck expecting to arrive in London, having some relatives there.

Yet they never arrived in England as they had been dropped off at a refugee camp in rural Denmark, but hopefully, they were safe.

When they had just arrived, a guard working at the refugee camp provided a hungry Nadia with a meal consisting of milk, white toast and a banana and she was touched by his kindness so much that after more than two decades, she describes the gesture as one of the most momentums part of her life.

They lived in the refugee camp for nine months in a safe environment, where she eventually ended up finding a group of girls playing football, while she found herself so much passionate about watching them behind a fence.

Therefore her passion overcame her fears and he took the gut to ask the coach if she could join in, and in spite of the fact that she could not speak English, she managed to make him understand her desire for playing.

She was so excellent in playing that just after two months of training she received her first call-up to play in a scheduled match.

While she could break down such formidable barriers in her life and ascended the ladder of success despite all of them, she tries to spread the following message: "I want to tell the kids and girls, or those who have been through dark times, that it's okay. All of us have been through tough times. You are capable of coming out of it."

Nadia Nadim professional career

Her professional football career was started when she played for B52 Aalborg, Team Viborg from 2005 to 2006 and IK Skovbakken from 2006 to 2012 until she joined

in 2012.

Her Champions League debut occurred in September the same year when she put away both goals in a 2–1 victory over Scottish Champions Glasgow City.

Then she moved to NWSL club

around the end of the 2014 NWSL season as she starred in 6 games, netted 7 goals and provided 3 assists.

Therefore, she was called player of the week on 19 August and player of the month for the NWSL on 14 August. While she spent one more year playing for them, on 14 January 2016, she was transferred to Portland Thorns FC.

While as a striker she netted 9 goals in 20 games, she ended up being the team's top scorer in 2016, leading the team to win the 2016 NWSL Shield.

She also helped them to grab a second-place finish in the league as well as a triumph in the NWSL Championship game in the next season.

Afterwards, on 28 September 2017, she got contracted with FA Women's Super League side Manchester City for the 2018 season.

In her debut match for

which took place on 7 January 2018 in a 5–2 victory over Reading, she netted her first goal for the team after just six minutes on the ground and then 26 minutes later she registered an assist to the second goal of her team.

Then in her second match, she managed to net the winning goal of a 1–0 victory over

in the semifinale of the Continental Tyres Cup.

She went on to request a transfer out of the club in 2018, and as a result, her contract terminated on 1 January 2019, as she ended up making a deal with Paris Saint-Germain on 3 January 2019.

Following a successful first season, her contract was extended on 9 July 2019, being later rewarded with the captain's armband so as to become the team's vice-captain for the 2019–20 season as she racked 13 goals and 13 assists in 16 league and cup games for them.

Most recently on 9 June 2021, she made a deal with

as she came back to the NWSL four years following her departure from Portland Thorns FC for Manchester City.

Although in her eight games with Racing Louisville, she has put away three goals and provided one assist, her span has been cut short with them following her sustaining an injury during the team’s 3-1 defeat to the

.

That is to say, her ACL was torn following a tackle by Orlando’s Phoebe McClernon in the 17th minute of the game while she underwent surgeries and it is to be said that her recovery might take a lot of time.

Despite some initial problems in her playing for Denmark due to her citizenship, she eventually made her national debut in the 2009 Algarve Cup in a 0–2 loss by the United States, while she became the first naturalised Dane to represent a Denmark senior national football team.

Then he went on to take part in all three of Denmark's matches at UEFA Women's Euro 2009 in Finland. As part of the Denmark squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2013, she starred as a substitute in an eventful 1–1 draw in their opening group match against hosts Sweden.

Then in the UEFA Women's Euro 2017 competition, she played a crucial role in Denmark's advancement, as she scored the tying goal in Denmark's eventual 2–1 victory over favourites Germany in the knockout stages, and then put away a go-ahead goal in the final, while Denmark ended up to be defeated by the host Netherlands 4–2.

Likewise, on 27th October 2020, while Denmark had to win away against Italy to qualify for the UEFA Women's Euro 2022, Nadia became honoured to be the player of the match when she netted 2 crucial goals in Denmark's 3-1 triumph over Italy in Florence, so as to cement Denmark's spot in the upcoming Euros.

While she was expected to join the Denmark national team for World Cup qualifiers so as to make her 100th career national appearance, unfortunately for her, she sustained injury and has been failed to do so.

Nadia Nadim personal life

One of the most impressive

top facts about Nadia Nadim

in the realm of her personal life affairs is that she has become a sensation, both on and off the pitch, as a star athlete and a humanitarian or even a surgeon.

That is to say, she attended medical school at Aarhus University remotely even at the time of the football season, in pursuit of becoming a surgeon when she would be retired from her professional playing.

While she has around a semester away from qualifying to become a reconstruction surgeon, it is self-evident how high lofty aspirations she has away from her beautiful game and that is helping people.

In fact, she always deemed football as a passion more than a job, even if she got paid for it. But what she truly wants to do is to have an impact on people's lives.

Thereby being a doctor provides her with the situations in which she can help people. While she loves interacting with them, she cherishes the opportunities of smiling at people and observing how it would brighten up their days.

Moreover, apart from all of these, her speaking 11 languages fluently including English, French, Danish, and Hindi is one of the most terrific top facts about Nadia Nadim.

Nadia Nadim net worth 

Such a tactful woman would undoubtedly earn millions, but it seems that this is not the case for her, as she once expressed concerns about the huge gap between the women's and men's game, yet one source indicated

Nadia Nadim net worth

to be around $1 Million - $5 Million.

The gorgeous confident footballer seems to be totally aware of how a brilliant mind she has and she doesn't want it, by no means to go to waste. So in her opinion, being a doctor would earn her a whopping amount of money, and this is exactly what she wants.

Because for bringing up change, she needs to have total freedom in terms of finances in as much as brilliant ideas require investors for their booming. Just for example, if there was a hungry person on the street, he or she needs food, not a hug, even if a hug would somehow help as well.

Nadia Nadim endorsements and autobiography

One of the other amazing

top facts about Nadia Nadim

is that she became the first-ever Danish female football player to be represented by Nike when she made a representation deal with Nike in 2017.

Therefore she was used in many of their branches on top of doing work for the football department. Moreover, she corporates in commercials for Air Jordan and Nike's collaborations with Martine Rose, being known for her work with Visa and Hugo Boss as well.

Likewise, in 2016, a 4-episode long documentary about Nadia was released by Danish TV station DR, which provided a full account of her playing development with the Portland Thorns, from Denmark to the United States.

Not to mention that in 2018, Nadia Nadim's autobiography called "Min Historie (My Story)", was published by Danish publisher JP/Politiken. Afterwards, the French publisher Hachette Book Group released it in French on May 26, 2021, as well.

Nadia Nadim social media

In regard to

top facts about Nadia Nadim social media

activity, one can suggest that she is active on various platforms including Instagram and Twitter.

With her Instagram account of

she racked up around 212 thousand followers, sharing posts in the realm of her football profession and medical activity, her concerns about human rights affairs, equality and culture as well as her ideological and sentimental believes.

While her story has been shared among many people around the world with her autobiography, people on different networking platforms, have highly regarded her as a true role model for their daughters.

Nadia Nadim religion

Although she doesn’t often wear the veil, 

Nadia Nadim religion

is Islam, to the point that being a Muslim is very important to her.

That is because religion has kept her grounded and capable to encounter the stuff happening around her while at the same time she feels relaxed in the club and prays as much as she can.

Here are her own terms in this regard: "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."

She continued: “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.”

In this respect, she also raised her concerns in her book, on the “difficulties of being a Muslim in Europe at the moment" due to the way terrorists have hijacked Islam.

Nadia Nadim potential and recognition

While she is widely recognised for her energetic and determined playing style, she is also very thriving from the penalty spot, converting all but one of her penalties in the NWSL, as she immediately compensated for the one missing, by scoring on the rebound at Euro 2017.

In addition, in July 2019, she was dubbed as UNESCO Champion for Girls and Women's Education, earning this tribute for her role in promoting sport and gender equality, as well as for her contribution to the Organization's educational action prioritizing young people and advocacy for girls and women's education at an international scale, among others.

Just, for instance, she recently announced fundraising efforts with Racing Louisville FC for girls and women in Afghanistan which resulted in $40,000 (£29,000) being donated to UN Women and local resettlement organisations. She indicated that she hopes it somehow help cure part of the sufferings Afghanistan has gone through these days.

Read More:

Follow

for the