PSG's Nadia Nadim: 'I know the value of helping a person when they have no hope'

The Dane discusses the Taliban’s murder of her father, falling for football as a refugee and training to be a reconstructive surgeon

“I’m only 32 but I feel like I’ve experienced a lot more, like 200 years of life, in bad ways and good ways,” Nadia Nadim says near the end of an hour-long conversation that has been more exhilarating than sobering. We have moved from the way her life “changed in the blink of an eye” when the Taliban stopped her going to school at the age of 11 and then murdered her father. She has reflected on how her mother found a way to help her and her four sisters flee Afghanistan. We have remembered how she fell for football in a refugee camp in Denmark and her life changed forever. Nadim has since played 92 times for Denmark and, as a prolific goalscorer, become one of the world’s most significant women footballers.

She has played professionally in Denmark, New Jersey, Portland, Manchester and now Paris where, before lockdown, she helped PSG reach the Champions League quarter-finals. They were due to face Arsenal last month. She speaks seven languages fluently and is one semester from graduating as a reconstructive surgeon. Meanwhile, during this interview, she swears like a trooper and makes me laugh. Nadim is at home with her family in Denmark, finding solace and hope in lockdown life while reflecting on a past like no other.

Continue reading...

from Football | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/apr/27/psg-nadia-nadim-football-refugee-reconstructive-surgeon-taliban-denmark