Helmarit will face Denmark in their second match of the European Football Championship on Tuesday at 19:00. The broadcast on TV2 starts at 18:15 and on Puhee at 18:30.
More than 20 years ago Nadia Nadim looked around and found London strange. One of Europe’s busiest metropolises did not match the young girl’s imagination.
There were supposed to be millions of people, but there were some tens of thousands of them. There had to be life everywhere, the environment was sleepy. The Queen’s Palace was supposed to be a hot attraction, as there was a zoo circled on the maps. As the last clues, English sounded like Hebrew and the union flag was more red than blue.
Stepping out into the daylight from the trunk of the human smugglers’ car, the group quickly noticed that something had gone wrong. The long escape journey that started in South Asia was supposed to lead to England, but 11-year-old Nadim and his family were transported to Randers, Denmark.
– After a few hours, the mother found an old man walking the dog. He asked where we were. It turned out that in a small Danish town. We were in shock. But we didn’t really care because we were all together and safe, Nadim said In a Players’ Tribune article.
By this day, Nadim has already become familiar with London – the real one – and other big cities as well. It is largely thanks to her that the women of the Danish national football team will get to see England even more this summer thanks to the EC final tournament.
One of his team’s most important players scored two decisive goals in Florence last fall, which led Denmark to an away victory over Italy. The result ensured the country’s place in the competition as the first in the group. With a total of nine goals, Nadim was number one in the scoring statistics of the qualifying group.
The fact that the family ended up in a completely wrong country has been a football stroke of luck for Denmark.
The 34-year-old forward currently plays in the United States for the Racing Lousville team. This summer, the milestone of 100 A national matches was already crossed, and Nadim has found the back of the net in almost every other game on average.
Afghanistan’s most successful footballer is therefore also an important hope for Denmark when it aims for success in the Helmareite EC group. In the opening match of the Games, he came on the field from the bench, because he was at least not yet in full playing condition.
Expectations were perhaps at a record high, because in the previous European Championships in 2019, Denmark was one of the cinderella stories. One of the last countries to qualify, Denmark won two matches in the group stage and took its most valuable scalp in the quarterfinals with a 2-1 victory over Germany in the final moments. In the semifinals, Nadim was one of the scorers in the penalty shootout that took Denmark to an unexpected European Championship final.
The last opposition in front of 28,000 spectators was Holland, against whom Nadim scored one more goal. Denmark persevered in a 2-2 situation until the second period, but eventually had to give up. Still, it didn’t take long after the final whistle before the significance of the achievement washed away the disappointment.
Now the layout is the same. However, the surprise result five years ago and a strong leader like Nadim are the keys to new top moments.
– This has been a crazy journey. I’ve been through a lot, but this has been my own path. I got another chance and I took it. I still want to achieve a lot, and not only in football. One day I will go back to Afghanistan and try to give something back. Football has given me so much and taken me to places I would have never even dreamed of, Nadim told Arab News in 2018.
Far from Kabul
Born in Kabul, Nadim’s life changed when the turbulent political situation at home escalated even more.
Craving for power, the Taliban wanted to control their environment and the people who influence it, which was the fate of Nadim’s father. An Afghan army general was invited to a meeting with the minister but never returned. The family fled the radicalizing society with the help of smugglers through Pakistan to Europe – first to Italy, then further north.
A new journey began with the Aalborg team, which took Nadim to the sharpest point of international football. Team by team, he progressed to a higher level and finally to the Champions League pitch as a Fortuna Hjörring player.
For most of his career, Nadim has played in the United States, where he went for the first time at the age of 26. Later, he has represented giant clubs such as Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain, far from the extraordinary origins of his football career as a refugee who abandoned his home.
– Everything I experienced as a child has shaped me into this kind of person. I really enjoy winning and I want to succeed regardless of everything else, because I don’t want to go back to where I was as a poor child, Nadim wrote in his memoirs.
Having fulfilled all his dreams, Nadim has been a sought-after role model.
Nine languages are fluent. The sports career has taken me to the brightest peak, the status of a star. Along with his football career, he studied medicine and Nadim became a surgeon.
– I am actually everything that the Taliban does not want its women to become, Nadim remarked to CNN last year.
However, something changed in a fundamental way this year, when Nadim was criticized instead of praised. Nadim’s cover photo eligibility also made him the advertising face of Qatar. As one of the ambassadors of the Games, Nadim got into the teeth of the Danish media during the European Championships, and refused to back down.
– I don’t know who you think I am. I’m not Donald Trump, Nadim told a Danish newspaper According to Ekstra Bladet.
With his comments, Nadim washed his hands of Qatar’s controversies, such as human rights. The Danes asked, for example, about the deaths of foreign workers who built the stadiums and about the rights of sexual minorities, but Nadim called for the separation of sports and politics and said he believed that the role of ambassador would enable things to change in the right direction.
As such, the situation is not new, because PSG, previously represented by Nadim, is Qatari-owned. Now, however, the connection to the host of the heavily criticized men’s WC at the end of the year is more direct.
It was a matter of a clear change in attitude towards a player whose career has been nothing but an upswing until now. The first clear distortion in Nadim’s public image confused Denmark’s pack during the games, and the sensational team of the previous tournament left a poorer image of itself in its opening game than expected.
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