Ben Hamilton
July 7th, 2017

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It’s easy to see why Nike was drawn to the stylish 27-year-old (photo: Kw0)

With a name like Nadia Nadim, the letter ‘N’ was always going to figure prominently in the life of the Afghanistan-born Danish international female football forward.

And this past week, barely a week ahead of the 2017 Euros (see below), the player has confirmed she has become the first ever Danish woman player to earn a sponsorship deal with Nike.

Nadim, who arrived in Denmark aged 12 as a refugee, was taught to kick a football by her father, a general in the Afghan army killed by the Taliban, at a time when the sport was forbidden.

She now has 66 caps for Denmark, scoring 19 goals, and currently plays her football in the US for Portland Thorns while attending medical school at Aarhus University.

OTHER NEWS:

Woz looking good for semis
Caroline Wozniacki is now joint favourite to advance to the final four of Wimbledon from her quarter of the draw. Yesterday evening she saw off Tsvetana Pironkova, a semi-finalist in 2010 who has since fallen to number 131 in the world, in straight sets. More significant than the zero-fuss 6-3, 6-4 win in 82 minutes, in which the Danish fifth seed was broken early in each set, was the elimination of tournament favourite Karolina Pliskova, who was in Woz’s quarter and recently beat her in the final of the Aegon Classic in Eastbourne. Wozniacki’s odds to win the title accordingly tumbled from 30/1 to 20/1 and she is now ninth favourite to triumph. Her next opponent is Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit, the world number 38, on Saturday in the third round, with US player Coco Vandeweghe, the co-favourite to win the quarter, her most likely fixture in the last 16.

READ MORE: Behind the smile of Denmark’s undisputed world star, a ruthless streak is emerging

Danish rider out of contention
Jacob Fuglsang’s chances of winning the Tour de France have crumbled in the first week as he has lost the captaincy of the Astana team to Fabio Aru, the rider currently in third place behind leader Chris Froome in the standings. While Fuglsang started the race as a 10/1 shot to triumph, his odds have now plummeted to 66/1, even though he is only 93 seconds behind the yellow jersey in 15th place. Nevertheless, barring a serious injury or mishap befalling Aru, his cause looks hopeless without the captaincy as he will now be expected to aid the Italian’s bid for glory. The 2015 Vuelta a España champ is the second favourite to win the tour at just 5/1.

Denmark all set for women’s EUROS
Without a World Cup or Euros to satisfy football fans this summer, the 16-team UEFA Women’s Championship starting on Sunday July 16 in the Netherlands promises to be quite popular, and Denmark have a reasonable chance of advancing to the eight-team knockout stage. However, although they are ranked eighth on most bookmaker lists at 25/1, their first round opponents – the Netherlands, Norway and Belgium – are ranked 5th, 6th and 10th respectively, making their group one of the toughest. The tournament is being screened on DR1.

Zanka linked with move to Terriers
English Premier League new boys Huddersfield Town have been heavily linked with a bid for FC Copenhagen defender Mathias ‘Zanka’ Jorgensen, 27, for around 30 million kroner. Should he join, he would hook up with Danish goalkeeper Jonas Lossl, who has moved to the Terriers on a season-long loan from German Bundesliga side Mainz.