Ben Hamilton
January 21st, 2022

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Nadia Nadim, the Danish striker who has represented her country 99 times and played club football in the US, England and France, has qualified as a doctor.

In total, it has taken her five years to finish her medical studies whilst enjoying a career as a professional football player, playing for the likes of Manchester City, Paris St Germain and her current club Racing Louisville, her second US club after a stint at Portland Thorns five years ago.

With the Danish national team, she was a key player at Euro 2017, where Denmark upset the odds as the losing finalists.

An inspiration to refugees
Born in Afghanistan, Nadim arrived in Denmark aged 11. Her family had to leave her homeland after her father, a general in the Afghan National Army, was executed by the Taliban. 

Since then she has been an inspiration to millions, but particularly refugees – not just in Denmark where she has forged careers in sport and medicine, but all over the world.

In fact, had it not been for the driver of the truck her family travelled through Europe in, she could have ended up in the UK. But instead, the driver dropped them off in rural Denmark, where her love of football was born.

Grounded despite the lucrative career
Nadim, who can speak nine languages, this past week graduated at Aarhus University, where she has been attending medical school – remotely during the football season. Her goal is to now become a surgeon – an area she specialised in as part of her studies.

Nadim, who has been in the Nike stable since 2017, has done very well out of football – she has already released an autobiography and in 2016 she was the subject of a documentary series – but has always resisted the possibility to become one of the sport’s biggest earners.

She maintains she does not play for money and, besides, she is confident she will be more than comfortable thanks to her future career as a doctor.

The congratulations have been flooding in via @nadi9nadim