Nadia Nadim on women’s football in Afghanistan one year on from Taliban takeover
Nadia Nadim returns to the women’s football field in Afghanistan this week to become the first woman to play in the first ever Asian Nations football, also known as the ‘World Cup of Women’s Football’.
She was the only woman in Afghanistan’s football squad to date and one year on from the Taliban takeover.
The sport is the latest development for Nadim, one of many Afghan women who find a way to get the very basic education they need to play football for a living.
“When the US-led invasion took place in 2001, there weren’t many female football players because Afghan football was underdeveloped,” she says.
She played her first competitive match when she was just 12 years old and started playing football in her teens, before she started studying accounting and eventually got a degree in business management.
Now she’s in her early thirties but still sees a reason for hope in the future of football in Afghanistan.
I’d like to think I’m doing something more positive than being a victim
Nadia Nadim – Afghan women’s football player
“I play under the name Nadya Nadim because I want to be my own person. I want people to know who I am and not what I am,” she says.
Nadim was one of the more than 2,000 female footballers who were part of the Afghan women’s national team, coached by Australian coach Peter Bell.
During her three years of training, Nadim says she was a role model. “A lot of people from Afghanistan and other countries came to see what I was doing. And it made me feel good,” she says.
In her playing days, Nadim was involved in training with the national team, firstly back in 2006, then again a year and a half ago when she moved to the Netherlands to play and stay with a friend.
“I’m now playing in the first ever Asian Nations cup of women’s football. I’m going to be in the team. I’m excited,” she says.
“I’d like
