Her father is murdered in Afghanistan, she flees to Denmark, becomes a doctor, a committed fighter for minorities and a national soccer player: Nadia Nadim now annoys her fellow players and compatriots. Because she is promoting the World Cup in Qatar’s service – and initially lying about it.
Pernille Harder made no secret of her personal disappointment. “I wouldn’t have done that,” said the former Wolfsburg player about her Danish teammate Nadia Nadim’s role as ambassador for the World Cup in Qatar. The captain hit a nerve with her criticism: Star striker Nadim’s commitment to the controversial desert state is the number one topic of conversation for the German opponents who opened the European Championship.
Ironically, Nadim, who as a child fled from Afghanistan to avoid her father’s murderers and became a role model for real integration. The doctor and “Danish of the Year”, committed campaigner for minorities, not only “superly annoyed and disappointed” association director Peter Möller. Your role as ambassador goes “against everything we stand for,” he complained.
The fact that national coach Lars Söndergaard still didn’t want to do without the 34-year-old made waves. Harder suggested an internal discussion “so that this doesn’t become a problem”. However, that didn’t happen. “That would have made it a problem in the first place,” Harder emphasized. Nevertheless, the former favorite Nadim before the duel with the DFB-Elf on Friday (9 p.m. / ZDF, DAZN and in the ntv.de live ticker) has become an attractive figure.
A scandal broke out during a press round. “If you want to bully me, I won’t talk to you,” she rumbled, accusing the media representatives of “lying”. However, she had to admit sheepishly that she herself was untrue: Yes, it’s true, she gets money for her role as ambassador, “but not very much”.
Once in defensive mode, Nadim explained that she wants to fight for Harder and her girlfriend to be allowed to kiss on the street in Qatar one day. “That’s great,” said Harder, but she doesn’t believe that Nadim will be successful. On the pitch, she asserted, they wanted to “push politics aside”.
However, the Danish refugee agency and UNESCO Denmark have ended their collaboration with Nadim. Coach Söndergaard made it a condition of her nomination that she comment on Qatar. The World Cup, she said, could “make a huge difference” – also in terms of human rights.
After tearing her cruciate ligament, Nadim is initially planned as a joker at the European Championship. She behaves “extremely humble”, Söndergaard praised the 100-time international (34 goals). And harder? “Over the years,” she said forgivingly, “we’ve disagreed on a lot of other things.” In 2017 it was still enough for the final – including a quarter-final victory over Germany, with goal scorer Nadim.
