Nadia Khan – The Football Hat-trick Sensation Who’s Ruling Our World!

It takes a village to raise a child, they say. But just two determined parents to raise a South Asian footballer. Throw in a brother for the backyard practice, and you’ve got a winner! – SAFF Chronicles

That’s exactly what Nadia Khan seems to be doing.

Nadia Khan launched her football career at the Leeds United regional talent centre and was signed by Doncaster Rovers in 2017. In 2018, she joined her teammates in moving to the first team to compete in the FA Women’s Northern Premier Division.

But it is her unrelenting spirit that her coach vouches for, which is fast making her a sensation. She came onto the Pakistani football radar while she played games in the UK and eventually became eligible to qualify for Team Pakistan and represent the country at SAFF 2022.

For someone who was already achieving laurels through her British Pakistani origin in the UK, where opportunities are many, to play and win at Football, and blazing the trail for other South Asian young women, it is admirable that Nadia sought to play for the Pakistan National team. That too, because of her parents’ heritage.

She continued to explain: “I don’t think enough support is given from a young age to help women to go into sport and to practice any kind of sport, not just football. My mom comes to my matches, watches me, whilst I’m playing football on a Sunday. My dad takes me to all the training sessions. That support in itself has helped me another way to love football and love sport.”

She goes on to appreciate the family support she’s had: My family have always been supportive of me playing football at this level … my dad takes me to every single training session, and my mom takes me to every single match. And that support has helped me to fall in love with football even more. And I’m grateful and blessed to have my family supporting me, and proud of my achievements academically and in sports,”

Nadia is something of a wonder player in that only 0.3 players progress from the Women Super League in the South Asian community, reports ITV News. She’s one of the very few South Asians across the whole sport.

Nadia goes on to explain her love for football

“I probably fell in love with football at the age of around 11 or 12, when my older brother taught me how to play football in the garden, and then watching on YouTube, the likes of Neymar, Ronaldo watching how they played football, the fantasy side of football and their different skills and tricks. I think that helped me gain interest into that side and attracted me to play football myself,” she recalled when asked about how she started playing Football.”

Family Support Can Make or Break Heroes

Nadia claims she fell in love with football at the age of 11 by watching Neymar and Ronaldo. It drew her to want to play the game herself. She also made sure to mention how her Pakistani family supported her throughout her football career.

In South Asian families, by far more than in other setups, children thrive if they have the support of their families. Time and again, we have seen that with appropriate and timely facilitation, young Asian girls have reached for the stars, and won! They not only serve as role models for our community but also show parents who might be hesitant to give their daughters an open playing filed, to step out and seize the opportunities that might change their daughters’ lives and fulfil their dreams!

What Winners Are Made Of

Last night, when Nadia scored a hat-trick for her team and helped them win their first match at the SAFF games underway in Nepal, it is critical to point out that she has been part of competitive leagues who had been winning their games. It is the mark of a winner to play as a team, not gravitate towards the best team in the league but contribute towards her own team and add value to the outcome. It is also testament to her self-confidence that she felt she could contribute her skills towards assisting her national team to perform better!

Not many young girls like Nadia opt the hard way to get there. By choosing to play for her national team, (which might not have as many opportunities to win due to compromised training and limited facilities), in itself, makes her a role model for not only South Asians, but all young athletes who struggle in sports, face multiple losses and wonder if they’ll ever see a win. It is the sporting spirit that counts more than just the win, and that’s where Nadia is winning hands down!

Even though some might say that her chance to play at national level has been delivered due to her inclusion in the Pakistan Football team, (which might be easier than getting into the UK team) one must acknowledge that girls like Nadia help highlight the sport, motivate young girls within their community and make their place in the national team more than worthwhile! They are role models to look up to for all those who aspire to follow in their footsteps!

The Pakistan Football team had only a month of practice behind them ahead of the SAFF games as they weren’t sure they’d get the clearance to play at the tournament earlier. Hence, they were already at a disadvantage to the other teams. The fact that the girls went ahead with their matches against Bangladesh and India and after suffering defeat, landed a convincing win against Maldives must have shown them that all it takes is one win to bring back the fighting spirit – a positive end to a challenging SAFF tournament.

Nadia’s mother adds with pride

“I’m sure all girl’s families across the South Asian community are looking at Nadia and thinking yes, this can happen!”

Nadia concludes passionately

Nadia continued passionately: “I see myself as a role model, especially for South Asian girls, that you can actually achieve something in sports and you can play football if that’s your goal and that’s your ambition, go for it. There’s nothing stopping you and you don’t know where you’ll go.”

The information in this article has been sourced from ITV News and This Girl Khan – popular STAND fanzine

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