Racing Louisville activated star forward Nadia Nadim off the season-ending injury list, making her available for selection in Friday’s match against the Kansas City Current, the club announced Thursday.
Nadim’s return to full fitness comes roughly 10 months after surgery to repair a torn ACL, which she suffered in a late September match at Portland. The 35-year-old has been rehabilitating in Louisville since preseason training camp started, and she recently rejoined full team training.
Nadim is one of the world’s most accomplished players both on and off the field. She has 103 professional goals over a 17-year career and has won league titles with the NWSL’s Portland Thorns and French Division 1 Feminine powerhouse Paris-Saint Germain. She also scored 38 goals in 103 appearances with the Danish national team, helping lead the Danes to a UEFA Women’s Euro silver medal in 2017.
She is also a medical doctor who speaks 11 languages and is working on a 12th (Spanish), and her family’s journey from war-torn Afghanistan to Denmark has inspired many around the world and in Louisville.
With Racing Louisville, Nadim has nine goals in just 19 appearances, making her one of the club’s all-time leading scorers. Her international experience and fiery personality make Nadim a key figure in the locker room, and her presence even during rehab has been influential on Louisville’s young roster.
Last fall’s injury came a year and one week after the striker tore her right ACL in September 2021. She returned in time to play for Denmark at the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022, then she scored six goals in 11 games for Racing.
She returns to her Louisville squad at the perfect time: Racing is without five key players who have departed with their national teams for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, including forwards Uchenna Kanu (Nigeria) and Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa) and leading scorer Savannah DeMelo (USA).
The Louisvillians will play six games in total during the World Cup, splitting between three regular-season matches and three UKG NWSL Challenge Cup contests. Friday’s 8 p.m. kickoff counts as a regular-season game against the Kansas City Current at Lynn Family Stadium.
