Rosa Kafaji: The Sweden wonderkid out to hurt the Lionesses after Women's Champions League breakthrough

Incidentally, Kafaji could’ve been playing for the Lionesses in this fixture. According to the Sportbladet feature on her a few years ago, that is where she was supposed to be born, with her parents residing in England in the early 2000s after fleeing Iraq during the war with Iran in the 1980s. However, it was instead in Sweden that she grew up and discovered her love of football, after her older brother, Ali, had introduced her to the game.

Via Kallhalls FF and Bele Barkarby IF, Kafaji ended up at AIK and developed through the club's academy until making her senior debut aged 15. A year later, her goals helped fire the team to promotion to the Damallsvenskan. Once there, it felt like a matter of time until a big club snapped her up and, in the end, it took only until the end of her first top-flight season.

Kafaji might’ve suffered an immediate setback with Hacken with that leg break, but she has bounced back brilliantly, scoring 12 league goals in a 2023 season that saw the club miss out on the title by a goal differential of one.

“I mean, I wouldn't say that I'm surprised,” she replied, when asked by GOAL about her lightning-fast return to form. “I would say that it was just a matter of time for me to show it because I know what qualities I have. But at the same time, I'm still going to stay humble because I'm still a work in progress and I haven't made it to the top yet.”

It has been in the Champions League that Kafaji’s name has really started to cut through, though. She scored three goals and assisted another in Hacken’s six group-stage fixtures to help them upset the odds and reach the last eight, beating Real Madrid and Paris FC, who eliminated Arsenal and Wolfsburg in qualifying, to a spot in the knockout rounds. Even in the games that she didn’t register a goal involvement, Kafaji caught the eye, including in an admirable goalless draw Hacken battled for against English champions Chelsea.

When GOAL asked if her time on the sidelines has made her hungrier, the 20-year-old was adamant. “100 percent, I would say that,” she said. “If you ask anyone that's been injured, when they come back, there's so much more hunger because you haven't done what you love to do and now you appreciate it more.”

After adding to those group-stage goals with an effort against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League quarter-finals, despite Hacken’s eventual defeat to the French giants, Kafaji’s breakthrough has continued on the international stage.

She netted her first goal for her country in a Nations League play-off with Bosnia and Herzegovina, confidently sitting the goalkeeper down and rounding her to finish after bursting through the defence, and her aim is to continue to make an impact at national-team level, to the point that she can be a regular in the starting XI.

Kafaji’s technical ability has always stood out, with it no surprise to hear that she watched a lot of Ronaldinho when she was growing up. Her technique is wonderful, she is excellent with both feet and she has a great first touch. The 20-year-old added physicality to her game while she was recovering from her broken leg, too.

What is perhaps most impressive about Kafaji is that she is a creative presence and a goal-scoring threat in equal measures. Though operating as a No.10 and mainly tasked with carving out chances, she also has fantastic movement of her own to be on the receiving end of a great opportunity to score, and she is a super finisher to boot.

There is no glaringly obvious weakness in Kafaji’s game, in truth. A couple of years ago, becoming stronger and more physical would’ve been a clear area for improvement, but she has done that brilliantly. Perhaps she could become more effective in the press, though that also depends on what each coach and team wants.

It’s now mainly about her refining her game and stepping up her level as she plays on bigger stages for club and country. The defenders Kafaji is coming up against in the Champions League, and the defenders she will come up against more with the national team, are among the best in the game, and making an impact on a match when facing these players will be a new challenge for her.

With experience of these big games, she will learn more about how to battle with the best, something she’s already shown she is capable of in recent months.

It’s hard to pin down a comparison to Kafaji because she is a unique player as a No.10 who also has real goal-poaching instincts. In that sense, she is a little like Vivianne Miedema, who often describes herself as a 9.5 rather than a No.9 or a No.10. However, while that blend of roles is something the pair share, they have quite different games. Instead, Real Madrid midfielder Caroline Weir is perhaps a player who bears a likeness to Kafaji, given both are direct and produce prolific goal contributions from a role not in the front line.

In Sweden, though, it’s likely that Kafaji will start to be talked about as the next Kosovare Asllani, simply because she appears to be the heir to the 34-year-old’s creative midfield throne. Asllani is more nimble and subtle as opposed to Kafaji’s explosiveness, and the 20-year-old is much more of a goal-scorer. But it’s likely that she will succeed her elder Swedish team-mate in that No.10 role in the next few years.

As qualifying for the Euros begins and Sweden enter a new cycle, Kafaji is keen to nail down a regular place in Peter Gerhardsson’s XI, and she is in a good position to make an impact on the team while she keeps up this fantastic form.

The new Damallsvenskan season is around the corner, too, and if Kafaji puts together another campaign like the one she had in 2023, it would be a surprise if clubs from abroad were not sniffing around when the summer transfer window opens.

For the 20-year-old, when the chance to leave Sweden does come, it will be all about choosing the right move and the right size step to take in that moment of her career. But it hardly feels in doubt that she will reach the very top of the game if she continues on this wonderful trajectory.