As the Women’s World Cup gets rolling this week in Australia and New Zealand, Morocco’s Nouhaila Benzina is set to make history. Not only is it her country’s first time qualifying for the competition, but the 25-year-old defender is expected to become the first player to compete on this stage while wearing a hijab.
If this tournament was being held in France, which staged the previous Women’s World Cup four years ago, however, she wouldn’t be able to do that.
A hijab is a headcover that covers a woman’s hair, worn by those who are of the Muslim faith. Three weeks ago, a court in France ruled in favour of the French Football Federation’s (FFF) decision to ban players who choose to wear the Islamic headscarf during matches.
The FFF isn’t the first sporting association to bar the hijab. World basketball’s governing body FIBA had a policy that did not permit any headgear — which included coverings such as hijabs and also the yarmulke, a skullcap worn by Orthodox Jewish men — but did away with it in 2017.
France has laws designed to protect its status as a secular country — known constitutionally as “laïcité” — but it is a sensitive issue that is viewed by some as a way to guarantee the religious neutrality of the state but by others as impinging on…
