A women’s football collective in France that had been fighting to overturn a ban on players from wearing the Muslim headscarf made legal progress in their judicial struggle on Monday.

Current Rules Prohibit Religious Symbols

Under its current rules, the French Football Federation forbids all players, even amateurs, from wearing “ostentatious” religious symbols in the name of French secularism, preventing players from wearing Muslim headscarves or the Jewish kippa.

Legal Challenge Launched by “The Hijabeuses”

A Muslim women’s collective known as “the Hijabeuses” launched a legal challenge to the rules in November 2021, claiming they were discriminatory and infringed on their right to practice their religion freely.

Public Rapporteur Recommends Rule Change

The case reached the French constitutional council on Monday where the public rapporteur, whose views are generally followed by the nine-member council, said he was against the federation’s rules and recommended a rule change.

Clement Malverti said there was no “neutrality requirement” for football players who should not be subjected to the same rules as public officials such as teachers or civil servants who are banned from displaying their religious convictions.

Football was “riddled with” religious symbols, he said, including a cross on the shirts of the professional Auxerre team, players making the sign of the cross as they enter the pitch, or having tattoos featuring religious symbols.

A veil ban could be considered for national players who represented the nation and were undertaking a “public service mission,” he added.

Decision to be Handed Down Soon

The council is set to hand down a decision in three weeks’ time.

Positive Conclusions for the Hijabeuses

A lawyer for the Hijabeuses, Marion Ogier, said it was “too early to cry victory,” but said that the conclusions of the public rapporteur “are in our favor.”

“Our combat is not political, not religious. It is about sport and only sport,” Foune Diawara, head of the Hijabeuses, told reporters. “There are women who are excluded from football pitches every weekend because they wear the veil.”

France’s Laws on Secularism and Religious Freedom

France’s laws on secularism guarantee religious freedom to all citizens and contain no provisions on banning the wearing of religious symbols in public spaces, with the exception of full-face coverings which were outlawed in 2010.

Right-Wing Opposition to Headscarves

Many right-wing politicians in France want to widen restrictions on the headscarf, seeing it as a political statement in support of Islamism and an affront to French values.

In last year’s presidential election, far-right leader Marine Le Pen proposed a ban on the headscarf in all public places, which experts said would almost certainly have been struck down as unconstitutional if she had been elected.

The French Senate, which is dominated by the right-wing Republican party, also tried to introduce a law in January last year that would have banned the wearing of obvious religious symbols in all competitive sports.

It was rejected in the lower house by President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist ruling party.