France’s top administrative court on Thursday, upheld the ban on the use of hijab by Muslim female football players during games.
The case was instituted by a collective of Muslim football players against the French Football Federation (FFF).
The Council of State (Conseil d’Etat) ruled that “the ban enacted by the FFF is suitable and proportionate,” said the court in a statement.
“Sports federations in charge of proper functioning of the public service whose management is entrusted to them, may impose on their players an obligation of outfit neutrality during competitions,” the statement read.
The lawyer for the Muslim collective, called the “Hijabeuses”, was not immediately available for comment.
Soccer’s world governing body FIFA lifted a similar ban on female footballers wearing the hijab more than a decade ago.
France is home to one of Europe’s largest Muslim minorities and the country has also implemented laws designed to protect its strict form of secularism, known as “laicité,” which President Emmanuel Macron has said is under threat from Islamism.
Some Muslim associations and human rights groups alleged that those laws were targeted at Muslims.
