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Fifa has officially authorised the wearing of head covers for religious reasons during football matches … now following in the footsteps of the Arsenal Soccer School Bahrain’s Ladies League, sponsored by GulfWeekly and Citroen.
The ruling was made following a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in Zurich and will apply to female and male players.
The wearing of head covers had been banned, but a two-year trial started in 2012 has proved successful.
“It was decided that female players can cover their heads to play,” said Fifa secretary general Jerome Valcke. “Male players can play with head covers too. It will be a basic head cover and the colour should be the same as the team jersey.”
In 2011, Iran’s women’s team withdrew from an Olympic qualification match against Jordan in protest at not being allowed to wear headscarves. There have also been calls from the Sikh community in Canada for the ban on the wearing of turbans to be lifted.
World football’s governing body, Fifa, had claimed the wearing of head covers while playing competitive football posed too great a risk of injury to the head or neck.
However, following a request from the Asian Football Confederation, the IFAB allowed for their safety to be tested during the trial.
The rule change, which will come into effect from June 1, has been welcomed by Deena, a Bahrain international and ladies league co-ordinator. “I think it is great to lift the ban on the hijab since it is a part of Muslim culture and would have prevented some girls from playing football at the highest level, if the rule continued.
“In this region alone I have played with and against talented players wearing it.
“We have actively allowed the hijab to be worn in our ladies league and for any girls attending the soccer school since, as far as we are concerned, there are no safety issues concerning it.
“We would not want to discriminate against anyone or prevent people from playing, especially since we have aimed to promote and encourage girls and women to play football since we arrived here in 2010.”
The league boasts two divisions and attracts Bahrainis, expats and even players travelling from Saudi Arabia.
