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In June this year, the Iran women’s national team forfeited an Olympic qualifier after they were not allowed to wear head scarves, but will episodes like this soon become history?

By Niloufar Momeni

From the looks of it, Fifa is taking the upper hand in solving football’s Hijab issue once and for all. As football is more and more celebrated and cherished around the globe, there are still thousands of female athletes, particularly in Islamic countries of Asia, deprived of pursuing their passion for football at the highest stage because of their choice of clothing.

As per Fifa’s mandate, Islamic headscarves – which cover female athletes wearing full tracksuits, head coverings and neck-warmers – cause safety concerns for football officials. Up until now, their outfit was also outlawed by Fifa, whose statement on the issue read: “The team of a player whose basic compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by Fifa.”

However, thanks to its Jordanian vice-president pushing for a change, Fifa is moving towards more inclusiveness to allow women to wear Islamic headscarves, even with neck warming apparel, during football games.

“The team of a player whose basic compulsory equipment has political, religious or personal slogans or statements will be sanctioned by the competition organiser or by Fifa”

– Fifa laws

In June, the Iran women’s team caused a storm when they forfeited an Olympic qualifier against Jordan after being refused permission to play with the full Islamic headscarf – rules in the extremely conservative Islamic Republic dictate that female footballers must wear full tracksuits as well as the head covering, which only leaves their eyes, nose and mouth uncovered.

Fife vice-president Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein will bring the issue up at the meeting of the executive committee in December for a final vote by the game’s governing body.

The green light shown by Fifa to Muslim female footballers has surely been welcomed as it now allows them to pursue their dreams while no longer facing sanctions. Whether the headscarf is a symbol of religion or culture is still up for debate. It should follow that there is a discussion of the competitive equality between those women footballers wearing headscarves, neck-warmers and full tracksuits and other professional footballers playing with just shirts and shorts. Given similar physical conditions, in terms of stamina level, can the head-covered group endure on a par with the second group during a competitive game?