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Prince Ali speaking to former FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, in 2008 NADER DAOUD/AP/Press Association Images
Soccer
FIFA to discuss soccer ban on hijabs
The vice-president of FIFA, Prince Ali, is to discuss the ban during a presentation on Saturday. He says the ban is prejudiced against women who wear the head scarf.
FIFA VICE PRESIDENT Prince Ali will urge soccer’s rulemakers today to overturn a ban on Islamic female players wearing hijabs.
The Jordanian prince will make a presentation to the International Football Association Board, five years after the panel ruled that wearing headscarves in matches was unsafe.
Prince Ali says:
The present situation is saying to women worldwide that you’re not allowed to participate for a reason that makes no sense. That’s prejudice. It’s not fair.
He insists that permitting hijabs is “not an issue of religious symbolism — it is simply a case of cultural modesty.”
If the motion is rejected, the prince says “there will be lot of soul searching about what the priorities are in this sport”.
- Rob Harris
Read: Street artist ‘hijabises’ ads in France>
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