Soccer's ruling body has backed Quebec officials who banned a Muslim girl from playing in a tournament near Montreal because she wore a head scarf.


CTV.ca News Staff

Asmahan Mansour, 11, was ejected from the game for not removing her hijab on the field.
The International Football Association Board -- FIFA -- held its annual meeting Saturday in Manchester, England.

The board was asked to make a ruling on the plight of Asmahan Mansour, the 11-year-old who was told last weekend that she couldn't play in the under-12 tournament in Laval unless she removed her religious head-covering known as a hijab.

Brian Barwick, who spoke on behalf of the board, said it is important to be respectful to "people's thoughts and philosophies,'' but added that the rules of the game must be followed.

"We believe our football to be inclusive. It's part of what we believe our football to be," Barwick said during a news conference.

"But of course if you play football there are basic laws. And law four outlines what the basic laws are concerning gear. I think it's absolutely right to be sensitive to people's thoughts and philosophies but equally football has a set of rules it has to adhere to."

Law four lists the items a player is entitled to wear and head scarves are not mentioned.

Goalkeepers are allowed to wear caps and protective headgear.

The Quebec Soccer Association said the headscarf violated a no-headgear rule set down by FIFA for safety reasons.

The soccer referee who ordered Mansour to remove her headscarf was also a Muslim.

When she was ejected from the game for refusing to remove the covering, Mansour's coach withdrew the team from the tournament in protest.

im a footballer too.i think the referee was right. football has rules.

sorry I did not mention this is a all girl league they do not play with boys at all.

How else was the girl dressed? Was she also covering her body or wearing shorts like the other players? Surely this has a bearing on the decision made.

It does seem rather bizarre to wear a headscarf whilst trying to play football

she was wearing all other required regulation clothing for the game which allows them to wear club nylon pants or shorts. This is a 11 year old girl playing in a girls tournament. Not some big team competing for tv time or money. I would like to add the decision stemmed from adults being rather anal . It did not bother other team members on her team or other teams. She had been playing all season this way.

A month ago the same thing has happened in the Netherlands with karate. The 14 year old Seyma Kucukbekmez was not allowed to enter national contests by the Karate league because she refused to take of her headscarf. The refusal was based on two arguments: safety first (I can imagine that with a sport like this) and neutrality - everyone should look the same while contesting, the League argued.