International rule-making body for soccer lifts ban on kippot, hijab, turbans, after 2-year trial period.
A FIFA panel known as the International Football Association Board made the decision, extending a two-year trial period during which hijabs were permitted. Turbans will also be allowed.
The decision on head coverings follows extra trials after a July 2012 decision to approve scarves worn by FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke stated.Saturday’s decision extended to male players following a request from Sikh community leaders in Canada.
“You can't have discrimination,” Valcke stated.at a news conference in Zurich, Switzerland.
“It was decided that what can apply to female players can also apply to men.”
The previous year, Quebec’s soccer federation set off a political firestorm — and was suspended by the Canadian Soccer Association — for enforcing a ban on turbans and other religious headwear.
The federation lifted the ban after FIFA clarified last June that such headwear was acceptable.
The Quebec organization had cited safety issues for its controversial move as well as the fact the garments were not endorsed by FIFA.
The Parti Quebecois government came out in favour of the federation’s position, while several federal politicians slammed it as exclusionary.
The federation maintained it wasn’t trying to create problems and only wanted to get clarity from FIFA.