December 23, 2024

Morocco defender Nouhaila Benzina has made history by becoming the first player to wear a hijab at a World Cup.

The 25-year-old wore the Islamic headscarf as she made her first appearance at the tournament in her side’s 1-0 win over South Korea.

The wearing of head coverings for religious reasons was authorised by Fifa in 2014.

Morocco are one of eight teams making their debut at this summer’s Women’s World Cup.
Benzina, who plays her club football in Morocco, is the first player to wear a hijab at a senior women’s international tournament.

She was an unused substitute during her country’s opening game against Germany, which they lost 6-0.

The African side still have chances of progressing to the next round of the tournament if they can win their final match against Columbia.

Morocco coach Reynald Pedros said: “There’s a sense of pride for us to pull this first World Cup win out of the bag.

“We didn’t change our philosophy. The Korean team is not like the German team and we got off to a blinding start.

“We were efficient in the box, that was missing against Germany.”


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