France: New Law Compels Reform of Football Policy that Discriminates against Muslim Women

On 24 February France adopted a new law aimed at democratising access to sports. A group of Senateurs ultimately failed in their repeated attempts to introduce a discriminatory amendment intended to prohibit women who choose to wear headscarves from participating in all sporting competitions and events organized by state-regulated sports federations and their associate organizations. However, these lawmakers successfully hijacked the legislative process ensuring that parliamentary sessions were stained with inflammatory rhetoric, offensive stereotyping and debates that stigmatised Muslim women.

View Report

Related news

Germany: Request for Mandatory Safe Sport Compliance

Germany: Request for Mandatory Safe Sport Compliance

Letter to German Bundestag’s Committee on Sport and Volunteering The Sport & Rights Alliance, through the Athletes Network for Safer Sports and together with Football Supporters Europe, Human Rights Watch and The Assist, wrote to the Members of the Committee on Sport and Volunteering of the German Bundestag in support of mandatory safe sport compliance […]

READ MORE

FIFA: A World Cup Without the World

FIFA: A World Cup Without the World

Assessing Human Rights Impacts of the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup (New York, July 16, 2026) – The joy and celebration on display at the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup should not distract from the unprecedented exclusion, discrimination and misuse of power the U.S. government is conducting away from the spotlight, the Sport & Rights […]

READ MORE

Pride Match in Seattle: What happens when the FIFA World Cup and Pride collide?

Pride Match in Seattle: What happens when the FIFA World Cup and Pride collide?

Iran-Egypt match set for Pride Weekend 2026 The FIFA World Cup reaches Seattle, WA, United States this weekend, coinciding with the city’s Pride celebration.Long before the draw, the local host organising committee designated whichever match would be played during the weekend as the ‘Pride Match’. What is the Pride Match? Seattle’s local organising committee for the […]

READ MORE

Related resources

“This may be the most important story you will tell, and you want it done right”

“This may be the most important story you will tell, and you want it done right”

Workshop Recap: Media Training for Impacted Athletes: Sharing your story with journalists On September 24th, The Athletes Network for Safer Sports held its third workshop of the year focusing on “Media Training for Impacted Athletes.” Featuring top sports journalists with extensive experience covering abuse cases, Shireen Ahmed and Suzy Wrack, the session marked an important […]

READ MORE

Image shows purple background with broken volleyball net

Australia: Van de Velde denied visa for World Beach Volleyball Championships

Content warning: This statement mentions sexual assault, rape, and the abuser’s name. (Amsterdam, October 28, 2025) – Kyniska Advocacy, The Army of Survivors, and the Athletes Network for Safer Sports, are once again calling on the sports world to take action to prevent athletes convicted of sexual offenses from competing on the global stage. Last year, […]

READ MORE

FIFA: New Rule Recognizes Afghan Women’s Team

FIFA: New Rule Recognizes Afghan Women’s Team

After Nearly Five Years in Exile, Women Can Seek World Cup Qualification (Vancouver, April 28, 2026) – The FIFA Council’s decision to approve amendments to its Governance Regulations provides a landmark opportunity to ensure gender equity and human rights in sport, the Sport & Rights Alliance said today. These changes allow for the official recognition […]

READ MORE

Join the Network

Sport has the potential to be a catalyst for human development, unity, and freedom, but too often it instead brings harm to its athletes, fans, and communities. We exist to uncover and rectify the many abuses that exist both in and around sport. We aim to transform sports into an authentic force for good.