FIFA announced they will overturn a ban against turbans set in Quebec by a soccer governing body.
Male head coverings are now OK to wear during soccer games, the Associated Press reported. Players are allowed to wear religions and cultural headgear, so long as the color matches the team's shirt, has a "professional appearance," "poses [no] danger" or harm to other players and is not attached to the shirt.
The Canadian Soccer Association requested FIFA's help in giving their two cents on the issue, following Quebec's governmental organization's refusal to overturn the province-wide ban that forbade players from wearing head coverings during matches.
Quebec's director general of the provincial association Brigitte Frot told officials that the federation would overturn the ban if FIFA gave its stamp of approval, deeming headgear safe for game-wear.
Many looked at the ban with a skeptical eye, as the most directly affected people were Sikh men and boys who don turbans, patkas and keskis as a religious rule. Some called it a racist measure.
Upwards of 20 out-of-town teams will not attend a tournament scheduled for this weekend in Montreal because of the turban ban. Some Quebec league players have showed up on the field wearing turbans as protest.
The Quebec Soccer Federation has accepted this announcement "with enthusiasm and relief." They scheduled a press conference for Saturday near Montreal to publicize the board of directors' decision to lift the ban.
The International Football Association Board-a body that makes rules for worldwide soccer-allowed female players to wear headscarves in July, following FIFA's statement that certain head coverings do not present danger to female players. Soccer ladies now don rapid-release Velcro pieces and magnets, the AP said. The move got rid of a ban on hijabs, that has been observed in FIFA matches for six years.
