A two-year pilot allowing head covers was reviewed at a meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) in Zurich, Switzerland today.

It found "there was no indication as to why the wearing of head covers should be prohibited".

Men and women can wear head covers during matches, as long as they are in the colours of the team strip.

In 2010, the Iranian Olympic Committee called on Muslim states around the world to protest to FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, after the country's women's football team were banned from wearing the hijab at the Summer Youth Olympic Games in Singapore.

A year later, the team were prevented from playing their London 2012 Olympic second round qualifying match against Jordan because some refused to remove their hijabs before kick-off.

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, the Jordanian FIFA powerbroker, had driven the global campaign for the ban to be lifted.

The IFAB also agreed to clarify the rule against equipment and T-shirts or vests under a football shirt from bearing "any kind of slogans, statements or images".

The decisions at the annual general meeting will come into effect on June 1, ahead of the World Cup, which kicks off in Brazil on June 12.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


Related stories
March 2012: Ban on women footballers wearing hijab to be lifted
March 2012: FIFA's hijab ban is prejudice, insists Prince Ali
March 2012: UN urge FIFA to scrap hijab ban to "challenge gender stereotypes"
February 2012: Hijab ban is limiting participation, insists FIFA's Prince Ali
April 2010: Iran angry after women's football team banned from wearing hijab at Youth Olympics