Morocco captain Hakimi to stand trial on rape charge

Morocco captain Hakimi to stand trial on rape charge. Versailles appeals court confirmed it hours before the World Cup match

21.06.2026 09:24 HotInfo

The French appeals court in Versailles confirmed on Friday that Morocco's national football team captain and Paris Saint-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi will stand trial before a criminal court over a 2023 rape accusation. The ruling came just hours before Morocco's World Cup match against Scotland. Le Monde ↗

The case began in February 2023, when a 24-year-old woman went to a police station near Paris and stated that Hakimi had raped her at his home in a Paris suburb. The Nanterre public prosecutor's office opened an investigation, and the player was formally placed under investigation ("mis en examen" under French law) in March 2023. In August 2025, the prosecutor's office requested that the case be referred to trial; the investigating judge ordered the referral in February 2026, and Hakimi appealed the decision. It is this appeal that the Versailles court has now rejected. ABC News (AP) ↗

Hakimi will be tried by the criminal court (cour criminelle) of the Hauts-de-Seine department. Rape carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison in France; a specific trial date has not yet been set. The player has firmly denied the allegations from the outset — on Friday he wrote on the social network X that he had been waiting for the trial "since day one" and that he would finally be able to speak. France 24 ↗

Referral to trial is not a verdict, and Hakimi continues to benefit from the presumption of innocence — guilt or innocence will be determined only by the trial itself. The two sides' positions differ sharply. Rachel-Flore Pardo, the lawyer for the woman who accused Hakimi, said the decision brings her client "relief and hope" after more than three years of proceedings, and expressed hope that the trial would help weaken the impunity surrounding sexual violence in men's football. Hakimi's defense lawyer, Fanny Colin, countered that the "wealth of evidence in his favor" gathered during the investigation would, in any other case, have led to the charges being dropped. ABC News (AP) ↗

Hakimi ultimately took the field against Scotland, and Morocco won 1:0, though some fans booed him during the match. Morocco's coach defended the player, saying the team "stands behind him." Tagesspiegel ↗

Read also: Patrick Bruel faces rape allegations in France

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