Lina Boussaha had to move to Saudi Arabia to pursue professional football because France doesn't allow hijab on-field.
Credit: International New York Times
Seine, Saint Denis, France: During Ramadan, as her family fasted and prayed, Lina Boussaha, a professional football player, eagerly tore open a package in her bedroom in France. Inside were two headscarves she had ordered, labeled Nike and marketed as a symbol of empowerment for Muslim women in sports.
Boussaha, 25, turned pro when she was 17. Her parents are Algerian, she grew up in one of Paris' poorest suburbs, and until that Ramadan, in 2022, she had never worn a hijab outside prayers. She usually wore her heavy curls in a high ponytail.
But she had recently decided that she wanted to wear a hijab regularly, even during games. And that decision put her on a journey that eventually took her from France to start her career anew in the Middle East.
It also gave her a chance to unite her religious beliefs with her secular pursuit of football.
"It is with great pride that I announce that I am wearing the veil (hijab)," Boussaha wrote on her Instagram account that night. "My religion, my inner peace, and my spirituality are my priorities, and these come before my worldly pleasures like football & my career as a professional player. Nothing prevents doing both, even if (here in France), it remains complicated."
As she recalled writing those words, she said in an interview in a cafe near her childhood home in Seine-Saint-Denis, a wave of relief washed over her.
"football is not just a game for me," she said. "It's a part of my soul."
FIFA, football global governing body, has allowed women to wear headscarves during play since 2014, with the first hijab-wearing player competing in the Women's World Cup last year.
But for years, despite a strong backlash, France's soccer federation has barred players from wearing conspicuous religious symbols or clothing such as hijabs during matches. It says the rule, which was upheld last year by France's top court, is in line with the nation's strict secular values.
Although the ban is loosely enforced at the amateur level, it has hung over the most observant Muslim players for years, shattering their hopes of professional careers and driving some from the game altogether.
France's sports minister has announced that French athletes cannot wear the hijab in the Paris Olympics -- a contrast with International Olympic Committee rules.
Boussaha's earliest memory is chasing a ball with her older brother when she was 3, in the city stadium near their family's apartment. She kept playing after school and honed her skills in neighborhood games with boys and men.
It didn't take long for one of the men to suggest she join the local soccer club, which she did at age 9. Eventually, she began training three times a week with a woman and a few other girls.
"I never wanted to miss a workout," she said, smiling and confident. "Never, never, never!"
At 13, she was selected to represent her district in tournaments before the country's top coaches, who were scouting for the most talented players for their academies.
Pierre-Yves Bodineau, a recruiter for Paris St-Germain, one of the best teams in women's soccer, noticed Boussaha immediately. "She already had incredible technique, mobility and pace," Bodineau said.
He soon called with an irresistible offer for her to join the PSG program and attend an elite private school in Paris.
She was the youngest in the program but quickly became the team captain.
"She was the undisputed group leader," Bodineau said. Her technical skills were unparalleled, her dedication was unmatched and she excelled academically, he said. But she had some rough edges.
"When she lost, she tended to lose her temper," he said. "She has this thirst to succeed."
Soon after, she was selected to train with the PSG senior team, eventually becoming the first player from her youth program to sign a professional contract. A year after her debut for the club, she helped it win the French Cup, followed by a thriving season-long loan to the team in Lille.
But her swift rise was interrupted when, during her first match of the 2020-21 season, she fractured a bone in her left foot.
"I score, I fall and it's the start of a nightmare," she said.
The bone healed, only to shatter again, a cycle that was repeated several times. By the winter of 2021, she was thoroughly disgusted.
At 22, she quit and moved back in with her parents to focus on her physical recovery.
During that time, she realized she had over trained and put too much stress on her body without focusing on rest or on her spirituality. After returning home, she again went to the mosque to pray, a ritual she had missed. The freedom to fast without fearing she would faint during daily training was also a relief.
During prayers, she was reminded of why wearing the hijab matters to her. "It expresses my commitment to my community and spiritual values as a Muslim woman," she said.
But it wasn't until she stumbled upon the Instagram account of fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, the first woman to wear a hijab while competing for the United States in the Olympics, that she decided to honor both the athlete and Muslim in her, and ordered the two Nike hijabs.
At that point, she was no longer on a French team. When she was finally ready to play again, she wanted to find a team that would allow her to play wearing the hijab. France was not an option, she knew.
"Very few girls play like Lina, but the veil, unfortunately, a piece of fabric, prevents her from playing in France," said Bodineau. He explained that even if clubs want to allow their players to compete while covered, the country's soccer federation consistently enforces the rules and levies sanctions if they are not followed.
France's soccer federation would not make an official available for an interview.
Boussaha began looking at other countries. In 2021, Finland's soccer association offered hijabs to all players who wanted them. She reached out to clubs in Sweden and Turkey.
But Boussaha also had to prove she could be the player she was before her injuries. As negotiations stalled, she said, she began to accept the end of her career.
Then, in December 2022, her agent called with an unexpected offer from Al Nassr, a club in Saudi Arabia that had recently established a women's team, part of the country's efforts to use sports as a major pillar in a broad effort to modernize. Someone at the club had seen her Instagram story.
"When I saw her play, I saw her quality," said Aziz Alalwni, the team's coach. "When someone gives up something and returns, they will do everything to be strong."
She joined Al Nassr, and Alalwni proudly describes her as his best player, even though he jokes that she's a sore loser. She scored multiple goals during the 2022-23 season and played a pivotal role in the team's becoming the first Saudi Women's Premier League champions. Last year, Boussaha received her first invitation to play in the 2025 Women's Africa Cup of Nations, for Algeria's national team.
She acknowledges she is not playing at a level she could have achieved with a French club or elsewhere in Europe, but she appreciates the new community she has found. "It's really about playing with my veil again and being in a club surrounded by girls playing soccer," Boussaha said.
Farid Benstiti, the French-born coach of the Algeria women's national team, said that if France "allowed players to wear the hijab," Boussaha "might be in France again or a country that would allow her to showcase all her talent."
During this year's Ramadan, after the sun descended into the sky over Khobar, a Saudi city along the Persian Gulf that is her new home, Boussaha broke her fast with dates and milk. She then headed to the mosque to pray before showing up at the soccer field for practice.