Hakimi Rape Trial Threatens to Keep Morocco's Captain Off the World Cup Pitch

Morocco captain and Paris St-Germain defender Achraf Hakimi will stand trial for rape in 2026, French prosecutors have confirmed, after his appeal to have the case dismissed failed. The 27-year-old, a two-time Champions League winner with 97 caps, has consistently denied the allegation.

The timing could not be more consequential. Hakimi is set to lead Morocco out against Scotland on Friday at a World Cup spread across the United States, Canada and Mexico, a tournament structure that may yet decide whether he plays beyond the group stage.

What the prosecutors have confirmed

A woman accused Hakimi of raping her at his home in Paris in 2023, when she was 24. The public prosecutor's office in Nanterre, a western suburb of the French capital, opened a preliminary investigation in March 2023.

An investigating judge has ordered the case to trial

In February 2026, an investigating judge ordered that Hakimi stand trial. French media report that the defender recently failed in an appeal to have the case dismissed, clearing the path for proceedings to go ahead.

• 2023: Allegation made; preliminary investigation opens in March.
• February 2026: Investigating judge orders a trial.
• 2026: Hakimi's appeal to dismiss the case fails.

No trial date has yet been set. Crucially, no court has found Hakimi guilty of any offence, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence.

Hakimi's denial and the plaintiff's response

Hakimi issued a combative statement on social media on Friday, framing himself as a target of his own fame and insisting he had long awaited his day in court.

"The justice system looked me in the eye and said, 'If you weren't famous, there would never have been a case.' I chose to remain silent for years. I believed that maintaining my dignity, being patient, and trusting in the justice system would allow the right decisions to be made."

He added that a "story that isn't mine is being told at the expense of my family, my life, and above all, the truth", and said he sometimes felt he had "become an easy target". "I've been waiting for this trial since day one," he wrote. "Finally, I'll be able to speak."

The plaintiff's lawyer points to a wider pattern

Rachel-Flore Pardo, the lawyer representing the woman, said the decision brought her client "relief and hope" after more than three years of proceedings during which, in her client's view, she had been "defamed and dragged through the mud".

"Hope that this trial will help other women and further weaken the wall of denial and impunity surrounding sexual violence, including in the world of men's football."

That phrase, "the wall of denial and impunity", lands squarely on a sport that has repeatedly struggled to confront these cases.

The World Cup travel problem: the Partey precedent

The legal facts are only half the story. The 2026 tournament's cross-border format turns Hakimi's trial into a logistical problem for Morocco.

Group stage in the US, knockouts everywhere else

All three of Morocco's group fixtures are being played in the United States, where the squad is currently based. The matches run across all three host nations until the quarter-final stage, when the tournament becomes US-only.

Should Morocco progress, Hakimi could face difficulties entering Canada or Mexico for any knockout tie scheduled outside the US.

Thomas Partey was already barred

This is not hypothetical. Last week, Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey missed his country's opener against Panama after being denied entry to Canada.

Partey, 32, has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of rape and one count of sexual assault relating to four women between 2020 and 2022, and is due to stand trial next year. Canada's government website states it can deny entry to anyone who has "committed or been convicted of a crime", a threshold that does not require a conviction.

If that rule applied to Partey, it can apply to Hakimi.

Football's wider reckoning with sexual violence cases

Two captains, two co-host nations, the same gap between a player's legal status and his ability to take the field. The Hakimi case exposes an inconsistency at the heart of the tournament.

A structural problem, not an isolated one

A player can be cleared to play in one host country and barred from another for the same unresolved allegations. FIFA has no public, consistent framework for how accused players are handled, leaving the decision to immigration officials in three separate jurisdictions.

• Hakimi played Morocco's opener in the United States.
• Partey was refused entry to Canada for Ghana's opener.
• Both await trial; neither has been convicted.

The result is a patchwork in which fame, geography and border policy, rather than any sporting or legal principle, may determine selection.

Hakimi's stature raises the stakes

Few players carry the profile Hakimi does. He made his Morocco debut in 2016 at 17, was central to the side that became the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final in 2022, and has won 13 trophies at PSG, including back-to-back Champions League titles.

A player of that standing facing a rape trial during a World Cup forces the sport to confront questions it has long avoided. For more on the specific knockout-stage complications, see our report on Morocco facing losing Hakimi to Mexican immigration law in the knockouts.

What happens next

Hakimi is expected to start against Scotland on Friday, with Morocco's group fixtures all in the United States and his entry there unaffected. The immediate question is sporting: can Morocco navigate the group and how far might they go.

The sharper test comes if they reach the knockouts. Any tie staged in Canada or Mexico would put Hakimi's entry in doubt under the same rules that stopped Partey, and PSG and the Moroccan federation have yet to set out how they would respond.

No trial date has been confirmed, and Hakimi maintains his innocence. But the case, alongside Partey's, has already turned a personal legal matter into a structural challenge for FIFA and the 2026 World Cup.