Morocco’s Nouhaila Benzina makes history as the first player to wear a hijab at a World Cup
Nouhaila Benzina had written herself into the history books after becoming the first player ever to wear a hijab at a World Cup.
The Morocco defender donned the Islamic headdress during her country's match against South Korea in Adelaide.
The African nation was victorious in their second match of the tournament and defeated their rivals 1-0.
Benzina attracted headlines when the World Cup started as pundits noticed she would be the first to wear a hijab at a senior international tournament since FIFA changed its rules in 2014.
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However, she was kept as a reserve for Morocco's first match against Germany.
Benzina's team was absolutely thrashed 6-0 in that match.
Manager Reynald Pedros switched things up for their second game and decided to put the 25-year-old on the starting lineup.
She was able to play for the entire match and helped keep Morocco's hopes of progressing to the next round alive.
Striker Ibtissam Jraïdi managed to find the back of the net in the first six minutes of the game against South Korea, who are an impressive 55 spots higher on the world rankings.
The two sides spent the rest of the game trying to find another point and there were some close attempts.
South Korea’s Casey Phair was very close to bringing the match to 1-1, however just missed.
FIFA previously banned the hijab during competitions because of health and safety reasons as it was feared they posed a risk 'of injury to the head or neck'.
The Asian Football Confederation lobbied football's lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), to do a trial run in 2012 to see if this risk was legitimate.
After two years, IFAB decided to rescind the rule against players wearing religious headdresses.
FIFA Secretary-General Jerome Valcke said at the time: “It was decided that female players can cover their heads to play.
“It was decided that male players can play with head cover too.
“It will be a basic head cover and the colour should be the same as the team jersey.”
He added that the move would help support women in Muslim nations be able to play the sport they love.
The 2016 Under-17 Women’s World Cup held in Jordan saw players wear hijabs on the field in accordance with the new rules.
And now, Nouhaila Benzina has made it happen in a senior women’s international tournament.
Stewart Perrie