Salimata Sylla was about to lead her team onto the basketball court, as she had done many times before.

On that Sunday morning, she and her teammates had completed a three-hour bus trip from the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers to a rival club in northern France. They had changed and warmed up, and Sylla, the team captain, was ready to go.

But moments before tip-off, she was told she could not play. The reason? Her headscarf. More than two years later, Sylla is still barred from competing under the French basketball federation’s jurisdiction.

The 27-year-old former point guard is among thousands of young Muslim women in France who are sidelined from competitive sport because of bans on uniforms and other clothing that have religious or political significance.

These rules, critics say, disproportionately target hijab-wearing Muslim athletes.

Now, a contentious bill backed by right-wing politicians that would ban headscarves in all sporting competitions has cleared its first legislative hurdle in the Senate.

If passed by the lower house, it would enshrine into law what has until now been decided by individual sporting federations.

Opponents denounce it as discriminatory, Islamophobic, and a violation of both the rule of law and the very concept of “secularism”.

In January 2023, she was told to remove her hijab if she wanted to play against a rival club. Sylla refused, citing personal conviction and the fact that her sports hijab was officially approved and deemed suitable for competitive use.

The basketball federation bans all head coverings as inappropriate for play, contrary to the rules of the international federation.

Sylla has stopped playing with her former club. She continues hosting games outside of the federation’s jurisdiction, organising monthly tournaments in Paris and its suburbs that are open to women playing basketball with or without a hijab. Until now, sports federations have been free to decide whether to allow headscarves.

A date has yet to be set for the bill to be debated in the lower house of the Parliament.

“Les Hijabeuses”

A group of headscarf-wearing soccer players called “Les Hijabeuses”, who campaign against the ban, say the new bill would unfairly force Muslim women to choose between wearing a headscarf or playing a sport.

After France’s highest administrative court ruled in 2023 that the soccer federation can ban headscarves in matches, the Hijabeuses have lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights against France, alleging a violation of their freedom of religion.

Five-time Olympic judo champion Teddy Riner — a towering figure in French sports — argued that the bill was targeting one religion and that French society should instead focus on promoting equality.

The dispute has also exposed cracks within the coalition government. While some ministers have expressed doubts about the bill, it has the strong backing of hard-right heavyweights.

Lawmakers have previously approved a bill to strengthen oversight of mosques, schools and sports clubs.

Amnesty International said the new bill targets Muslim women and girls by excluding them from sporting competitions if they wear a headscarf or other religious clothing.

Ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games, Amnesty published research looking at rules in 38 European countries and found that France was the only country to ban religious headwear in sport.