Achraf Hakimi must stand trial in a rape case, the French appeals court confirms

A French appeals court confirmed Friday that Paris Saint-Germain and Moroccan star player Achraf Hakimi will stand trial in a rape case, lawyers told The Associated Press.

The defender, who is currently playing with Morocco in the World Cup after winning the Champions League for the second year in a row with PSG, had appealed against an investigating judge’s decision in February. That ruling followed recommendations from prosecutors that Hakimi should stand trial.

The decision of the Versailles Court of Appeal was released just hours before Morocco take on Scotland in Group C. Morocco drew 1-1 against Brazil in the opening match.

Hakimi, one of the best right-backs in the world, denies all allegations. In March 2023, he faced preliminary rape charges after a 24-year-old woman said she was raped by Hakimi at his home in a Paris suburb.

Rachel-Flore Pardo, the lawyer representing the plaintiff, said that after more than three years of legal proceedings, “and after being vilified and dragged through the mud by Achraf Hakimi’s defense,” the court’s decision “gives my client a sense of relief and hope.”

“Relief that she has been heard by the legal system and that her case will be heard at trial,” Pardo said in a statement to the AP. “I hope this process will help other women and further weaken the fortress of denial and impunity surrounding sexual violence, including within the world of men’s football.”

Hakimi claimed in a post on

“Justice looked me in the eye and said, ‘If you weren’t famous, there would never have been a case,’” Hakimi wrote. «I chose to remain silent for years. I believed that by maintaining dignity, being patient and trusting the justice system, the right decisions could be made.»

He added that the case has been damaging not only to him, but also to his family, “and especially to the truth.”

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«I have been waiting for this trial since day one. And I am waiting for it impatiently now,» he added. “Finally I will be able to speak.”

A date for the trial has not yet been announced.

“The multitude of exculpatory elements that came to light during the investigation and the judicial investigation would, in any other case, have led to the dismissal of the proceedings,” Hakimi’s lawyer, Fanny Colin, told the AP.

“Achraf Hakimi’s defense regrets that no consequences were drawn from the complainant’s contradictions and false statements, withholding information from the judicial authorities, obstructing the search for the truth and the psychological assessments that identified both her ambivalence and her lack of clarity regarding the events she reported.”

Published on June 19, 2026