Iranian players Saedeh Ahmadi, left, and Shihrin Nasiri, right, , battle for ball with Stephanie Al-Naber, center, of Jordan, during the final match at the West Asian Soccer Federation Women's Championship cup in Amman, Jordan on Oct. 1, 2005. FIFA medical chief Michel D'Hooghe has withdrawn his opposition to headscarves for Muslim women players. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP - Muhammad Al-Kisswany
June 29, 2012 - 1:45 PM
KIEV, Ukraine - The chairman of FIFA's medical committee has withdrawn his opposition to Muslim women players being allowed to wear headscarves.
Michel D'Hooghe tells The Associated Press that "the problems I had (with scarves) were medical, and I don't have those problems anymore."
His new advice could enable FIFA's law-making body to approve two scarf designs when it meets in Zurich next Thursday.
The panel, known as IFAB, asked in March for further medical opinions on whether the new designs were safe for women players to wear.
IFAB banned headscarves from FIFA competitions for safety reasons in 2007.
Last month, D'Hooghe said his committee's tests suggested players wearing scarves could sustain head and neck injuries, or overheat.
News from © The Associated Press, 2012