French Court Orders Hakimi to Face Rape Trial
A French appeals court has confirmed that Paris Saint-Germain defender and Morocco captain Achraf Hakimi will stand trial on a rape charge, ending his bid to have the case dismissed and clearing the path for criminal proceedings he has consistently denied.
The Versailles Court of Appeal upheld a previous referral to a criminal court, clearing the way for a trial to be scheduled in the Hauts-de-Seine department. The ruling was delivered on Friday, June 19, 2026, only hours before Hakimi was due to lead the Atlas Lions against Scotland in their second Group C match at the 2026 World Cup.
In its statement, the court’s investigating chamber said the inquiry produced “sufficient evidence against Mr. Achraf Hakimi to justify referring him to the departmental criminal court in Hauts-de-Seine.” A date for the trial has not been announced.
The case dates back to February 2023, when a woman then aged 24 told police in the Val-de-Marne region southeast of Paris that the player had raped her at his home. According to a police account at the time, she said she met Hakimi on Instagram in January 2023, travelled to his residence in a taxi he ordered, and was kissed, touched without consent, and then assaulted before she pushed him away and texted a friend who came for her. On February 25, 2023, the woman reported the matter at the Nogent-sur-Marne police station, describing an incident from the previous day at about 1:15 a.m.
Hakimi, 27, reacted swiftly on X, maintaining his innocence. He wrote that his case would have been dismissed if he were not famous, and that he sometimes feels he has become “an easy target.”
“I’ve been waiting for this trial since day one. And now I’m looking forward to it,” he added, saying the proceedings would finally let him speak.
The trajectory of the case has been steady. French prosecutors in Nanterre first called for Hakimi to face trial in August 2025, requesting that the investigating judge refer the rape charge to a criminal court. That referral was confirmed in February 2026 before the defender appealed, leading to Friday’s decision.
His lawyer, Fanny Colin, has repeatedly questioned the strength of the case. She earlier argued the trial rests “solely on the word of a woman who obstructed all investigations, refused all medical examinations and DNA tests, refused to allow her mobile phone to be examined, and refused to give the name of a key witness.”
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, framed the outcome differently. She said that after more than three years of legal battle, and after her client was “dragged into the mud” by the defence, the decision brought “relief and hope.”
Speaking publicly for the first time in a Mediapart article published Thursday under the pseudonym Jeanne, the woman said she wanted a trial “to defend myself, to be heard,” adding, “I want people to believe me.”
The legal cloud has not dimmed Hakimi’s form. He won the Champions League for a second straight year with PSG and remains among the most accomplished right-backs in world football. Morocco, semi-finalists at the 2022 World Cup as the first African and Arab side to reach the last four, opened the 2026 tournament with a 1-1 draw against Brazil.
The presumption of innocence remains until the criminal court delivers its verdict.