Achraf Hakimi's Legal Challenge: Key Hearing on Rape Case

Achraf Hakimi faces a crucial legal test on Tuesday as the Versailles appeals court, just west of Paris, re-examines the rape case that has shadowed one of world football’s most high-profile full-backs.

The 27-year-old Morocco international, a key figure for both Paris Saint-Germain and his national team, is due to stand trial on a charge of raping a woman. The hearing will determine whether that charge stands as is, is downgraded to a lesser offence, or potentially reshaped before the case moves to a full trial.

If the appeal fails and the charge is not reduced, Hakimi will face trial on a date yet to be set.

Serious allegation, fierce denial

The case dates back to February 2023. A woman, then 24, went to police in Val-de-Marne, southeast of Paris, and accused Hakimi of raping her. After her complaint, French authorities formally charged the defender and placed him under judicial supervision. In February this year, the decision was made to send the case to trial.

Hakimi denies any wrongdoing.

Contacted by AFP, his lawyer, Fanny Colin, declined to comment ahead of the appeals hearing. During an earlier referral hearing, however, she attacked the foundations of the case, arguing that “the accusation rests solely on the word of a woman who obstructed all investigations, refused all medical examinations and DNA tests (and) refused to give the name of key witnesses.”

The plaintiff’s account, as relayed by a police source at the time, is stark. She told investigators she met Hakimi in January 2023 via Instagram. According to her statement, the player ordered a taxi to bring her to his home. Once there, she claimed, he kissed her, touched her without her consent and then raped her. She said she eventually managed to push him away and text a friend, who came to collect her.

The court will not rule on guilt or innocence on Tuesday, but its decision on the legal qualification of the facts will shape the trial to come and the potential penalties at stake.

Star on the pitch, storm off it

Hakimi’s profile makes the case impossible to ignore in football circles.

He joined PSG in 2021 from Inter Milan, having come through Real Madrid and impressed on loan at Borussia Dortmund. On the pitch, he has become one of the most dynamic right-backs in the game, blending searing pace with an attacking instinct that suits modern football’s demands.

His standing rose even higher at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Hakimi played a central role in Morocco’s historic run to the semi-finals, the first time an African or Arab nation had reached the last four of the tournament. That campaign turned him into a symbol far beyond club loyalties, a standard-bearer for a continent and a region.

Now, his career moves forward under the shadow of a looming trial.

High stakes for club and country

For PSG, the timing is delicate. Hakimi is expected to be in the squad when the French champions face Arsenal in the Champions League final on May 30 in Budapest. The club has not publicly indicated any change to his sporting status ahead of that showpiece.

Morocco, too, are planning with him at the heart of their ambitions. Hakimi is certain to be part of Walid Regragui’s squad when they open their World Cup campaign against Brazil on June 13 in New Jersey. They share Group C with Scotland and Haiti, a section that pits Morocco’s golden generation against a mix of pedigree and unpredictability.

So the defender stands at a crossroads: a Champions League final on the horizon, another World Cup adventure beckoning, and a serious criminal case gathering pace in Versailles.

The court’s decision on how this case proceeds will not just frame a trial. It will define the backdrop against which one of football’s most influential modern full-backs plays the defining matches of his career.