French court upholds trial for PSG star Achraf Hakimi in rape case

A French appeals court kept Achraf Hakimi headed for trial in a rape case that has shadowed one of Paris Saint-Germain’s biggest stars and Morocco’s most prominent players. The Versailles Court of Appeal confirmed on June 19, 2026, that the 27-year-old defender must answer the charge in a criminal court, extending a case that has moved through multiple judicial stages and now sits at the center of football governance.

The ruling left intact a February 24, 2026 order from an investigative judge that sent Hakimi to trial, after Nanterre prosecutors had asked in August 2025 for the case to be referred. The allegation dates to February or March 2023, when a 24-year-old woman told police that Hakimi raped her at his home in Boulogne-Billancourt after meeting him on Instagram and arriving by taxi. Hakimi denies the allegation, and no trial date has been set.

Being sent to trial in France does not determine guilt. It means investigators and judges have decided the case has enough weight to move into a criminal hearing, where the accusation will be tested in court rather than remaining only in the investigative phase. French reporting says the charge could carry up to 15 years in prison if Hakimi were convicted, a penalty that explains why the case has remained so closely watched well beyond the sports pages.

Hakimi’s lawyer, Fanny Colin, said the defense regretted that exculpatory evidence and contradictions in the complainant’s account had not led to dismissal. On the other side, Rachel-Flore Pardo, who represents the complainant, cast the ruling as a step toward a formal hearing for her client after years in which she said the woman had been dragged through the mud. Hakimi also said on X that his fame had made him an easy target, a posture that has kept his public defense tightly tied to his celebrity.

The case lands at an awkward moment for the institutions around him. PSG remains attached to a player whose profile extends far beyond club football, while sponsors and football officials in Morocco face a familiar test of whether to separate sporting value from legal risk. Hakimi has been central to Morocco’s modern rise, including its run to the 2022 World Cup semifinals, the first by an African or Arab nation. Reuters-linked coverage said he was due to join Morocco for a match against Scotland later on June 19, 2026, a stark reminder of how elite sport can keep moving even as a major criminal proceeding advances in parallel.