PSG star Hakimi faces trial for alleged rape

Paris Saint-Germain's Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi looks on during the UEFA Champions League first round day 1 football match between Paris Saint-Germain and Atalanta at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on Sept. 17, 2025. Moroccan international and PSG football player Achraf Hakimi is being sent back to trial for the rape of a young woman in February 2023, AFP learned on Feb. 24, from the player's lawyer and the Nanterre public prosecutor's office. AFP-Yonhap

PARIS — Moroccan international and Paris Saint-Germain footballer Achraf Hakimi is to stand trial charged with raping a young woman, his lawyer and a French prosecutor told AFP Tuesday.

In February 2023, a woman then aged 24 told police in Val-De-Marne southeast of Paris that Hakimi had raped her.

The 27-year-old footballer denies any wrongdoing.

"Today, a rape accusation is enough to justify a trial, even though I contest it and everything proves that it is false," he wrote on X on Tuesday.

"I await this trial calmly, which will allow the truth to come out publicly."

Hakimi's lawyer Fanny Colin said a trial had been ordered and the prosecutor in the Nanterre suburb of Paris confirmed.

"A trial has been ordered on the basis of an accusation that 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," Colin said.

PSG coach Luis Enrique when asked about it at Tuesday's press conference, ahead of the Champions League play-off second leg match with Monaco, said: "This matter is in the hands of the authorities."

The plaintiff's lawyer, Rachel-Flore Pardo, said her client was relieved to hear the case was going to court.

She said the judiciary had been exemplary in handling the case.

But its treatment in general showed "there are still areas where the #MeToo movement has not yet breached the sound barrier, chiefly in men's football," she added.