The energy radiating from Diaba Konaté is palpable, even through our transatlantic Zoom chat. The bright-smiling college star has dreamed of playing basketball in the United States since her childhood. She moved to the U.S. from France in December 2018 on a full scholarship from Idaho State University, later transferring to the University of California, Irvine as a junior.
The 23-year-old point guard’s collegiate highlights include averaging 8.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.2 steals per game as a junior, ranking her among the top-30 in the nation with her free throw percentage and tied for eighth in single-season school history with 63 steals. She also reached 1,000 points in her collegiate career after dropping a season-high 20 against UC Santa Barbara in February 2023.
Diaba’s journey began at the age of 11 when a teacher recognized her potential at school in Paris, and she soon joined the French youth team, winning medals in the under-18 and under-23 teams. ‘France has given me learned basketball,” she says, her French accent subtly running through her fluent English. You can feel deep affection and pride when she talks about home, but there is one big problem: she is not allowed to play in her own country simply because she wears a hijab.
The French Basketball Federation (FFBB) bans the wearing of “any equipment with a religious or political connotation,” which discriminates against Muslim women wearing headgear. Secularism in France, or ‘laïcité’, has prevented those who wear religious garb from entering many official public institutions, including the sporting arena, in an ongoing push to separate religion and state. With the Paris Games set to start in July, the FFBB ruling has drawn criticism from around the world, with critics saying it goes against the spirit of the Olympic Games and sport in general.
Diaba says she is “heartbroken” over the ban in France, which prevents her from performing in public arenas wearing her hijab. “It’s like a relationship between two people. I want to step towards them, but they come back. I love my home country, but I feel like America loves me more.”
Aside from the obstacles in France, the sociology major has had a fairly smooth basketball journey, receiving nothing but support from coaches, teammates and her family.
She was born and raised in Paris to working-class parents – her father is a cleaning lady, her mother worked in a restaurant – who left Mali to build a better life for their nine children. Diaba is the only baller among her siblings.
Diaba’s reliance on the court coincided with a boost in confidence that followed a period of deep introspection during the Covid pandemic. The 2020 lockdown left her ‘really alone’ and forced her to stop and reevaluate her life. “It was a time to question myself. What do I want my identity to be? Do I really want to play basketball? How good am I as a Muslim?” Through tears and self-examination, Diaba ‘turned to Allah’ and found answers. Her faith grew, as did her conviction and discipline in her playing, with an initial daily routine of “waking up before the fajr (dawn) prayer and then shooting hoops.” She is also known to curse on the field when frustrated at times. “We are not angels!” she laughs.
In 2020, Diaba also started wearing the hijab. She adjusted her uniform accordingly, adding leggings and long-sleeved tops underneath. Her teammates and coaches fully supported her, the latter even buying her sports hijabs.
Constantly trying to improve her game, Diaba closely observed the techniques of American basketball greats, finding inspiration wherever she could find it. She specifically cites former WNBA legend Sue Bird and Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks.
But her real inspiration, both on and off the field, is Bilqis Abdul-Qadir, whose fight and determination deeply impress Diaba. Bilqis made NCAA history by being the first hijab-wearing player in collegiate basketball. But in 2013 she had to sacrifice her professional career in Europe due to a Fiba ban on headgear. She fought tirelessly against the ban, which was eventually overturned in 2017.
“Sport is a human right,” says Bilqis, now a speaker and CEO of Muslim girls ball too, which she set up to encourage Muslim women to take up sports. “Playing with a ball and wearing a headscarf – who are we hurting? We should have the space to do what we love, and never have to choose between our passion and our faith again.”
Bilqis talks about carrying a ‘trifecta of identity’ as a Muslim, black woman. “I fill in so many gaps, and it’s so powerful that people aren’t ready for it. But that is where we make change, we can make history,” she says.
Diaba recognizes both the strength and challenges she faces within such a trifecta that she herself represents, and although she has been reluctantly pushed to campaign instead of focusing solely on playing basketball, she is agree that you have to do uncomfortable things for change to happen.
Diaba is supported by the solidarity of other athletes and bodies such as Amnesty International and Basket Pour Toutes (Basketball for All), formed by Muslim female players, coaches and allies, who are fighting the FFBB ban. Together they brought one open letter on this year’s International Women’s Day, with more than 80 signatories, demanding equal access for players like Diaba. “Sports should be a place where you grow – not where you face bigotry,” says their co-founder, Hélène Bâ, also a basketball player who wears a headscarf.
Also from Basket Pour Toutes is Haifa Tilli, a sociology researcher who has been crucial in guiding the campaign from the start. “You cannot claim to be combating violence against women while humiliating, stigmatizing and excluding some sportswomen; You cannot congratulate yourself on the feminization of sport in France while leaving some women on the sidelines or sending them to the stands,” she says.
Another important advocate is Athlete Ally, an LGBTQI+ organization that wants to raise a voice like Diaba. “Collective liberation is only possible through intentional allyship,” said Joanna Hoffman, the organization’s director of communications. She emphasizes the importance of going beyond “comfort levels” to actively confront oppression that does not directly affect us. Muslim women and girls, like all women and girls, deserve to participate in sports to their full potential. We should never be excluded from the sport just because of who we are.”
More broadly, women’s basketball has gained momentum and attention in recent years, helped by players like Caitlin Clark, who became the highest scoring player in NCAA basketball history this season and raised the profile of female ballers. While there has been progress, Diaba says there is still more to be done for women’s basketball: more media attention, more resources and more investment. Only then will there be a greater chance of inclusion and equality for all women in sport, including Muslim women.
Diaba’s focus now is on competing in the NCAA Tournament, the pinnacle of the college basketball season. Her team’s fate will be decided at the Big West Championship, which takes place this weekend. “My team is amazing,” she says. “We are very motivated and determined to go. But if we don’t become champions, I think we have a great chance of dancing at March Madness.”
The end-of-season tournament takes place during Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, and Diaba plans to fast during matches. “I want to commit and challenge myself, both in my faith and in my basketball,” she says.
She will play with a torn meniscus, which she has carried for three years, making her a more cautious player, but she plans to undergo surgery after the tournament.
Her future expectations? “I hope that the French ban will be lifted. I want to play basketball for my family. I want to play for France. And I want to fight for other women like me to have access to sports.”