After three years of calls for change, the International Basketball Federation ratified rules on Thursday to allow athletes to wear traditional religious headwear during games .

FIBA, basketballs international governing body, had been considering the change since the Qatari womens basketball team withdrew from the Asian Games in September 2014 because players were not allowed to wear hijabs on the court. FIBA had also prevented Sikh men from wearing turbans and Jewish men from wearing yarmulkes during games.

FIBA instituted a two-year trial period in 2014, during which some athletes were granted exceptions to don religious headwear during games.

The organization justified its policy by arguing that the headwear could pose dangers to the athletes. But it left some players in a holding pattern as they sought to play in international competitions, Bilqis Abdul-Qaadir said in 2014. Abdul-Qaadir, a Muslim American woman who wore hijab while playing college basketball at Indiana State University, said the ban prevented her from seeking a professional contract in Europe.

I was that close to the dream and then just because of my religious beliefs or something that I wore was going to stop me from playing, she told USA Today in 2015 .