As Saudi Arabia allowed women to watch matches in soccer stadiums earlier this month, a senior cleric at the influential Deoband Islamic seminary in India has issued a religious decree saying that Muslim women should not watch men playing soccer.
Mufti Athar Kasmi said that watching men “playing with bare knees” violated the tenets of Islam and was forbidden for women.

He also lashed out at the men who allow their wives to watch football even on television.
“Do you have no shame? Do you not fear God? You let her watch these kinds of things,” he said in his sermon Friday.

“Why do women need to watch these football matches? What they will gain by looking at footballer’s thighs. Their attention will be on that only and they will even miss the scores,” Kasmi said.

Recently the seminary issued a fatwa asking Muslim women not to visit beauty salons or wear tight clothing