The Darul Uloom Deoband on Tuesday ordered that Muslim women should not watch men playing soccer as it violates the tenets of Islam.
"Football is played wearing shorts, so watching men playing with bare knees is forbidden for women; it's against religious belief," a senior Darul Uloom Deoband cleric Mufti Athar Kasmi said.
Earlier this month, the Sunni Muslim kingdom of Saudi Arabia has allowed women in to watch matches in soccer stadiums.