Question

is football haram in islam

Answer 1

There is no explicit text in the Holy Quran or the Sunnah of the Prophet that forbids playing or watching football, but anything that distracts from prayer is forbidden, meaning that if the players are preoccupied with it and neglect the prayers, then it is forbidden. The evidence from the Holy Quran is the Almighty’s saying:
“O you who have believed, indeed, intoxicants, gambling, [sacrificing on] stone alters [to other than God], and divining arrows are but defilement from the work of Satan, so avoid it that you may be successful.”