ISIS has banned referees from one of its strongholds in Syria because they uphold the rules of FIFA and not Sharia law.

Commanders told game organisers that referees would be banned because their decisions ‘do not judge according to what Allah has revealed’, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR).

ISIS bosses claimed some FIFA rules are ‘a violation of Allah’s command and the Sunnah,’ although it is unclear exactly which ones defy Islamic laws upheld by the militants.

ISIS has banned referees from one of its strongholds in Syria because they uphold the rules of FIFA and not Sharia law. Stock image

Commanders told game organisers that referees would be banned because their decisions ‘do not judge according to what Allah has revealed’. Stock image

They have also written a new set of rules which allow an injured player to claim compensation or exact revenge one their opponents under Sharia law, the SOHR reports.

The new rules are to be introduced for the new football league season in the territory around Deir ez-Zor, Syria, due to start soon.

‘We’re lucky because the football we play does not run using FIFA’s name – then the organisation [Isis] would have stopped games once and for all and not just refereeing,’ a player told the SOHR.

ISIS is also believed to have banned a string of other activities in its territories, including dancing, smoking and watching foreign television.

New rules are regularly imposed in areas taken by Isis, where strict local courts come up with laws based on Islamic jurisprudence and deal with infractions.