Is it forbidden to play soccer on the grounds that it was imported from the disbelievers?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : As for sports games, soccer, and these ball games, their origin is from the disbelievers.
The Shaykh : No, that is not correct, because they have now become widespread.
The questioner : Oh, my.
The Shaykh : Even if their origin was with them, if their origin was with them and then they became widespread and common, the imitation is gone. Because the meaning of imitation is that this resembles that, and now, if the majority of Muslims are doing it, it is no longer imitation; it was not imitation.
The presenter : Thank you.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : We have it in Riyadh, we have it originally, I mean.
The Shaykh : If it has become common among the Muslims.
The Shaykh : No, that is not correct, because they have now become widespread.
The questioner : Oh, my.
The Shaykh : Even if their origin was with them, if their origin was with them and then they became widespread and common, the imitation is gone. Because the meaning of imitation is that this resembles that, and now, if the majority of Muslims are doing it, it is no longer imitation; it was not imitation.
The presenter : Thank you.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : We have it in Riyadh, we have it originally, I mean.
The Shaykh : If it has become common among the Muslims.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ محمد بن صالح العثيمين»، 109- هل يحرم لعب كرة القدم بحجة أنها مستوردة من الكفار؟ - ابن عثيمين — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.