Official Statistics

Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales: 2024 to 2025 domestic football season

Published 17 July 2025

Applies to England and Wales

© Crown copyright 2025

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/football-related-arrests-banning-orders-202425-domestic-season/football-related-arrests-and-banning-orders-england-and-wales-2024-to-2025-domestic-football-season

This release includes data, trends and football club comparisons for the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season (including regulated football matches played in and outside England and Wales) and has been published shortly after the end of the domestic football season which is earlier than in previous years. Additional statistics, covering international tournaments held in the summer of 2025 and any revisions to the domestic football season data, will be published in autumn 2025. This release covers:

The 2024 to 2025 domestic football season took place between July 2024 and May 2025. It covered the period in which English and Welsh domestic club teams played the majority of their 2024 to 2025 season matches.

  • football-related arrests relate to all regulated football matches played in and outside England and Wales during the domestic football season period
  • new football banning orders relate to those orders issued by courts in England and Wales during the domestic football season (1 August 2024 to 31 May 2025 reporting period)
  • reported incidents are those involving supporters of English and Welsh clubs and the national teams when playing in England and Wales during the domestic football season period
  • online hate crimes relate to those that were recorded, met specific criteria and passed a series of ‘threshold tests’ during the domestic football season period

The user guide provides additional information on the coverage of the data, quality and methodology, information on the conventions used in the statistics, and relevant legislation.

The accompanying data tables provide supplementary data to this release.

1. Summary of statistics

During the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, there were 1,932 football-related arrests relating to regulated football matches played in England and Wales. This was an 11% decrease (-235) compared with arrests relating to equivalent matches in the 2023 to 2024 domestic football season.

1.2 Football banning orders

Data taken on 1 June 2025 showed there were a total of 2,439 football banning orders issued in England and Wales that were in force, an increase of 12% compared with 1 August 2024 (2,172). During the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, 685 new banning orders were issued over a 10-month period (1 August 2024 to 31 May 2025), a similar number compared with the same 10-month period in the 2023 to 2024 domestic football season (683).

1.3 Reported incidents

Incidents were reported in relation to 1,583 football matches in England and Wales during the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season. These relate to club and international matches that took place in England and Wales during the domestic season. The number of matches with reported incidents increased by 18% (242 matches) compared with 1,341 matches in the 2023 to 2024 domestic football season.

1.4 Collection of data

User feedback

A public user engagement survey took place between February and March 2025 to gather feedback on official statistics on football-related arrests and banning orders. The survey asked for views on how and why users accessed the data, as well as the timeliness of the publication. In response to the feedback received, and to better meet user needs, data from the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season (including regulated football matches played in and outside England and Wales) has been published shortly after the end of the domestic football season which is earlier than in previous years. Additional statistics, covering international tournaments held in the summer of 2025 and any revisions to the domestic football season data, will be published in autumn 2025. Previously, all data was released in the autumn on an annual basis.

Statistics on football-related arrests were submitted by the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, and by the British Transport Police (BTP), to the UKFPU. Within this report, ‘football-related arrests’ are arrests for offences under Schedule 1 to the Football Spectators Act 1989 and comparable arrests (as determined by the UKFPU) of English or Welsh fans made outside England and Wales. These include football-specific offences (such as entering the pitch and throwing missiles inside a stadium) and other violent and public order offences connected with regulated football matches.

Regulated football matches in England and Wales include matches involving English and Welsh clubs in the top six levels of men’s English football (Premier League to National League North and South), the Cymru Premier, Women’s Super League and Women’s Championship, international matches played in England and Wales, matches such as the UEFA Champions League final, and some associated age group matches (including under 18 and above).

A person may be arrested at a football match for an offence not included in Schedule 1 to the 1989 Act, for example theft. These arrests are listed as ‘other arrests’.

There were 1,932 football-related arrests relating to regulated matches played in England and Wales during the 2024 to 2025 domestic season. This was an 11% decrease (-235) compared with arrests relating to equivalent matches in the 2023 to 2024 domestic football season. All were related to men’s football.

In addition, there were:

  • 31 football-related arrests relating to club regulated football matches played in international competitions outside of England and Wales compared with 10 in the 2023 to 2024 domestic football season
  • 106 football-related arrests by BTP compared with 96 in the 2023 to 2024 domestic football season
  • 331 ‘other’ arrests (including one related to a women’s regulated football match) compared with 379 in the 2023 to 2024 domestic football season (‘other’ arrests are those not covered by Schedule 1 and include offences such as possession of Class B drugs and theft)

Figure 1 shows comparable football-related arrest figures - relating to club and international regulated football matches played in England and Wales during the domestic football season - in blue.

Prior to the 2019 to 2020 season, there was a downward trend in football-related arrests in England and Wales, with a decrease of 26% over 4 seasons, from 1,873 in the 2014 to 2015 season to 1,381 in the 2018 to 2019 season (before the COVID-19 pandemic). However, following the return of spectators to stadia after the pandemic, the number of football-related arrests increased to 2,198 in the 2021 to 2022 season. The decrease in the latest season sees the number of football-related arrests return to levels seen in the 2014 to 2015 and 2015 to 2016 seasons: 1,963.

Figure 1: Football-related arrests, from 2014 to 2015 football season to 2024 to 2025 domestic football season

Source: Home Office, Football-related arrests, banning orders: 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, table 4

Notes:
1. Figures include arrests relating to all regulated football matches in and outside England and Wales.
2. Figures for the 2024 to 2045 domestic football season are as of 1 June 2025. This includes all regulated football matches played in and outside England and Wales during the domestic football season. Follow-up statistics covering international tournaments held in summer 2025 and any revisions to the domestic football season data (for example due to late reporting) will be published in autumn 2025.
3. Possession of Class A drugs became a Schedule 1 offence in November 2022 during the 2022 to 2023 season. Prior to November 2022, arrests relating to the possession of Class A drugs were categorised as ‘other arrests’.
4.Arrests made in England and Wales for offences committed in England and Wales relating to overseas tournaments have only been included since the 2022 to 2023 season.

Just over half (54%; 1,063) of the football-related arrests in the 2024 to 2025 domestic season took place inside football stadia, and the majority of arrests were of supporters of clubs in the top 6 tiers in English football (1,803; 92%).

2.2 Arrests relating to club matches played in European competitions increased

Of the 1,932 football-related arrests in England and Wales:

  • 1,725 (89%) related to club matches played in domestic competitions
  • 189 (10%) related to club matches played in European competitions during the domestic season
  • 18 (1%) related to international team matches played during the domestic season

There were 220 football-related arrests relating to club matches played in European competitions. In addition to the 189 relating to those played in England and Wales, 31 related to matches played outside of England and Wales. This compares with 115 in England and Wales and 10 outside England and Wales (125 in total) in the 2023 to 2024 domestic season. There were no arrests related to England and Wales fans attending internationals held outside England and Wales.

Follow-up statistics covering international tournaments held in summer 2025 will be published in autumn 2025.

2.3 Most common arrest offence type was public disorder

During the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, the most common football-related arrest offence types were public disorder (32%), violent disorder (22%), and the possession of Class A drugs (19%; this became a Schedule 1 offence in November 2022), as shown in Figure 2.

Over the past decade, the proportion of arrests by offence type has remained relatively stable, with the exception of alcohol offences, which have decreased over time (from 34% in the 2010 to 2011 season to 8% in the 2024 to 2025 season) and arrests for entering the pitch which have fluctuated over time (with a high of 14% in the 2021 to 2022 season and a low of 3% in the 2024 to 2025 season). Since the possession of Class A drugs became a Schedule 1 offence in November 2022 during the 2022 to 2023 season, the proportion of arrests for this offence type has increased from 9% to 19%.

Figure 2: Football-related arrests by offence type, from 2015 to 2016 football season to 2024 to 2025 domestic football season

Source: Home Office, Football-related arrests and banning orders: 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, table 6

Notes:
1. Figures include arrests at all regulated football matches played in and outside England and Wales.
2. Figures for the 2024 to 2045 season are as of 1 June 2025. Follow-up statistics covering international tournaments held in summer 2025 will be published in autumn 2025.
3. Other includes throwing missiles, racist and indecent chanting, unauthorised ticket resale (commonly known as ‘ticket touting’), possession of an offensive weapon, possession of pyrotechnics, failing to comply with the terms of a banning order, criminal damage and other offences against property.

2.4 Highest number of arrests - Manchester United supporters

During the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, there were 1,803 football-related arrests involving supporters of clubs in the top 6 tiers in English football, a 12% decrease compared with the 2023 to 2024 season (2,043).

There was a higher proportion of arrests of away supporters (54%; 980) compared with home supporters (45%; 806).

The club with the highest number of supporters arrested in the 2024 to 2025 season was Manchester United, with 121 arrests. Manchester City was second, with 94 arrests and West Ham United third, with 77 arrests. Previously, West Ham United had the highest number of supporters arrested for three consecutive years (103 in the 2023 to 2024 season).

Figure 3: Clubs with the highest number of supporters arrested, 2024 to 2025 domestic football season

Source: Home Office, Football-related arrests and banning orders: 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, table 5

In the 2024 to 2025 season, Arsenal had the largest decrease in arrests compared with the 2023 to 2024 season (-43). This follows a large increase in arrests in the 2023 to 2024 season (+34).

Aston Villa had the largest increase in arrests compared with the 2023 to 2024 season (from 26 to 71 arrests).

2.5 Arrest rate for the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season was 4.2 arrests per 100,000 attendees

During the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, around 46 million people attended men’s regulated football matches in and outside England and Wales (including the top five divisions of men’s English football, FA Cup, League Cup, Football League Trophy, Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League and Internationals).

With 1,936 arrests relating to these matches, the arrest rate for the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season was 4.2 arrests per 100,000 attendees. This was a lower arrest rate than the previous season (5.5), which included the men’s Euro 2024 competition. Excluding the men’s Euro 2024 competition, the arrest rate was 4.7 in the 2023 to 2024 football season.

There were no Schedule 1 arrests reported in relation to women’s regulated football matches.

Arrests relating to FA Cup matches had the highest arrest rate, at 6.6 arrests per 100,000 attendees. National League (National Division) matches had the lowest arrest rate of 3.0 arrests per 100,000 attendees.

Figure 4: Football-related arrest rate per 100,000 attendees by competition, 2024 to 2025 domestic football season

Source:
Home Office, Football-related arrests and banning orders: 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, table 10; attendance figures from Transfermarkt.com, BBC Sports and Sky Sports.

Notes:
1. Figures include arrests relating to all regulated football matches in and outside England and Wales during the 2025 to 2025 domestic football season. Follow-up statistics covering international tournaments held in summer 2025 will be published in autumn 2025.
2. Does not include other competitions which include the Community Shield, Under-21 internationals and domestic pre-season friendlies, or women’s regulated football matches.
3. Chart does not include competitions with less than 30 arrests.
4. Due to the earlier publication of figures for the 2024 to 2025 football season, ‘The Football Yearbook’ previously used for the attendance data was not available at the time of publication and therefore attendance figures were obtained from Transfermarkt.com, BBC Sports and Sky Sports.

During the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, there were 106 football-related arrests under Schedule 1 to the Football Spectators Act 1989 reported by the BTP in connection with regulated football matches in England and Wales. This compares with 96 in the 2023 to 2024 football season.

The most common BTP Schedule 1 arrest offence types were public disorder (55%; 58 arrests), violent disorder (26%; 28) and alcohol offences (17%; 18). Public disorder has been the most common offence type for BTP arrests in all previous seasons since the data collection began (excluding the 2020 to 2021 season which was impacted by COVID-19). For more information on football-related arrests by the BTP see the user guide.

2.7 Decrease in ‘other arrests’ compared with 2023 to 2024 season

A person may be arrested at a football match for an offence not covered by Schedule 1, for example possession of Class B drugs (such as cannabis) or theft. These arrests are described in the data as ‘other arrests’.

In the 2024 to 2025 football season, there were 331 ‘other arrests’ in connection with regulated matches in England and Wales (including those by the BTP), including 1 related to women’s football matches. This compares with 379 in the 2023 to 2024 football season, a 13% decrease. The way in which ‘other arrests’ are recorded means that it is not possible for these to be published by offence type. For more information see the user guide.

3. Football banning orders

Football banning orders in England and Wales help prevent violence or disorder at, or in connection with, regulated football matches. An individual with a banning order is prevented from attending all regulated matches in the UK and may be required to hand over their passport to the police before overseas matches and tournaments. Banning orders are issued by courts in England and Wales either following a conviction for a football-related offence, or following a complaint by a local police force, BTP, or the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). A football banning order lasts for between 3 and 10 years. In cases where the individual does not receive a custodial sentence for the relevant offence, the maximum duration is 5 years; if the individual receives a custodial sentence the maximum duration is 10 years. For more information, see the user guide.

In response to user feedback, data on new football banning orders issued during the 2024 to 2025 football season was collected over a 10-month period (1 August to 31 May), to allow data to be published shortly after the end of the domestic football season, and comparisons were made with the same 10-month period in the previous season. In future, data will be collected over a 12-month period (1 June to 31 May). Total banning orders ‘as of’ the end of the season are reported as of 1 June. Previously, data on new football banning orders issued was collected from 1 August to 31 July, with total banning orders ‘as of’ 1 August.

3.1 Highest number of football banning orders in force since 2013

Data taken on 1 June 2025 showed there were a total of 2,439 football banning orders issued in England and Wales that were in force at the end of the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season. This was an increase of 12% compared with the end of the 2023 to 2024 season (2,172) and the highest number in force since the end of the 2012 to 2013 season. During the 2024 to 2025 football season, 685 new banning orders were issued over a 10-month period, similar to the number issued during the same 10-month period in the 2023 to 2024 football season (683).

Figure 5: Number of football banning orders in force in England and Wales, from 2015 to 2016 football season to 2024 to 2025 football season

Source: Home Office, Football-related arrests and banning order statistics, 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, table 1

Notes:
1. Extraction dates of new banning order data varied slightly year-on-year. See the data tables for data extraction dates.
2. Data on new football banning orders issued during the 2024 to 2025 football season was collected over a 10-month period (1 August to 31 May) to allow data to be published shortly after the end of the domestic football season in response to user feedback. In future data will be collected over a 12-month period (1 June to 31 May). Total banning orders ‘as at’ the end of the season are reported as at 1 June. Prior to the 2024 to 2025 season, data on new football banning orders issued was collected from 1 August to 31 July, with totals reported as at 1 August.

An individual can have multiple bans. Therefore, the number of bans is not equal to the number of individuals who have a ban.

3.2 Most football banning orders issued to males and those aged 18 to 34

Of the 2,439 football banning orders in force on 1 June 2025, almost all (99.4%; 2,425) were issued to males. Around 64% (1,573) were issued to those aged between 18 and 34, and 3% (75) to those aged 17 and under.

3.3 West Ham United supporters had highest number of football banning orders in force

At the end of the 2024 to 2025 season, West Ham United supporters had the highest number of football banning orders issued in England and Wales that were in force (112) across all football clubs, ranking top for the second consecutive year. Manchester United had the second highest number (108) for the second consecutive year and Chelsea supporters had the third highest number (80). As banning orders last between 3 and 10 years, movement in this ranking is slow. The top 5 clubs with the highest number of football banning orders in force are shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Clubs with the highest number of football banning orders in force at the end of the season, 2024 to 2025 and 2023 to 2024 season

Football club 2024 to 2025 season 2024 to 2025 season 2023 to 2024 season 2023 to 2024 season
  Football banning orders in force Ranking Football banning orders in force Ranking
West Ham United 112 1 93 1
Manchester United 108 2 89 2
Chelsea 80 3 54 8
Manchester City 76 4 63 6
Leicester City 70 5 72 4 (joint)

Source: Home Office, Football-related arrests and banning order statistics, 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, football banning order detailed datasets

During the 2024 to 2025 season, West Ham United (39), Chelsea (31) and Manchester United (28) supporters were issued the highest number of new football banning orders.

Football banning orders are imposed by courts and may be issued in a different season to when the related offence happened. As a result, some orders recorded in a given season may relate to arrests made in an earlier season. For example, an individual arrested during the 2024 to 2025 football season would be included in that season’s arrest figures, but a football banning order may not be made until later. This means the football banning order would appear in a future season’s statistics.

4. Reported incidents at football matches

Reported incidents include football-related violence, disorder, anti-social behaviour and harm, and association with risk groups. These incidents relate to regulated football matches played in England and Wales. These incidents do not necessarily constitute criminal offences. Reports of incidents are submitted to UKFPU by police DFOs. These reports may be informed by information from partner organisations such as the FA and Kick It Out.

Figures in this section relate to the number of football matches where an incident was reported, not the number of individual incidents. Multiple incidents may be reported at each match. The way that DFOs entered incident data onto the system changed during the 2023 to 2024 season, from selecting options about the match as a whole on one screen to a more detailed recording of the events that occurred over multiple screens, and therefore it is possible there was under recording of some categories within matches identified as having multiple incident types during the 2023 to 2024 season as recording practices adjusted.

4.1 Incidents reported at half of football matches

As of 1 June 2025, 3,090 regulated football matches involving men’s English and Welsh clubs and the national teams had been played in the 2024 to 2025 football season in England and Wales (excluding National League North and South matches).

Of the 3,090 matches, incidents were reported at half (1,556; 50%). This compares with 3,048 matches played in the 2023 to 2024 season, of which 1,340 had incidents reported (44%).

In addition to the above matches, incidents were reported at 16 National League North and South matches. There were also 11 women’s regulated football matches with reported incidents, which compares to one match in the 2023 to 2024 season.

In total, the number of matches with reported incidents increased by 18% (+242 matches) compared with the 2023 to 2024 season (1,341).

4.2 75% of matches with incidents were categorised as low severity

A post-match incident report assessment is made after each relevant regulated football match and allocates a low, medium, or high severity category to each match depending on the severity of incidents that happened before, during and after the match.

In the 2024 to 2025 men’s domestic season, there were 1,178 matches with low severity incidents (75%), 288 matches with medium severity incidents (18%) and 106 matches with high severity incidents (7%). Compared with the 2023 to 2024 domestic football season, there were increases in matches with low severity incidents (+18%), medium severity incidents (+8%) and high severity incidents (+38%).

All the women’s matches with reported incidents (11) were categorised as low severity.

4.3 Most common incidents involved non-risk supporters and hate crime

Figures on reported incidents are available by type of incident. More than one incident type may be reported at each match, so the total number of reported incident types is greater than the number of matches where an incident was reported.

The most commonly reported incidents involved non-risk supporters (where supporters were not considered a risk in terms of violence or disorder at the match; at 426 matches). This was an increase of 133% (+243) compared with the 2023 to 2024 season, which is likely due to improved reporting procedures.

The most common incident type reported was hate crime (at 420 matches), throwing missiles (at 363 matches) and pyrotechnics (at 319 matches).

There were 304 matches involving spontaneous incidents (for example supporters engaging in disorder which is not organised or pre-planned), and 235 matches where public order or anti-social behaviour incidents involving youth supporters were recorded (these involve supporters aged 18 or under, in planned or spontaneous incidents, at or in connection with, a football event).

Hate crime incidents were reported in relation to 420 matches; 287 incidents related to race, 140 to sexual orientation, 20 to religion, 19 to disability and 3 to gender identity.

For more information on reported incidents at football matches, see Tables 11 to 13.

5. Online hate crime incidents connected to football

From 1 July 2022, football-related online hate crime offences were added to Schedule 1 to the Football Spectators Act 1989, and statistics on these have been included within this publication for the fourth time. They are designated as official statistics in development to acknowledge that they are new and that further development of the data collection and quality assurance is needed.

Online hate crime connected to football is defined by the UKFPU as ‘any electronic communication that appears to breach the law on protected characteristics that is directed towards a player, manager, coach, club, football authority, match official or football personality, where there is a clear link to football’. Incidents that are included have met specific criteria and passed a series of ‘threshold tests’ relating to the content of the post, the time and place it occurred, and the evidence available. See the CPS guidance on hate crime offences involving electronic communications and the user guide for more information.

During the 2024 to 2025 domestic season, there were 212 online hate crimes recorded in connection with football. Of these, 199 related to men’s and 13 related to women’s football.

In the 2023 to 2024 domestic season there were 322 online hate crimes recorded in connection with football (317 related to men’s and 5 related to women’s football).

For more information see the ‘online hate crime connected to football’ section of the user guide.

‘Football-related arrests and banning order statistics’ is an official statistics output produced to the highest professional standards and free from political interference. It has been produced by statisticians working in the Home Office Analysis and Insight Directorate in accordance with the Home Office’s ‘Statement of compliance with the Code of Practice for official statistics’ which covers policies on revisions and other matters. The Home Office Chief Statistician and Head of Profession for statistics reports to the National Statistician with respect to all professional statistical matters, oversees all Home Office official statistics products with respect to the Code of Practice and is responsible for their timing, content and methodology.

6. Forthcoming and previous statistical releases

Frequency of football-related arrests and banning order statistics related to the domestic football season: Annual

Additional statistics, covering international tournaments held in the summer, and any revisions to the domestic football season data, will be published in the autumn on an annual basis.

Publications are pre-announced on the Home Office statistics release calendar.

Previous statistical releases are available on the football-related arrests and banning orders statistics collection page.

7. Feedback and enquiries

Home Office statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly at PolicingStatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Home Office responsible statistician: Jenny Bradley

We are always looking to improve the accessibility of our documents. If you have any problems or feedback relating to accessibility, or general questions regarding this publication, please email us at PolicingStatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk.

Press enquiries: 0300 123 3535

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