Official Statistics

Football-related arrests and banning orders, England and Wales: 2024 to 2025 football season (international update)

Published 13 November 2025

Applies to England and Wales

This release is a scheduled update to the Football-related arrests and banning orders 2024 to 2025 domestic season release, published in July 2025. The updated statistics incorporate revisions to domestic football season data, as well as data relating to international tournaments and matches held during the summer period, following the end of the domestic season - including the Women’s Euro 2025 in Switzerland and one men’s national team fixture in England.

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 and include the revised data.

User feedback
A public user engagement survey took place between February and March 2025 to gather feedback on official statistics concerning 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, a decision was made to publish statistics on the domestic season as soon as they are available, with an update following later in the year to incorporate international data. As such, data from the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season (including regulated football matches played in and outside England and Wales) was published on 17 July 2025, shortly after the end of the domestic football season and earlier than in previous years.

Additional statistics, covering international tournaments and matches held in the summer of 2025, and any revisions to the domestic football season data, are included within this release. Previously, all data was released in the autumn on an annual basis.

Data quality
It was recently identified that, since the publication of data from the 2019 to 2020 football season, arrest figures had included other police actions, such as Fixed Penalty Notices (FPNs), report for summons and voluntary attendance. These were initially published within the category of arrests, as they were not separately identified within the football arrests database.

The inclusion of other police actions reflects a change in methods used to bring people into the investigation process by police at football matches from the 2019 to 2020 football season, and the ability to record them on the football database. These actions can now be identified separately within the football arrests database due to a system change, and are broken down by type from the 2023 to 2024 football season onwards. The figures remain comparable across the time period. Other police actions accounted for:

• 4% (114 of 2,584) of total arrests for the 2023 to 2024 football season
• 14% (293 of 2,037) of total arrests for the 2024 to 2025 football season

Other police actions relate to fixtures played in England and Wales only. For more detail on these terms, please see the user guide. Breakdowns for earlier seasons are not available.

1. Update on the statistics

1.1 Football-related arrests and other police action types in England and Wales

During the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, revised figures (for example due to late reporting), show there were 2,003 football-related arrests and other police actions relating to regulated football matches played in England and Wales (previously 1,932). Of these, 1,710 were arrests, and 293 were other police actions (5 were FPNs, 149 were report for summons and 139 were voluntary attendance).

During the summer 2025 international tournament period, there was a further one arrest related to a men’s England international match played in England.

During the complete 2024 to 2025 football season there were 2,004 football related arrests and other police actions relating to regulated football matches played in England and Wales; an 8% (-163) decrease compared with equivalent matches in the 2023 to 2024 football season. Excluding other police actions, there was a 17% decrease in arrests relating to matches played in England and Wales.

1.2 Football-related arrests and other police action types outside England and Wales

In addition to the 2,004 football-related arrests and other police actions in England and Wales, there were 33 arrests relating to matches played outside England and Wales (previously 31). This number was 136 (76% higher) in the 2023 to 2024 season due to the men’s 2024 Euros.

There were no arrests of England and Wales fans (in Switzerland) relating to the women’s Euros in Switzerland held in July 2025.

Figure 1: Football-related arrests and other police actions, from 2014 to 2015 football season to 2024 to 2025 football season

Source: Home Office, Football-related arrests, banning orders: 2024 to 2025 football season (international update), table 4

Notes:
1. Figures include arrests relating to all regulated football matches in and outside England and Wales.
2. From the 2019 to 2020 football season, figures have included other police actions. These figures are only separately available from the 2023 to 2024 football season.
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 been included since the 2022 to 2023 season.

1.3 Football-related arrests and other police action types by BTP

There were 106 football-related arrests and other police actions by British Transport Police (BTP; no change from the number reported for the domestic season); of these, 77 were arrests, and 29 were other police actions (zero were FPNs, 22 were report for summons and 7 were voluntary attendance).

1.4 Other arrests and other police action types

There were 336 ‘other’ arrests and other police actions (including BTP and including one related to a women’s regulated football match); previously 331. Of these, 297 were arrests, and 39 were other police actions (13 were FPNs, 8 were report for summons and 18 were voluntary attendance).

1.5 Arrest and other police action rates

During the 2024 to 2025 football season, revised figures sourced from the Utilita football year book 2025 to 2026 show around 47.5 million people attended men’s regulated football matches in and outside England and Wales (including the top 5 divisions of men’s English football, FA Cup, League Cup, Football League Trophy, Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League and Internationals; previously 46 million). There were 2,008 arrests and other police actions related to these matches and the revised rate for the 2024 to 2025 football season remained at 4.2 arrests and other police actions per 100,000 attendees (the same rate published in the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season release).

1.6 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 at the end of the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season.

It is not possible to identify FBOs that were related to arrests and other police actions made during the summer 2025 international tournament period specifically, due to the variable time between an arrest (or other police actions including report for summons and voluntary attendance) and the imposition of an FBO.

Therefore, FBO figures will continue to be updated on an annual basis to allow for consistent comparisons over time, and those that were imposed during, but not necessarily related to, the summer 2025 international tournament period, will be included in the 2025 to 2026 domestic football season release.

1.7 Reported incidents

During the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season, incidents were reported in relation to 1,583 football matches in England and Wales. Incidents were reported at one further match during the summer 2025 international tournament period.

Following further data cleansing (including the removal of duplicates and late reporting adjustments) the number of domestic season matches with reported incidents was reduced by 4, resulting in a total of 1,580 matches with reported incidents for the complete 2024 to 2025 season.

1.8 Online hate crime incidents connected to football

During the 2024 to 2025 domestic football season there were 212 online hate crimes recorded in connection with football (of which 209 were related to domestic football matches and 3 were related to international matches played during the domestic season period). During the summer 2025 international tournament period, a further 22 were recorded in relation to England internationals, and of these, 18 were related to the women’s Euros in Switzerland. In total, there were 234 online hate crimes recorded in connection with football during the 2024 to 2025 football season.

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

2. Forthcoming and previous statistical releases

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

Frequency of football-related arrests and banning order statistics (international update): Annual.

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.

3. 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.

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