Suspected troublemakers barred from Euro 2024 and must surrender passports

More than 1,600 football fans will be barred from Euro 2024 and forced to hand in their passports to the police, the Home Office has announced.

The fans – many with convictions for football-related violence – will be required from Thursday to surrender their passports to the police so they cannot travel to the tournament.

Any fan who fails to do so or subsequently attempts to travel to the Euros faces prosecution, with a maximum penalty of up to six months in jail and/or an unlimited fine.

Policing minister Chris Philp said: “Violence, abuse, and disorder have no place in the game we love. The vast majority of fans are law-abiding, but we will have zero tolerance for those who disrupt this incredible event.

“These measures will ensure true football fans can travel to the tournament safely and prevent hooligans from committing these crimes abroad.”

Once the tournament has finished, passports will be returned but anyone subject to a football banning order who wants to travel abroad to another nation during this time must obtain permission from the Football Banning Orders Authority.

Banning orders are generally issued after a fan is convicted of football-linked disorder or violence but police can apply for bans even if a fan has never had a conviction but is a known troublemaker. The orders can only be issued by courts on application by the police or Crown Prosecution Service.

In the run-up to the Euros, police will be granted additional powers which means they will be able to take action against any fan who does not have a banning order but it is suspected could cause trouble at the matches.

Police will be able to order the fan to attend a magistrates court within 24 hours, not to leave England and Wales and to surrender their passport. If they fail to attend, they would be treated as being in breach of a banning order.

Similar approaches have been taken at recent major football tournaments, including the World Cup in Qatar, as part of the government’s continued crackdown on football violence.

During the 2022/23 season, police made 2,264 football-related arrests and 682 new banning orders were issued – the highest since 2010/11.

Football banning orders are imposed by courts, following an application or on conviction for a football-related offence.

This can include violence, disorder, pitch invasions, use of pyrotechnics and online hate crime. They prevent people from attending regulated football matches for up to five years, and up to 10 years if a custodial sentence is imposed.