Home Office bans 1,300 ‘violent and abusive’ fans from travelling to the World Cup in Qatar

More than 1,300 “violent and abusive” football fans in England and Wales will be banned from travelling to the World Cup in Qatar next month following a season disfigured by a dramatic surge in disorder at matches.

Measures will come into force this Friday requiring 1,308 people with a history of football-related violence or disorder to surrender their passports, preventing them travelling to the Gulf state or neighbouring countries from where they could commute to games.

Fans banned from football in England and Wales, along with any supporter who has “previously caused trouble and is deemed likely to do so again” will be prevented from travelling to the region from 10 days before the World Cup starts on 20 November until the tournament’s conclusion a week before Christmas. “We will not let the behaviour of a minority of lawbreakers tarnish what will be an exciting tournament,” said the home secretary, Suella Braverman.

The crackdown follows a sharp rise in disorder and pitch invasions, with football-related arrests rising by nearly 60% last season compared with the last full year before the pandemic.

Recent Home Office data reveals that incidents were reported at 1,609 of the 3,019 matches played over the course of last season – more than half of all fixtures. Yet the number of individuals banned from heading to Qatar is only slightly higher than the 1,200 Britons banned from travelling to Russia for the World Cup four years ago. That is despite Wales joining England to play at next month’s tournament, though the Home Office did not provide a country-by-country breakdown of fans who will have their passports seized.

For the 2014 tournament in Brazil about 2,200 England supporters received football banning orders, and