Record 160 banned football thugs ordered to hand in passports before Euros tournament

Police have secured the largest amount of football bans in a single season to stop hooligans travelling to Euro 2024.

Around 160 supporters received orders, the Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday.

The majority will have to surrender their passports to officers before the start of the European Championships on Friday and cannot travel to Germany for the tournament.

Chief Inspector Pete Dearden said: “This has been a brilliant effort from the football policing unit to secure the banning orders and prevent serious disorder taking place in our communities on matchday.

“The majority of our officers working on football are fans themselves, we understand the passion but want to make sure matches taking place in the capital are safe spaces for everyone attending.

“We know the Euros is going to be a hugely popular tournament for fans travelling from London to watch England hopefully bring football home.

“Our dedicated football officers have worked tirelessly with clubs across the capital to secure the bans for fans who cause disorder at domestic matches, to stop them doing the same abroad.”

Across England and Wales, more than 1,600 supporters have been stopped from going to the tournament which runs from June 14 to July 14.

Depending on the type of banning order, fans are excluded from the vicinity of a stadium or town for domestic matches and must surrender their passports for European competitions or international fixtures.

In April alone, the Met applied for 79 football banning orders.

Fifty-two were for public order offences, which included eight for tragedy chanting and another eight for racially aggravated public order offences.

The force applied for 51 three-year banning orders last season for fans found in possession of class A drugs as part of a zero tolerance stance.

There were also 28 bans for assault and 48 for football-related offences, including throwing missiles, going onto a pitch and lighting flares.