Euro 2024 fuels 14% increase in football-related arrests

Euro 2024 and a surge in the possession of class A drugs fuelled a 14% increase in football-related arrests in England and Wales during the 2023-24 season.

Home Office statistics released on Thursday, external said there were 2,584 football-related arrests across the season, up by 320 on 2022-23.

The 14% increase was driven by England's participation in the Euro 2024 tournament in Germany, with 417 arrests made at or in connection with national team matches - representing 16% of all arrests.

Of the 417 arrests, 291 were made in England and Wales - 281 of which related to the Euro 2024 tournament.

England were runners-up to Spain at Euro 2024, while Wales were beaten by Poland in a play-off before the tournament.

There were 344 arrests for the possession of class A drugs across the season, an increase of 144 from the previous campaign. The 2022-23 season was the first in which possession of class A drugs was specifically recorded, having previously been recorded as 'other arrests'.

Of the most common football-related arrest offence types, the possession of class A drugs was third (13%) behind violent disorder (19%) and public disorder (43%).

For arrests across the top five divisions of men's football in England, there was a slight increase from 2,037 in 2022-2023 to 2,043 in 2023-24.

West Ham United accounted for the highest number of supporters arrested for the third consecutive season, with 103 arrests in 2023-24.

Manchester City and Manchester United were joint second for arrests, with both clubs seeing 88 detainments across the campaign. Arsenal (85) and Chelsea (67) were fourth and fifth most respectively.

In total, 825 new football banning orders were issued during the season - an increase of 21% compared with the previous season.