Euro 2024: 2,000 fans issued with bans from police ahead of tournament
More than 2,000 football banning orders have been issued
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More than 2,000 football banning orders have been issued to England fans ahead of the Euro 2024 competition in Germany in June.
Authorities say the tournament will be the most accessible international footballing competition for British fans since 2016, and they believe more than 300,000 England supporters could travel to Germany.
Fans who are the subject of a banning order will have to surrender their passports from June 4 until the end of the tournament on July 14.
Police say the majority of supporters on banning orders are those who have been charged and convicted of significant offences of disorder.
The banning orders come against a backdrop of increasing football related disorder in England and Wales, with arrests at a nine year high.
Police liaison officers from England will travel to Germany to work with colleagues there, many of them acting as crowd spotters at various England matches.
Teams from Police Scotland are also liaising with German authorities on the policing of Scottish fans during the month long competition.
Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the national lead on football policing would not confirm the number of officers heading to Germany, but he said it was the “biggest deployment of British police in support of an overseas tournament since 2014.”
Chief Constable Roberts said the large numbers of fans expected to travel could prove challenging for authorities.
However, he added: “If you go and behave in a reasonable way, as you would in this country you will be absolutely fine.”