Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Anahita Hossein-Pour

Violent Chelsea and Manchester City fans to be banned from travelling to Club World Cup

Up to 150 Chelsea and Manchester City fans will be banned from travelling to the Fifa Club World Cup - (Getty Images)

Up to 150 Chelsea and Manchester City fans will be banned from travelling to the Fifa Club World Cup this summer in a bid to “crack down on the hooligan minority”.

Fans with a record for previous thuggish behaviour will be stopped from attending the Fifa Club World Cup in the USA after fresh legislation comes into force on Wednesday.

The two clubs qualified to represent England and the Premier League at the expanded international event which will see 32 teams compete.

Any fans subject to a football banning order will have to surrender their passports to police from June 9 to July 13 or face an unlimited fine or up to six months in prison.

Around 150 Manchester City and Chelsea supporters are expected to be affected by the move and will be contacted by the Football Banning Orders Authority.

The Club World Cup tournament will take place in the US (PA Archive)

Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson said: “Many Manchester City and Chelsea fans will want to travel to support their teams in this summer’s tournament and we want them all to do so safely and enjoyably.

“But for the tiny minority of troublemakers who use football as an excuse for criminality, we will be applying the same proven preventative measures that we have successfully done for other overseas tournaments.

“We will continue to crack down on the hooligan minority, so that the vast majority can carry on attending football without trouble.”

Similar measures were enforced at Euro 2024, which saw 99 per cent of those subject to a banning order comply and surrender their passports for the tournament’s duration.

Some 2,172 football banning orders were in force in England and Wales from data taken on August 1 2024.

The court orders for a football-related offence can include violence, disorder, pitch invasion and online hate crime linked to the sport.

They ban people from attending football matches for up to five years and up to 10 years if someone is jailed over the offence.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.