Official warning over the World Cup: what happened in Britain is unprecedented!

According to Britain's Sky network, police chief Mark Roberts, head of the football unit, said the World Cup and the drinking that came with it drove a general rise in reported incidents.

Police recorded around 300 domestic abuse incidents on the night of England's match against Norway, when pubs were allowed to stay open until 2am, he added.

Those 384 domestic abuse incidents made up 17 per cent of the 2,322 football-related incidents logged during the tournament.

Police also recorded a total of 391 arrests linked to the tournament across the United Kingdom. The overall figure included 1,008 incidents at premises licensed to sell alcohol, the second-highest total for a comparable tournament.

Roberts drew a direct line between the extension of alcohol licensing hours for late matches and the spike in incidents. "The more alcohol is consumed, the bigger the problem," he said.

Domestic abuse cases fall into that bracket too, he confirmed.

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Comparisons with previous tournaments reveal the nature of the problem. Russia's 2018 World Cup saw 306 incidents of domestic violence recorded, while Euro 2020 brought 193.

The 2022 World Cup in Qatar produced 119, and Euro 2024 in Germany saw 351 recorded. At the 2026 World Cup, police logged 384 cases of violence.

The total number of football-related incidents broke down as follows:

2018 World Cup: 1487.

Euro 2020: 2345.

2022 World Cup: 573.

Euro 2024: 1302.

2026 World Cup: 2322.

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Euro 2020 produced the highest figure for total incidents across England's last five major tournaments, with 2,345 incidents and 599 arrests recorded.

Abroad, Roberts praised the England fans who travelled to the United States. He noted that "fan behaviour was excellent" despite the large numbers, and that the number of incidents was very low. Local police in the United States arrested only 22 England fans. That compares with no incidents recorded at Qatar 2022.

The offences recorded in the United States included: 8 offences relating to public order and unauthorised entry, 6 assaults causing injuries, 2 cases of ticket touting, 1 case of drunkenness, and 3 ejections.

Back home, Roberts voiced his concern about the forces' ability to plan for potential offences in the United Kingdom, especially with licences being extended at short notice.

He pointed to England's match against Mexico, which kicked off at 1am British time. Pubs won an extended licence until 5am, a decision taken just 48 hours before the match. That leaves no time to reschedule shifts or deploy additional officers, he said, calling for security suggestions to be taken into account in order to balance the benefits against potential threats.

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