1,300 British football fans banned from attending 2022 World Cup in Qatar

“Ban” imposed by the British Foreign Office

More than 1,300 banned fans from England and Wales will be unable to travel to Qatar for the World Cup this year, the UK Home Office has said.

The new restrictive measures, which come into force on Friday, October 14, will prevent fans with a history of offenses at or outside football matches from traveling to the 2022 World Cup.

“We will not allow the behavior of this minority of delinquents among all of the English fans to overshadow an exciting tournament we all look forward to,” Home Secretary Swella Braverman said in a statement.

The Home Office has warned that fans who break these rules will face a six-month prison sentence and an unlimited fine. In addition, anyone who has “previously caused trouble and is believed to be likely to do so again” will also be banned from leaving the UK for the duration of the championship in Qatar.

Such a tough decision was made due to the fact that the 21/22 season in English football saw a sharp increase in the number of offenses at football matches. Including cases of invasions on the field have become more frequent. Because of this, the Premier League, as MK previously wrote, was forced to introduce enhanced security measures to control the misconduct of fans before the start of the 22/23 season.

At the same time, it became known that in recent years there has been a rapid increase in booking flights to Qatar. Especially high demand from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Thus, the fans solve the problem with the lack of housing in Doha, preferring to settle in neighboring countries.

Bookings for flights to Qatar from the UAE and nine other countries have increased tenfold compared to pre-pandemic times, according to analyst group Forward Keys.

In particular, Qatar Airways and flydubai, working together, will operate approximately 54 flights per day between Dubai and Qatar, compared to six flights on “normal” days.