The UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) has received nearly 600 referrals of online abuse directed at England players since the start of Euro 2024. According to figures revealed by Channel 4 News, spikes in abusive posts occurred after England's group matches, with the majority containing racist content or language. The UKFPU confirmed that 26 cases are currently under investigation.
Superintendent Mike Ankers, the UKFPU investigations lead, stated: “It’s roughly around 85% of most of the grossly offensive posts that we see are racism, followed by homophobia. We still get vile use of the N-word. They will be quite prominent. We’ll also get things like monkey emoji, that in itself will be grossly offensive. So we would be taking action.” He highlighted a legislative change following the 2021 Euro final, where three black players missed penalties, making online hate abuse a section one offence. This enables police to apply for football banning orders, which can ban offenders from attending matches for up to ten years.
In 2021, England players Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford, and Jadon Sancho were subjected to racist abuse after missing penalties in the shootout against Italy. Eleven people were arrested in connection with that incident.
The UKFPU received 102 referrals after England's Euro 2024 opener against Serbia, with 12 cases under investigation. Following the second match against Denmark, 292 posts were referred, of which three met the threshold for police investigation. After the final group game against Slovenia, 177 posts were referred, with 11 cases being investigated. Additionally, on Friday, the UKFPU announced that six England fans had been issued with football banning orders related to disorder in Gelsenkirchen before the Serbia game on 16 June.
