UK Police Seize £18m in Counterfeit Football Kits During World Cup Over Fire Safety Fears

Image caption: Some 220,000 fake strips were seized across the UK in the lead-up to the World Cup

By Jane Dougall, BBC Sport correspondent

Counterfeit football shirts worth over £18m were seized in the UK during the course of the World Cup because of safety concerns.

The tournament produced a spike in the sales of fake shirts and kits, but the Fire Service has warned that these items are far more flammable and dangerous than the genuine articles.

More than 220,000 pieces of football merchandise were recovered by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit as part of Operation Bloxwich, a UK police enforcement effort targeting counterfeit goods.

One raid involved 1,618 fake strips being taken from a warehouse in Birmingham, including replicas of star players such as France's Kylian Mbappe and Norway's Erling Haaland.

Detective Sergeant Jamie Kirk, City of London Police, who took part in the operation, told BBC Sport:

"I understand why people want to buy these shirts, people love football and the incentive is the lower price - but these shirts, they're not regulated and could be highly flammable.

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"They have dyes in them which could be harmful to skin, particularly children's skin. While the cost is lower - and that's the attractive part - potential damages to you and the people making them is just far too high."

Figure caption: The dangers of counterfeit football shirts

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service tested the flammability of counterfeit shirts compared with genuine kit and found the fake kits were much more flammable.

"It's quite clear that the counterfeit one melted as soon as the burner went on it," said watch manager Dave Jackson, who carried out the test by hanging them two at a time on an iron bar and used blow torches to set them alight. "I really had to try to make the genuine one ignite and melt.

"It's extremely dangerous. It's something that can cause horrific injuries to your children. It's just not worth the savings."

Kate Caffrey, head of intelligence at the Intellectual Property Office, warned that fake shirts are not regulated.

"Counterfeit strips are not subject to health and safety regulations, British Standards [or] EU standards," she told BBC Sport.

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"We've got evidence that counterfeit goods are made in appalling conditions, so you just don't know what's in them, how they're being made and there's no way of providing any safety reassurances.

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"Counterfeiting is criminal, these are manufactured and supplied by criminal networks, criminal gangs and they're very adept at targeting markets where there's demand. So the World Cup, the forthcoming Premier League season - they're going to flood the market with fake shirts.

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"The price of a fake shirt, you don't know what you're funding with that money."

Genuine Premier League Replica Shirts Start from £85

Image caption: Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service watch manager Dave Jackson sets two shirts alight. On the left, the green strip is an official item, and the red one on the right is fake.

Clearly the cost of genuine replica kits is a contributing factor behind the demand for cheap copies.

We found several websites where counterfeit shirts were being sold for as little as £12.

It can be tempting for parents to turn to an affordable alternative when it can cost up to seven times more for the real thing, with some Premier League official strips starting from £85.

Related Topics

• Football
• FIFA World Cup 2026