British footie fans in Europe double in 5 years

The number of British football fans travelling to support their teams across Europe has almost doubled over the last five years. Around 50 dedicated Llanelli fans travelled to watch their team take on Gefle in Sweden, while a massive 40,000 Liverpool fans descended on Athens for the Champions league final.

Last season over 165,000 football supporters followed their teams across Europe, a huge increase on estimates of 65,000 supporters in the 2002/03 season.

Estimated figures from last season show that Liverpool supporters were the most travelled fans due to their clubs success on the pitch with a total attendance of around 52,000 in Europe for the season followed by Manchester United (19,000), Chelsea (13,000), Tottenham Hotspur (13,000) and Arsenal (5,000). The New Saints Welsh supporters took around 50 fans to Finland in their sole UEFA cup match making them the team with the lowest attendance of travelling fans from the UK to Europe.

With the third round draw taking place tonight many thousand of fans will be booking their trips, but according to the FCO many of them will do little other preparation leading to problems once they are abroad.

Steve Jewitt-Fleet from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said:

“Sports fans often travel in large groups with their travel arrangements being organised by one person. The rest of the group then seem to absolve themselves of responsibilities for getting travel insurance, researching the destination or making any preparations at all for the trip. And due to the amount of alcohol and high spirits involved in these trips the risks of getting into difficulties increase.

“The majority of incidents encountered abroad are often the ones that are the most preventable. Lost passports, hospitalisations and arrests form the backbone of the enquiries dealt with by consulates abroad and the Foreign Office is targeting football supporters to help them prepare properly before they travel abroad to help them avoid these common holiday pitfalls.”

In response the FCO has issues the following key advice:

• Take out comprehensive travel insurance – petty crime can be attracted to large crowds.
• Get an EHIC card - access to state provided medical treatment should you need it on your trip.
• Research your destination including local laws and customs – Did you know it is offensive to take your shirt off in Turkey or that it is illegal to flush a toilet after 10pm in an apartment building in Switzerland?
• Visit your GP before you travel to undertake any health precautions if necessary – For example you are advised to seek medical advice before you travel to certain areas of Slovakia about inoculations for tick borne encephalitis.
• Drink can lead you into risky or dangerous situations.
• Visit Fco.gov/travel for further information and travel advice.

In the run-up to the European tournaments, the FCO is working with the Football Supporters’ Federation (FSF) to ensure that fans have access to up-to-date information about the city they are travelling to.

By liaising with international supporter groups and local authorities, the FSF will provide general tourist information as well as more specific information which will be provided on a game-by-game basis, such as details of travel to matches and ticket allocation. The information will be hosted on a dedicated section of the FSF website – Fsf.org.uk.

Kevin Miles from the Football Supporters’ Federation said:

“The number of matches undertaken by UK teams in Europe varies each season depending on the success of each team in their respective competitions but due to a change of format in European competitions and the reduced cost of travel there has been a sharp increase in supporters travelling abroad to follow the beautiful game. It is fantastic that so many teams are involved and so many supporters are following their boys to Europe but it is important that fans do as much prep work for their trip as the team do! We are delighted to be working closely with the FCO to provide match-specific information for fans travelling abroad to watch their club.”