Police are to be given extra powers to drug test more football hooligans.

Under the new Plan For Change guidelines, officers will be able to drug test offenders for offences like violence, pitch invasions, throwing missiles and racist chanting. They will also be able to test groups of supporters who are caught tragedy chanting to mock victims of the Hillsborough disaster or Munich air crash.

Convictions on drug offences at football now carry a statutory banning order which act between three and five years or six and ten if they are sent to prison. Police can already make arrests for drug use and there were 344 arrests for possession of class A drugs like cocaine at matches in the 2023/24 season.

But football bosses believe drugs is a key reason why hooligans offend at matches and is another strong deterrent because an arrest or a criminal charge could cost them their job and livelihood.

Policing Minister, Dame Diana Johnson said: “Police forces work tirelessly to ensure dedicated football fans can attend fixtures safely week in, week out. However, there are still individuals who choose to use football matches as an excuse to take part in mindless criminal behaviour and we will not stand for that.

“As part of our Plan for Change, we are giving the police these wider powers to combat illegal drug misuse and help prevent needless criminal acts at football matches such as violence or tragedy chanting.

“This behaviour will not be tolerated, and we are taking important steps to stop the use of illegal substances at football matches. Drug testing on arrest plays an important role in combatting the use of illegal drugs and the harms they cause by addressing possible causal factors in criminal behaviour.

“As part of our Plan for Change, we are expanding the police’s ability to use these powers to get a stronger understanding of the impacts of wider drug misuse and direct more people towards the support they need to overcome addiction.”

Police can already test for drug use in general society under current legislation for offences such as theft, robbery, handling stolen goods. Anti-social behaviour and drink driving offences will also be added to the wider list for police.

But the huge crackdown in football comes after Baroness Casey’s independent review of the events which took place at the UEFA Euro 2020 final at Wembley finding that the use of illegal drugs and alcohol drove the reckless and dangerous behaviour displayed that day.

The Football Association, EFL and Premier League bosses all came together in two separate joint initiatives to improve fan behaviour and participant behaviour after a spate of pitch invasions, fireworks, violence and chanting in the past few seasons.

More than 150,000 drug tests on arrest were reported from March 2022 to September 2024, statistics last week showed, according to the Home Office. Of these, 56 percent tested positive for cocaine, opiates or both, while available data found more than 50 percent of those who tested positive for drugs were referred to treatment services.

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