World Cup 2022: No England and Wales fans arrested in Qatar

There were no police incidents or arrests of British nationals in Qatar during England and Wales’ World Cup campaigns.

British police officers were deployed to the country to act as “cultural interpreters” between fans and local law enforcement.

The head of UK football policing, Chief Constable Mark Roberts, praised fans in Qatar for their “exemplary behaviour”.

However, there have been 531 football-related incidents in the UK.

Of those, 150 took place on Saturday night, when England lost to France in the quarter-finals.

In total, 115 arrests have been made since the start of the tournament, a high proportion of which are linked to incidents at licenced premises.

By the same stage of the World Cup in Russia in 2018, 225 football-related arrests had been made in the UK.

Roberts said the restrictions on alcohol in Qatar helped with fans’ behaviour “to some degree”.

“The behaviour of England and Wales out in Qatar was absolutely exemplary,” he said.

“In Russia 2014 there were three arrests but, having two teams in this tournament, we played double the group stage games, including a home nations derby, which underlines the good nature of our fans.”

Original article published 13.12.2022 on the BBC website.

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