The London football club with the most ‘hate crime’ arrests have been identified. Police made 119 arrests for hate crimes or hate-related public order offences at matches involving 12 clubs during the 2024/25 season, according to Met Police data obtained through a Freedom of Information request.
As revealed by the Daily Mail, almost all of the arrests were linked to racism or homophobia, with one also relating to tragedy chanting. It suggests that issues associated with English football in previous decades, particularly the 1970s and 1980s, have not been fully eradicated. While incidents involving fights have declined over the years, football environments can still be volatile at times.
London remains the busiest football city in the world, and matchdays are often challenging to police given the number of clubs located in such a small area.
Stamford Bridge
Chelsea home supporters are more likely to be arrested for hate crimes than fans of any other Premier League side in London, the Daily Mail’s main finding revealed. Its analysis found supporters at Stamford Bridge are twice as likely to be arrested for racism or homophobia-related offences as those at any of Chelsea’s London rivals, based on Met Police data and attendance figures.
Fans attending matches at Queens Park Rangers, Millwall, Leyton Orient and West Ham also feature in the top five among the capital’s 12 stadiums across the top three tiers. Forty of the 119 arrests were made at Stamford Bridge during Chelsea’s 28 home fixtures in all competitions - an average of 1.4 hate-crime arrests per match - as they finished fourth in the Premier League and won the Europa Conference League. See the full findings below:
London Football Clubs With Most Hate Arrests
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Just under 1.1 million fans attended the Blues' matches, including supporters from Belgium, Armenia, Ireland, Denmark, Poland and Sweden - although no visiting foreign fan was arrested for hate crimes. In total, there were 138 arrests for all offences at the stadium.
One in every 27,099 people attending a game at Chelsea was arrested for a hate-related offence - more than double the rate at Loftus Road, which had the second-highest figure at one in 55,109. The Den, home to Millwall - a club with a historic reputation for hooliganism - ranked third, with one in 61,293 fans arrested for hate crimes. Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road followed at one in 69,814, and West Ham’s London Stadium at one in 88,157.
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium came sixth, with one in 91,159 attendees arrested, while the Emirates Stadium ranked ninth at one in 128,762. At the other end of the scale, there was not a single hate-crime arrest at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park.
Many Incidents Go Unreported, Expert Claims
Chelsea players and fans celebrating together
"Fans have told me that they have reported issues to stewards, clubs, or police and the complaint has disappeared into the ether," Dr Mark Doidge, a lecturer in Sociology of Sport at the University of Loughborough, told the Daily Mail. "They then feel despondent and less likely to complain in the future," Dr Doidge, who is also the Director of the Anti-Discrimination Division of Football Supporters Europe, said.
"I have also heard stories of club officials minimising the experience so that it doesn’t show as an incident in the reports. This is why the [growing] numbers can be seen as a positive as it means the police and clubs are taking it seriously – unless the incident was so bad that it was impossible to downgrade it to just 'banter'."
Police officers and fans with flares are seen as an incident occurred during West Brom vs Wolves
FA Cup - Fourth Round - West Bromwich Albion v Wolverhampton Wanderers - The Hawthorns, West Bromwich, Britain - January 28, 2024 Police officers and fans with flares are seen as an incident occurred in the crowd leading to the match being interrupted Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers
Disabled fans will often experience hate crimes which aren't reported or escalated, while sexism including misogynistic chanting or comments are not hate crimes under the law, he added. "Unless there is a physical threat, often this is not reported to police."
A spokesperson for Kick It Out, football's anti-discrimination charity, admitted it is 'not a surprise that hate-related arrests are an issue in London’s stadiums' and that they 'know of people who have been put off football for years after experiencing discrimination at matches".