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Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Act 2026

Statutes amended

1 affected Act; 1 amendment in total. Each block shows the target Act's text with this Act's changes applied.

Football (Offences) Act 1991

1 amendment · open Act

  1. Section 1A1 insertion

    section 1 unchanged

    1A Unauthorised entry

    1 A person (“P”) commits an offence if—
    a P enters, or attempts to enter, premises for the purpose of attending a designated football match, and
    b at the time of entry or attempted entry, P does not have a match ticket for the match that P is eligible to use.
    2 It is a defence to prove that P had lawful authority or lawful excuse for entering, or attempting to enter, the premises.
    3 It is a defence to prove that—
    a P entered, or attempted to enter, the premises through an entry point normally used by spectators,
    b at the time of entry or attempted entry, P had something that they reasonably believed was a match ticket for the match, and
    c the thing that P had—
    i was not a match ticket for the match, or
    ii was a match ticket for the match but P was not eligible to use it.
    4 In this section—
    • match ticket” means a ticket or other thing (whether in physical or electronic form) which authorises a person to enter premises for the purpose of attending a designated football match;
    • premises” includes any place.