{"id":642362,"date":"2026-06-16T21:46:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T21:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/642362\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T21:46:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T21:46:08","slug":"england-flags-could-be-confiscated-from-supporters-attending-world-cup-opener-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/642362\/","title":{"rendered":"England flags could be confiscated from supporters attending World Cup opener | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

England fans face having flags confiscated when they attend their opening game of the World Cup<\/a> against Croatia at Dallas Stadium on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The England<\/a> Supporters Club (ESC) is understood to have been advised by stadium officials that fans will not be allowed to hang flags over the LED advertising boards that surround the pitch, with only small flags to be allowed into the ground, which must be hung on rails behind the goals.<\/p>\n

The ESC has arranged for several large banners and flags to be displayed behind the goals, but casual supporters attempting to bring a flag into the ground are likely to have them confiscated.<\/p>\n

Fifa sources said the ban on hanging flags over LED signage was due to \u201csafety and security reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n

A number of Dutch and Japanese fans had flags confiscated at Dallas Stadium when attending the 2-2 draw on Sunday<\/a>, but there have been no issues bringing them in at other grounds.<\/p>\n

Fifa\u2019s tournament guide for fans states: \u201cSmall flags, banners and posters made of a fire-resistant material are allowed in the stadium. Larger flags, banners, posters or instruments must be approved in advance.\u201d<\/p>\n

An Iran fan shows pre-revolution Lion and Sun flag during the game against New Zealand at Los Angeles Stadium. Photograph: Ringo Chiu\/Zuma Press Wire Service\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Fifa also prohibits flags \u201cthat are of a political, offensive and\/or discriminatory nature\u201d and on Monday won a court hearing in Los Angeles to prevent Iran supporters from taking the pre-revolutionary flag into their matches, classifying it as a political symbol.<\/p>\n

Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, who was at the first game in Dallas, complained of a lack of consistency in enforcing Fifa\u2019s guidelines. \u201cYou were not really allowed to bring a flag in, or at least to show it, which is inconsistent with most Fifa rules and regulations, but also what was allowed at previous tournaments,\u201d Evain said. \u201cMost of the flags were removed by the staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt a lot of the stadiums it hasn\u2019t been a problem, so it\u2019s hard to understand what is the actual policy and what is improvisation by the staff locally with the rules that they now have. The broader problem \u2013 and I think it\u2019s a demonstration of how much Fifa has little control over this tournament \u2013 is that there\u2019s no consistent rule, and when you look at what Fifa has published, there\u2019s a code of conduct that is very broad.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it never clarified a lot of things, like what sort of symbols are allowed and not allowed? Are you able to bring a flag of your region or city or club? A lot of this is still up in the air, and I think there\u2019s a bit of learning by the venues, but also, again, inconsistency.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England fans face having flags confiscated when they attend their opening game of the World Cup against Croatia…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":642363,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-642362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=642362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/642362\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642363"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=642362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=642362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=642362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}