Fake football shirt fire warning after £18m of counterfeit kits seized in UK during World Cup

Counterfeit football shirts worth over £18m were seized in the UK during the World Cup due to safety concerns.

The tournament produced a spike in the sales of fake shirts and kits, but the Fire Service has warned that these items are far more flammable and dangerous than the genuine articles. The seizures came as fans hit out at the sky high prices charged for Premier League teams' replica shirts and the new England kit.

More than 220,000 pieces of football merchandise were recovered by the Police Intellectual Property Office as part of Operation Bloxwich, a UK police enforcement effort targeting counterfeit goods. Border Force officers snatched more than 1,000 shirts and were working ‘round-the-clock’ to stop ‘thousands more’ from flooding the streets before the World Cup. The seized shirts were recovered in at least 23 separate operations.

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Investigators said the shirts contained harmful chemicals banned under UK safety laws that could pose a ‘particular risk to children. Some had dangerous levels of poisons such as arsenic and lead. Other anti-counterfeit units confiscated up to 15,000 bogus shirts in the World Cup run-up. A Border Force spokesman said wearing the fake gear could harm children.

“Seized shirts have been found to contain harmful chemicals banned under UK safety law - a particular risk for children,” the spokesman added. “There is no quality check, no safety guarantee, and no recourse if something goes wrong.

“While shoppers looking may be looking for a bargain, they are inadvertently supporting illegal and criminal activities, fuelling child and forced labour. The dangerous underground economy fake shirts support can include drug smuggling, serious violence and dangerous working conditions.”

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The Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit at the City of London force seized more than 4,000 bogus shirts in April alone. One raid involved 1,618 fake strips being taken from a warehouse in Birmingham, including replicas of star players such as France's Kylian Mbappe and Norway's Erling Haaland.

Det Sgt Jamie Kirk, who took part in the operation, said: "I understand why people want to buy these shirts, people love football and the incentive is the lower price - but these shirts, they're not regulated and could be highly flammable. They have dyes in them which could be harmful to skin, particularly children's skin. While the cost is lower - and that's the attractive part - potential damages to you and the people making them is just far too high."

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service tested the flammability of counterfeit shirts compared with genuine kit and found the fake kits were much more flammable. W atch manager Dave Jackson said: "It's quite clear that the counterfeit one melted as soon as the burner went on it."

He carried out the test by hanging them two at a time on an iron bar and used blow torches to set them alight. He added: "I really had to try to make the genuine one ignite and melt."

One of the factors driving the sales of counterfeit kits is their low price. T hey are sold online for £12, while the cost of some official Premier League strips start at £85.

"It's extremely dangerous. It's something that can cause horrific injuries to your children. It's just not worth the savings," Jackson added. Kate Caffrey, head of intelligence at the Intellectual Property Office, warned that fake shirts are not regulated.

"Counterfeit strips are not subject to health and safety regulations, British Standards [or] EU standards," she said. "We've got evidence that counterfeit goods are made in appalling conditions.

"So you just don't know what's in them, how they're being made and there's no way of providing any safety reassurances. Counterfeiting is criminal, these are manufactured and supplied by criminal networks, criminal gangs.

"They're very adept at targeting markets where there's demand. So the World Cup, the forthcoming Premier League season - they're going to flood the market with fake shirts. The price of a fake shirt, you don't know what you're funding with that money."