More than 220,000 counterfeit football shirts and other merchandise, worth over £18m, were seized across the UK during the World Cup as part of a police operation targeting fake sports kit. The Fire Service has warned that these unregulated items are far more flammable than genuine merchandise and pose a serious safety risk, particularly to children, prompting fresh scrutiny of the counterfeit goods trade as demand for team shirts surged during the tournament.

The seizures were carried out under Operation Bloxwich, run by the Police Intellectual Property Office, with one raid recovering 1,618 fake strips, including replicas of players such as Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, from a Birmingham warehouse. Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service tests found counterfeit shirts ignited and melted far more readily than authentic ones when exposed to a blow torch, while officials warned the fakes may also contain harmful dyes and are made in unregulated conditions. Low prices, with some fakes sold for as little as £12 against official shirts starting at £85, are driving demand, but investigators cautioned that buyers cannot know what criminal networks the money is funding.