Unauthorised Entry to Football Matches Act 2026

Commons bill Private Members' Bill (Ballot) 2025-26 Act of Parliament

A Private Members' Bill introduced through the annual ballot, which gives backbench MPs a chance to secure Friday debate time. Ballot bills are the only PMBs with a realistic prospect of becoming law without government support.

Sponsor

Linsey Farnsworth

+ 1 co-sponsor

Kevin Brennan

Introduced

16 October 2024

Royal Assent

22 January 2026

Parliament

View on Parliament ↗

About this bill

A Bill to create an offence of unauthorised entry at football matches for which a football banning order can be imposed following conviction.

Parliamentary stages

Stages shown in blue link to the debate transcript. Not sure what these stages mean? How Parliament makes laws →

Commons

✓ First reading 16 Oct 2024

✓ Second reading 7 Mar 2025↗

✓ Committee stage 25 Jun 2025↗

✓ Report stage 11 Jul 2025

✓ Third reading 11 Jul 2025

Lords

✓ First reading 14 Jul 2025

✓ Second reading 24 Oct 2025

✓ Order Of Commitment Discharged 17 Dec 2025

✓ Third reading 16 Jan 2026

Final stages

✓ Royal Assent 22 Jan 2026

Some stage debates occurred before our Hansard archive begins (May 2025). Links marked ↗ go to Parliament's own Hansard for that date.

Parliamentary information from bills.parliament.uk ↗, licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Explanatory Notes extracts are verbatim from Parliament's published documents.

What this bill is about

From the Explanatory Notes (July 2025):

1 Proposed provisions of the Bill: ● The Bill will create a new offence of unauthorised entry to designated football matches in England and Wales; that is elite football matches as defined in paragraph 8 of these Notes. The offence will also cover attempts to gain unauthorised entry. ● The new offence will be within the Football (Offences) Act 1991. Accordingly, a court will be able to impose a football banning order against a person convicted of the offence. The offence will apply in England and Wales.

Read the full Explanatory Notes ↗