England fans attending the Euros 2024 this summer could be fined if they fail to follow a little-known German law.
Gareth Southgate’s team will be heading out to Germany for the competition kicking off on June 14 2004.
But fans following their favourite players out there will need to be careful: it turns out that wearing a counterfeit England shirt could land you a hefty fine.
It might sound weirdly specific, but it’s actually against German trademark laws to wear a fake football top.
If you’re found to be in possession of counterfeit items, you could be fined around €5,000 (£4,260) if you violate a warning, according to law firm Cohausz & Florack.
England football shirts aren’t cheap – on the official England store website, a 2024 Home Stadium shirt is listed at £84.99 while the kids’ version is £54.99.
It’s no surprise then that the sale of counterfeit shirts might go up during big tournaments.
But German authorities could even conduct random checks, to crack down on those flouting the rules.
And that’s not the only thing football fans need to be wary of when heading to the continent.
Earlier this year, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), urged fans to ‘drink responsibly’ as the average strength of a beer in the UK is 4.4% ABV, according to Drinkaware, but standard beers in Germany can be up to 5.4%.
‘Beer can be stronger than in the UK,’ reads the website. ‘Know your limits and respect local laws. You may not be let into the stadium if you drink too much.’
Euro 2024 venues
- Olympiastadion (Berlin)
- Allianz Arena (Munich)
- Signal Iduna Park (Dortmund)
- Veltins-Arena (Gelsenkirchen)
- Mercedes-Benz Arena (Stuttgart)
- Red Bull Arena (Leipzig)
- RheinEnergieStadion (Cologne)
- Merkur Spiel-Arena (Dusseldorf)
- Volksparkstadion (Hamburg)
- Deutsche Bank Park (Frankfurt)
Germany, who beat off competition from Turkey to be awarded the tournament back in 2018, have not hosted a major competition since the World Cup in 2006.
The 2024 edition will be the first Euros to be held in a single country since France hosted the competition in 2016, with Euro 2020 staged across 11 nations to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the European Championship.
England is set to play against Serbia on June 16 in the city of Gelsenkirchen and against Denmark on June 20 in Frankfurt.
Euro 2024 schedule
- June 14: Opening group stage game
- June 29: Round of 16 starts
- July 5: Quarter-finals start
- July 9: Semi-finals start
- July 14: Final
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