QUEENS Park Rangers versus Millwall is the costliest game to police outside the Premier League – with AFC Wimbledon against Milton Keynes the costliest outside the top two tiers.
The three games that cost the most to police are all at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium: against West Ham United, Arsenal and Chelsea.
Another Lions game, against Leeds United at The Den, is also in the top six.
New police data has revealed that it costs the British taxpayer more than £2.8million to police some of English football’s most notorious matches.
The research collected seven police forces’ costs for policing some of English football’s fiercest rivalries across the 2024-25 season through a series of Freedom of Information requests.
Following the UK prime minister Andy Burnham’s decision to abandon the alcohol ban for football fans in English top flight stands, Tipman Tips accessed police data on which forces are being required to direct the most of their budgets to overseeing the country’s fixtures.
Claiming top spot for the costliest police presence is the all-London fixture between long-term rivals Spurs and West Ham with the standalone fixture costing £350,574.50 in total police costs.
Spurs’ North London derby against the Gunners cost £334,140.23 to police, while their clash with the Blues cost £264,677.39.
Tottenham appear four times in the top five fixtures, with their match against Manchester United ranking fifth at £118,895.31. Their fixture against Manchester City also features in the top ten, with police costs of £86,498.13.
The data also highlights the significant cost associated with local rivalries, with the Hoops against Millwall costing £194,175.14, while the Dons and Milton Keynes ranks eighth at £109,029.38.
Several of English football’s biggest rivalries also feature prominently, including Millwall versus Leeds in sixth, Arsenal against Man United in eleventh and Chelsea versus Arsenal in fourteenth.
Across the 30 most expensive fixtures to police, the total police cost comes to £2.87 million, with the ten most expensive matches accounting for more than £1.69 million of this total.
The total policing costs from all 262 fixtures provided via the FOI requests amounted to £9,846,874.92 in one season, with the highest costs coming from the Metropolitan Police. Even more shocking is that this excludes many top flight games, as forces including Greater Manchester and West Midlands Police didn’t reveal their figures.
Here are the 30 football rivalries with the highest total police costs:
| Rank | Fixture | Total police cost (£) |
| 1 | Tottenham v West Ham | 350,574.50 |
| 2 | Tottenham v Arsenal | 334,140.23 |
| 3 | Tottenham v Chelsea | 264,677.39 |
| 4 | QPR v Millwall | 194,175.14 |
| 5 | Tottenham v Man Utd | 118,895.31 |
| 6 | Millwall v Leeds United | 113,492.00 |
| 7 | QPR v Luton Town | 112,065.52 |
| 8 | AFC Wimbledon v MK Dons | 109,029.38 |
| 9 | Arsenal v Crystal Palace | 104,169.49 |
| 10 | Tottenham v Man City | 86,498.13 |
| 11 | Arsenal v Man United | 81,562.06 |
| 12 | Millwall v Luton | 81,267.74 |
| 13 | Chelsea v Man City | 70,994.26 |
| 14 | Chelsea v Arsenal | 70,905.74 |
| 15 | Arsenal v Liverpool | 68,338.90 |
| 16 | West Ham v Chelsea | 65,490.09 |
| 17 | West Ham v Arsenal | 64,152.14 |
| 18 | Nottingham Forest v Leicester City | 61,268.94 |
| 19 | Liverpool v Man United | 53,393.29 |
| 20 | QPR v Crystal Palace | 51,324.18 |
| 21 | Tottenham v Brentford | 50,381.42 |
| 22 | Crystal Palace v West Ham | 42,213.69 |
| 23 | Chelsea v Brentford | 41,643.51 |
| 24 | Liverpool v Everton | 40,611.49 |
| 25 | Fulham v Brentford | 40,305.55 |
| 26 | Fulham v West Ham | 40,130.58 |
| 27 | Tottenham v Liverpool | 39,920.63 |
| 28 | Everton v Liverpool | 39,277.92 |
| 29 | Tottenham v Fulham | 39,251.65 |
| 30 | Millwall v Leyton Orient | 38,693.82 |
| Total policing costs for rivalry games | 2,868,844.69 |
Commenting on these figures, Fraser Bricknell, founder at Tipman Tips, said: “The level of policing required for some of these fixtures is absolutely ridiculous, so it’s no surprise that Andy Burnham has decided that making these costs even higher by introducing alcohol in the stands isn’t the right decision, as police forces would have been placed under even more pressure.
“Gone are the days of hooligans wreaking havoc on match-day like they did before the alcohol ban was introduced in the 1980s, however the tension these games produce still appears to be a significant problem in football. Allowing fans to drink in the stands will only make this problem worse, so any reforms need to be more evidence-led or else it will cost the taxpayer a fortune.”
