Liverpool issue bans as £1.2m seized from ticket touts

Liverpool have issued over 400 lifetime bans after more than £1.2m of assets relating to the illegal selling of tickets was seized by police.

The club worked with Merseyside Police to seize the assets from organised ticket touts.

The police operation focused on the laundering of criminal proceeds from illicit ticket sales and took place alongside the club's crackdown on ticket touting, both online and in the ground.

The club has since issued 432 lifetime bans to the guilty parties, as well as 115 indefinite suspensions.

Detective Chief Inspector Nick Suffield said: "This is a fantastic example of partnership working between ourselves and Liverpool Football Club for the good of the fans and the general public.

"We will always take action to protect genuine fans who fall victim to touts when all they are trying to do is simply purchase tickets to support their team."

From the assets seized, the money was split between Merseyside Police and the Home Office.

Last year, BBC Sport revealed Liverpool had shut down 145,000 ticket accounts over the previous two years as part of a crackdown on touting.

And last season alone, Liverpool analysed almost 700,000 ticket registrations, with 67,663 suspected fake accounts blocked or cancelled, and a further 121,379 accounts currently under investigation.

A further 3,847 tickets were cancelled for suspicious purchase activity in the 2025-26 season. They were put back on sale as general admission tickets, increasing the number available for genuine fans.

There was also a significant increase in targeted stops carried out on matchdays by the club, who prevented access to the turnstiles for accounts with suspicious activity.

These stops were carried out at Anfield – an average of 300 per home game – and at away games both in the Premier League and in Europe.

-BBC