One question we get often is whether bags are allowed into English soccer games. And the answer is basically: Yes, but sometimes not big ones.

With turnstile like this, any kind of bag can be a hassle.

Paul has been to more than 100 games at 69 different stadiums around the UK, and has probably taken a bag into 95 percent of them.

Here’s his advice:

I like to take a camera, a jacket, my wallet, etc., and not have stuff in my pockets.

You just can’t take in the obvious, usual stuff, like a knife or a gun or glass or whatever. And there are getting to be limits on bag sizes.

One thing I did learn, by the way: you can bring a fanny pack to a game — just don’t  say “fanny pack.” It turns out that “fanny” in the UK means “pussy.” I got some funny looks about taking a pack of that to games!

But the English soccer bag policy is starting to change. I went to Wembley in 2018, got right up to the security area and was told that my bag was too big!

What is the Wembley (and Other Stadiums’) Bag Policy?

To take a bag into Wembley Stadium, it can be no larger than roughly 12″ x 8″ x 8″. If it’s too big, you’ll have to walk a couple minutes to a storage place, where they will charge you £10 to hang onto it. Another way of thinking of this: nothing bigger than a purse.

It’s a new policy as of November 2018, when it was put in place for the England-USA friendly. Who knows what those nutty American fans were trying to bring into games, but it now means I can’t take my fanny pack backpack into Wembley.

Here is more from Wembley Stadium on their bag policy.

And this is getting to be the same policy at other stadiums, as well.

My suggestion: just don’t try to bring a bag to a soccer game in England. In fact, see if you can not bring a bag to a game at all. That’s where I am headed. I am depending more and more on my iPhone to take pictures, and it’s been quite liberating to be bagless at games.