Infantino’s comments were made directly in relation to World Cup appearances.
It is fair to make the point that since France 1998 there has only been one World Cup (Germany 2026) which has been easily accessible for English fans.
At the 2002 World Cup, England played all five of their matches in Japan.
There was only one arrest for violence or public disorder among the 8,000 supporters who flew to Asia.
In Germany for the 2006 World Cup an estimated 350,000 watched games in stadia and at fan parks. Yet there were just 21 arrests for football-related offences.
The most violent scenes at the tournament surrounded a game between Germany and Poland when 429 arrests were made, including 119 from Poland and 278 from the host nation.
The next two World Cups were long-distance affairs in Africa and South America.
Recorded figures show that, contrary Infantino’s claim, there were no England fans arrested at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa – an estimated 30,000 made the journey.
In Brazil for the 2014 World Cup there were 15 football-related arrests – none for violence – among the 20,000 travelling fans. Thirteen were for ticket touting and two for offences against property.
The 2018 World Cup saw the tournament return to Europe in Russia. Some 20,000 England fans visited, with six arrests, of which four were for football-related anti-social behaviour.
Only around 4,000 supporters made the journey to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar which, as Infantino said, saw no arrests for supporters of England or Wales, who had also qualified.
Across six tournaments in total, there were 55 arrests out of 432,000 fans, with 28 non-violent offences.
There are no available comparison figures for other nations – but that single Germany and Poland game at the 2006 tournament was eight times England’s total over six World Cups.
Chief Constable Mark Roberts, national lead for football policing said: “For the record, ‘British’ fans behaving at World Cups is the norm, not something special.
“While these things may be said in jest, it is neither helpful nor accurate to make this sort of comment.”