UK police sending only three officers to England’s World Cup games after failure to land funding

• Policing unit ‘not expecting problems’ from England fans

• Around 15,000 are expected at each group-stage tie

The UK Football Policing Unit will send only three officers to this summer’s World Cup after a failure to secure extra funding from authorities in the United States.

With as many as 15,000 England fans expected at each group fixture, police said their role would be to act as “cultural interpreters” for local law enforcement and they had no concerns over the safety of supporters in the US.