Moral panic over a rise in violence ahead of Euro 2024 is bad for fans like me – and bad for football | Cas Mudde

Many are hyping a return to the dark days'. Their obsession with security comes at a high political price

Football fans heading to the stadiums of Germany for Euro 24 this summer face a resurgence in far-right neo-Nazi hooligans who have been overwhelming the police across Europe", the Sun has warned, with its usual sense for nuance.

It was just one of many recent articles that have appeared in British and other European media on the alleged return" of hooliganism" in Europe. The situation is apparently so bad that governments in countries such as France and the Netherlands have vowed to tackle the issue. Almost always, the response leans towards the authoritarian, including calls for more police and more restrictions.

Cas Mudde is the Stanley Wade Shelton UGAF professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia, and author of The Far Right Today