THIRTY eight supporters from North-East football clubs are officially banned from travelling to the World Cup, police figures show.

The fans will be required to surrender their passports and will not get them back until the end of the tournament, which will kick off at the end of the month.

Police have been cracking down in recent months on hooligans, ahead of the World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

Banning orders preventing fans from travelling to matches at both home and abroad can be imposed by magistrates on conviction for a football-related offence or following a specific application by police.

More than a thousand fans from across the country are now subject to orders for the World Cup - ten times more than there were at the Euro 2000 championships.

Of the Premiership clubs in the region, Newcastle has nine fans banned, and both Sunderland and Middlesbrough have ten.

Darlington has six and Hartlepool three.

Those banned from travelling to the World Cup include 112 Cardiff City fans, 98 from Stoke City, 66 from Leeds United and 23 from Millwall.