A man claimed he was prevented from attending a stag night in Amsterdam yesterday because police believed he may have been planning to cause trouble at the World Cup.
Steven Powner (35) was detained at Liverpool John Lennon Airport as he tried to catch an easyJet flight to the Dutch capital.
Merseyside Police were concerned that Powner, from Cannock, Staffordshire, was cautioned for disorderly behaviour at a Sunderland-Wolves match in February 1999.
He was also cautioned for being drunk and disorderly during a night out in Cannock in November 2001, and is awaiting trial for football-related disorder in London two years ago - a charge he denies.
Powner had booked a return flight for today, and had just one change of clothes, but police applied for a Football Banning Order to stop him leaving the UK. Pc Lee Lomax told Liverpool Magistrates: "We are concerned that if he flies to Amsterdam his next stop will be the World Cup in Germany.
"With Mr Powner's record, he is exactly the sort of person we want to keep out of Germany.
"Just because he has booked a return flight for tomorrow, that is not to say he will actually get on it."
Powner will oppose the banning order at Liverpool Magistrates on August 18; police will hold his passport until then.
He asked to be allowed to travel to Amsterdam last night, on provision that he attend a UK police station tonight, but District Judge Timothy Capstick refused.
He said: "I am afraid, with your history, I am not satisfied that you will necessarily return on the flight you have booked."
Outside court, Powner described the travel ban as "scandalous". He said: "How can they call me a football hooligan? I was drunk at the Sunderland game and the police let me go with a caution - that's the only trouble I've had at football and it was seven years ago."
