Hong Kong seizes haul of World Cup fakes worth $20 million

Officials say hundreds of thousands of counterfeit items were intercepted before export to overseas markets

Toronto Police Service Superintendent David Ecklund speaks to the news media about what they described as the largest seizure of counterfeit soccer jerseys ever recorded in Canada, just days before the start of the FIFA 2026 World Cup, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada June 1, 2026. Trevor Owens/Toronto Police Service/Handout via REUTERS.

Authorities in Hong Kong have seized suspected counterfeit World Cup items including soccer jerseys and balls with an estimated value of HK$156 million ($19.91 million), officials said.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is running from Jun 11 to Jul 19, and is being hosted jointly by the US, Canada and Mexico.

Wayne Chung, senior investigator at the city's Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau, told reporters on Thursday that 230,000 items had been seized.

Chung said the jerseys seized had a close resemblance to genuine soccer shirts. "Many of the jerseys are uniforms of the participating countries. We noticed all of these clothes are set to be exported to other countries, not for local market. At least 80 percent of them head to America," he said.

He said that this was due to high demand for jerseys during the World Cup, which got underway on Thursday.