West Midlands Police have admitted that artificial intelligence was used to produce flawed intelligence cited in a decision to bar supporters of Israeli club Maccabi Tel Aviv from attending a European match in Birmingham, prompting an apology from the force’s chief constable.
Craig Guildford told a parliamentary committee he was “profoundly sorry” after it emerged that an intelligence report relied on Microsoft’s Copilot AI and referenced a football match that never occurred.
The report claimed Maccabi Tel Aviv played West Ham United in November 2023, a fixture later shown to be fictitious, as the English club faced Olympiacos that week while Maccabi were playing in Poland.
Guildford said he had believed the information came from an online search and insisted he had “no intention to mislead” lawmakers. The erroneous material was used to support a recommendation to Birmingham’s Safety Advisory Group to block Maccabi supporters from a Europa League match against Aston Villa in November 2025, alongside claims about violent incidents involving the club’s fans in Amsterdam.
Dutch police have since disputed key elements of that account, including allegations that Maccabi supporters threw people into a river and the scale of policing required. UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has described the episode as a “failure of leadership” that damaged public trust, saying she has lost confidence in Guildford despite lacking the authority to remove him from his post.
