It coincides with a rise in the amount of football-related violence
Over 800 fans will have to hand in their passports ahead of England’s Nations League trip to Germany in June, while the Football Association will also send a team of stewards, as well as a number of UK police, amid concerns of disorder.
England’s game against Germany is one of the most hotly-anticipated in the Three Lions’ calendar this year and a large number of fans are expected to make the trip over to Munich.
Although the official number of away tickets England that have been allocated is 3,466, it is expected that over 6,000 will apply, with the ballot set to take place at the end of the week.
Behaviour of England fans at previous games has led to cause for concern
The main concern from the Football Association’s point of view, as with any other England game, is the number of ticketless fans who are likely to head over, sparking concerns that violent and disorderly scenes could break out.
Behaviour of England fans abroad has become a cause for concern in recent years, with many comparing it to the dark days of football hooliganism on the terraces in the 1980s.
Previous games in Berlin, Dortmund, Porto, Seville and Amsterdam were all marked as games where significant trouble occurred from those who travelled.
There has been a rise in the number of football-related disorder recently
As revealed by The Athletic, there are currently 1,120 fans who are serving banning orders in the UK, with 880 of those having to hand in their passports ahead of the Three Lions’ Nations League away fixtures.
Despite this, other fans who intend to cause trouble will still be able to to travel and even though the FA do their best to kick out any offenders from the England Supporters’ Travel Club, they are aware that they won’t be able to stop every troublemaker from going.
The figures coincide with a rise in football-related disorder, most notably at last summer’s European Championships. As a result of the violence before the final against Italy at Wembley, England are being forced to play their Nations League fixture against the same side behind closed doors at Molineux on June 11.
UEFA also gave England a second match ban, which was suspended, and the Three Lions are keen not to trigger it, describing the European governing body’s action as putting England “On a yellow card.”
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