There is no room for doubt in Dusseldorf.
Optimism is high among the thousands of English fans who arrive in the city to Euro 2024.
Many are confident for the first game against Serbia.
“It’s coming home,” declares Ben, who traveled with a group carrying a huge flag that said Tewkesbury.
“It’s a very strong and very competitive team, but I think we have the skills to overcome them”, adds Vic.
Today, the party will move an hour to Gelsenkirchen for the confrontation and wait for the next celebration.
But it’s not just English fans who are out in force – British police are also present. Germany looking for problems.
“We have seen people openly taking cocaine from the back of their hands. They’re drinking much stronger beer than they’re used to and people tend to get carried away and do things they don’t do at home,” she says. PC Stuart Dickerson of the UK Football Policing Unit.
After hours of drinking, a rowdy crowd can quickly turn violent; a broken bottle or a crossword puzzle can trigger a fight.
So PC Dickerson and his team of observers are on the streets, monitoring fans and providing information to their German counterparts.
“The smallest thing just changes the dynamic of the crowd. They’re singing a song and all of a sudden they just turn around and you see their body language change, their chest swells,” says PC Dickerson.
The game against Serbia in Gelsenkirchen is classified as high risk, in part because information about Serbian fans in attendance is limited.
Read more
Southgate addresses fans over security concerns
Southgate ‘relaxed’ that this is probably his last Euro
England x Serbia is considered a “high risk” game
Many of the young English fans are also unknown as this is the first tournament they have traveled to due to COVID-19.
British authorities have issued around 2,000 football banning orders in recent years, but some of them have expired and observers have seen some previously banned people among the crowds.
“We know many English fans with previous convictions for football violence across the country.
“So we identify these people to our people here and we just inform the local police that if a like-minded group from, say, Dusseldorf or Italy, comes through, there is every chance there will be violence,” says PC. Dickerson.
In fact, PC Dickerson and his team saw approximately 100 known hooligans.
They will now report to the German police in the hope of keeping all of England’s battles on the field.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
