Crackdown on World Cup hooligans

WORLD CUP security chiefs will meet after tomorrow’s draw to finalise plans to target English and Dutch hooligans.

Tournament hosts Germany have bad memories of the 1988 European Championships where there was trouble involving fans from both England and Holland.

England fans were involving in running battles in Marseille during the 1998 World Cup in Marseille and there were violent scenes in the Belgium town of Charleroi during the 2000 European championships.

Since then however, new legislation introduced by the British government has seen the problem diminish with more than 3,500 English fans subject to banning orders, meaning they have to surrender their passports during major tournaments.