500,000 UK fans set to travel for Euro 2016

Up to 500,000 British football fans, around half of whom do not have tickets, are expected to travel to France for Euro 2016, police have said.

Potential flashpoints include the England-Wales game in Lens, and England’s fixture against Russia in Marseilles, which saw ugly clashes between home supporters and riot police in the 1998 World Cup.

British police are hoping to act as “cultural interpreters” to prevent heavy-handed tactics against drunk and rowdy fans who may not cause serious trouble.

Police delegations representing England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are set to travel to the tournament.

French authorities have told English and Welsh fans without tickets not to travel to Lens. There will be an alcohol ban in the city for 24 hours from 6am on match day.

England and Wales were each allocated 9,000 tickets for the game, but there were over 20,000 applications.

In total around 250,000 UK supporters have tickets, but it is expected that double that will travel to France.

Some 1,841 England fans and 86 Wales supporters are under banning orders that apply from May 31 to July 11, meaning they must hand in their passports to police.

An operation covering 29 UK ports with officers from 19 police forces will launch on June 6, with specially trained “spotters” to detect hooligans trying to sneak out of the country.