German fans warned over violence

Theo Zwanziger said German football's reputation was at stake

The head of the German Football Federation (DFB), Theo Zwanziger, has threatened to follow Italy's example by banning spectators from some matches.

The warning came after about 800 hooligans attacked police in the eastern city of Leipzig on Saturday.

Dozens of people were injured in running battles after the former East German champions Lokomotive Leipzig lost a regional cup game 3-0.

Italian football has resumed after a week's suspension over crowd trouble.

On Monday Mr Zwanziger called for a halt to all matches in the Saxony region next weekend "as a gesture of solidarity towards the police".

"If finally, despite all our efforts, we can't manage to stop these riots then we can simply halt matches in certain places," he said.

"Every weekend up to 80,000 football matches take place. Football's reputation as a whole is damaged through disturbances at two or three places. We cannot accept that."

Police said Lokomotive Leipzig had failed to prevent large numbers of fans bringing fireworks into the stadium for the match against FC Erzgebirge Aue II, but the club disowned the troublemakers.