Police fears for Germany game

Violence seems to have shifted away from the grounds

A police investigation has revealed that hundreds of English hooligans could get hold of tickets for the crucial World Cup clash with Germany in Munich on 1 September.

The Football Association had attempted to block hooligans attending the match by only allocating seats to the New England Fans group.

However, National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) spokesman Mark Steels told BBC Radio Five Live he was offered 100 tickets by a German travel agency despite admitting that some of his friends had criminal records.

It is a loophole in the ticketing system which needs to be sorted out

  Mark Steels
NCIS spokesman

Steels said: "On a simple search on the web for tickets for the England v Germany match we found two batches of 50 tickets from a small travel agency in Munich.

"When I phoned the number, the agency were quite happy to sell all 50 to me at £110 a time, even though I hinted that one of my friends had a criminal record.

"This kind of thing is completely undermining the FA's hard work - hooligans could easily have got hold of these tickets.

"Around 6000 tickets have already been allocated to members of the New England Fans group.

"The tickets I was offered were largely from areas of the ground reserved for German sponsors and corporate companies.

"It is a loophole in the ticketing system which needs to be sorted out."

Riot police prepare for fans

The news arrives on the same day that a NCIS report revealed the number of arrests for football-related offences went up 8.1% last season.

Arrests at league games in England and Wales rose to 3,391 last season, compared to 3,138 in 1999-2000.

"The problem of football hooliganism is moving well away from stadiums. Sometimes it is well after football matches and that provides us with problems.

"We have a world-renowned football intelligence section and we've found that very important and it will be increasingly important.

"It is certainly nothing like the so-called dark days of the 1970s when hundreds of people were fighting.

"They've become much more sophisticated and more like organised crime groups."

It is believed that over 6000 people could travel to Germany in the hope of picking up black market tickets in areas reserved for German fans.

Beckham was hit on the head by a bottle

Police believe this could lead to a breakdown in segregation, increasing the chances of trouble within the stadium.

As many as 1000 convicted and suspected troublemakers are expected to be banned from travelling to the game.

When England beat Greece in Athens in June, 454 English fans were sent letters by the Home Office ordering them to hand in their passports at local police stations.

There was little trouble in Athens but the Germany match is considered a much higher risk fixture.