Police braced for army of 500 Serbian hooligans to target England fans at Euro 2024

Police are braced for a repeat of the rioting that has plagued England at the European Championship when their latest campaign begins against Serbia.

Officers in Germany are gearing up for the prospect of major fan disorder ahead of what has been branded the most “high-risk” match of Euro 2024.

England’s previous Euros campaigns have been marred by riots, most recently before their 2016 opener against Russia, as well as the final of the last tournament three years ago.

A toxic combination of factors has rendered Sunday night’s Serbia game more at risk of a repeat than any match since the climax of Euro 2020.

They include:

• Germany being the most accessible foreign host of a Euros or World Cup for England fans since 2016, with police in Gelsenkirchen expecting an estimated 40,000 to travel there for the game.

• Intelligence indicating they will be joined from Serbia by up to 500 hooligans eight years since England fans were brutally ambushed by Russian thugs at Euro 2016.

• A Sunday 9pm kick-off in a host city by far the smallest at this summer’s tournament, increasing the threat of clashes between rival fans.

• Potential tension over Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the 25th anniversary of the Nato bombing of Belgrade amid a history of crowd trouble at matches between England and Serbia’s youth teams.

Warnings about the powder-keg fixture have come from Gelskenkirchen’s chief of police, Peter Both, who told Telegraph Sport the “high-risk” game carried a threat of rioting akin to that which plagued England’s previous Euros campaigns and saw England and Russia both threatened with expulsion from the 2016 tournament.

“There is risk, of course, but we are very, very well prepared,” Both said.

“In principle, our riot-control units will keep a low profile. But if individuals or groups seek to cause disorder or engage in violent behaviour, these police units will be there. We will be there and we will intervene and take proactive action.”

Stressing he expected most of those travelling to Gelsenkirchen would be “absolutely peaceful”, he added: “The biggest challenge for us, for police, will be to identify violent, disruptive groups at an early stage and to separate them from peaceful and law-abiding fans.”

That could include up to 500 violence-seeking Serbian ultras expected to travel to the tournament in Germany and potentially to Sunday’s match.

“We don’t have concrete information but we can’t rule it out,” Both added. “So we have to prepare.”

Fan violence is rife in the Serbian club game, in which hooligan firms with names such as ‘The Gravediggers’ and ‘Head Hunters’ have been linked to organised crime groups accused of carrying out brutal murders, rapes and kidnappings.

English fans have been targeted during recent Champions League games and other European ties there, including when FK Crvena Zvezda – formally Red Star Belgrade – thugs attacked Manchester City supporters with sticks before a fixture between the clubs in December.

Serbia matches also have a history of rioting, which has forced the abandonment of two of their previous Euro qualifiers.

As revealed by Telegraph Sport, the Football Association failed in a bid to get the serving of alcohol banned close to the venue for Sunday night’s game over fears an entire weekend’s binge drinking could fuel fan disorder.

The match also takes place amid support from ultra-nationalist Serbs for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Britain has been supplying weapons to help repel, as well as ongoing ill-feeling over the UK’s role in the Nato bombing of Belgrade a quarter of a century ago.

Although England and Serbia have never met at senior level since the latter became a fully independent nation in 2006, previous encounters between their Under-21 teams have been marred by clashes on and off the field, including the throwing of missiles and racist abuse of rival players by the latter’s supporters.

‘Ivan the Terrible’ and ‘The Gravediggers’: Serbia’s hooligan history that is fuelling England fears

By Ben Rumsby

They are the most savage hooligans England fans could face since being brutally ambushed by Russian thugs at the European Championship eight years ago.

And when it comes to meting out extreme violence, Serbia’s vicious armies of ultras are more than a match for the combat-trained thugs Vladimir Putin allegedly unleashed at Euro 2016.

Just ask the fans set upon by stick-wielding yobs in a bar when Manchester City played FK Crvena Zvezda, formerly Red Star Belgrade, in the Champions League in December, or those attacked outside their hotel when Rangers were there in the Europa League the previous year.

Or those who witnessed the beating to death of a supporter with iron bars and bicycle chains before a previous Europa League meeting between Toulouse and Partizan Belgrade in the Serbian capital.

With hooligan firms with names such as ‘The Gravediggers’ and ‘Head Hunters’, is it any wonder a fan is murdered in the country “every month”, according to an expert in fan culture there.

This toxic mix of factors has helped make England’s Euro 2024 opener against Serbia one of the tournament’s most “high-risk” fixtures, with police in Gelsenkirchen ready for the Balkan state’s worst ultras to be among the tens of thousands of supporters to descend on the city.

That these thugs tend to have closer ties to Belgrade’s biggest clubs, Red Star and Partizan, than to the national team is the only thing that could spare England fans having to face them in Germany.

The same could be said of the allegiances of the Russian yobs who left England supporters fighting for their lives ahead of the country’s Euro 2016 opener against Russia.

That followed warnings Russian hooligans planned to “absolutely obliterate” England fans, accompanied by footage claimed to show groups of men training ahead of the brutal assaults that followed.

One expert on Serbian fan culture, who asked not to be identified amid the targeting of those seeking to expose the true scale of the problem there, told Telegraph Sport his nation’s ultras would not be so open about their intentions.

“It’s possible that some groups of hooligans might attend,” he added, warning that England fans could even end up outnumbered at Sunday’s match.

“We also have to take into consideration that there is a big Serbian diaspora living in Germany.

“What we already know is that Serbia definitely will have a huge support. There is a massive interest in attending the matches.

“Uefa dedicated 10,000 tickets and there has been, like, 30,000 applications for each match. These tickets are already sold. So, definitely 10,000. And even more, because we expect these kinds of German Serbs – and they are, in general, resourceful – they will find a way to get these neutral tickets. Maybe 15,000-20,000 for each match in the group stage.

“The question remains if these kinds of Serbs living abroad, like Germany, Switzerland, behave better or not. Sometimes, it happens that this inner patriotism, inner nationalism happens more with these Serbs living abroad. So, they will want to show, ‘We’re Serbs’.”

Serbia fixtures have fallen prey to hooliganism down the years, including two that were abandoned because of rioting during the country’s recent Euros qualifying campaigns.

The first arguably cost them a place at Euro 2012 when ultras went on the rampage in their fixture against Italy in Genoa.

Led by notorious hooligan ringleader Ivan Bagdanov – nicknamed ‘Ivan The Terrible’ – fans tried to attack rival supporters and police, resulting in their opponents being awarded a 3-0 victory.

Four years later, Serbia forfeited another match and were docked a further three points during Euro 2016 qualifying when their supporters set upon Albania players after a drone carrying a politically-incendiary flag was flown into the stadium.

And at the 2018 World Cup, the country’s fans were caught on camera brawling in the stands with Brazil followers during the sides’ match in Russia.

Sunday night’s showdown between England and Serbia is the nations’ first at senior level but two notorious European Under-21 Championship qualifiers between them were also plagued by crowd trouble.

The first, in 2007, witnessed racist chanting and a flare-up between players that saw both nations fined, while the second five years later was engulfed by monkey-chants directed at Danny Rose, missiles being thrown from the stands and a mass brawl on the pitch that led to bans being imposed on players and coaches from either side – including Tom Ince.

As with England’s Euro 2016 clash with Russia, which took place after Putin annexed Crimea and amid accusations of Kremlin involvement in both the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s march to the US presidency, bad blood between Sunday’s opponents could extend well beyond football.

Potential flashpoints include over the 25th anniversary of the Nato bombing of Belgrade, in which Britain played a key role, as well as over Putin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which the UK is providing weapons to repel but is openly supported by football fans in Serbia and many others there.

So much so that, in March, the latter’s national team became the first from Europe to play Russia in a friendly since the war began.

The parallels between the two nations do not end there, with Serbia accused of sliding towards an autocracy under president Aleksandar Vucic.

Vucic has boasted of being a radical Red Star supporter in his youth but has more recently started an apparent crackdown on links between hooligans in the country and organised crime.

That culminated in an extraordinary ongoing criminal case that began three years ago with the arrests of Partizan ultras police alleged had used a special “bunker” at the club’s stadium to carry out torture and decapitations before disposing of bodies using an industrial meat grinder.

The case engulfed the president of the Football Association of Serbia, Slavisa Kokeza, who was forced to resign after being quizzed by police about his alleged links to a group also accused of plotting to assassinate Vucic.

Kokeza branded the claims “dangerous lies”.

Such has hooliganism been allowed to flourish in the war-torn Balkan state that those who attempt to expose the true scale of its impact on the country and its politics are putting their lives on the line.

Serbian investigative journalist Brankica Stankovic needed police protection for many years after her Insajder (Insider) television programme aired such a broadcast back in 2009.

Stankovic was still the subject of death threats as recently as last year and colleagues at Insajder turned down a request by Telegraph Sport to speak to her for this article for fear for her safety.