UK to confiscate hooligans' passports

The British police will prevent 3,500 known hooligans from traveling to Germany for next year's World Cup finals, a high-ranking British police officer said on Monday.

Football fans considered a risk will have their passports confiscated in the UK, David Swift, the acting chief constable of the county of Staffordshire, said at a press conference at the British embassy in Berlin.

The hooligans will also have to report regularly to police stations to ensure they are not trying to travel to Germany without their passports.

Swift, the British Association of Chief Police Officers' leading officer tackling football hooliganism, also said the British authorities would supply specially trained officers to assist their German counterparts in policing the finals.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is expected to make a formal request for assistance to the British government in the near future.

England were placed in Group B for the first round of the World Cup in Friday's draw.

Their first match is against Paraguay in Frankfurt on June 10, followed by Trinidad and Tobago in Nuremberg on June 15 and then Sweden in Cologne on June 20.

British authorities are desperate to avoid a repetition of the violence caused by England fans in the southern French city of Marseille at the 1998 World Cup finals.

England fans were also responsible for violence during the Euro 2000 finals in the Belgian city of Charleroi.

Andy Battson, the liaison officer for the World Cup at the British Embassy in Berlin, said he expected around 100,000 England fans to travel to Germany.

The World Cup begins on June 9 and ends on July 9.