Thousands of England fans descend on Gelsenkirchen ahead of Three Lions' first Euro 2024 match against Serbia
16 June 2024, 15:13
Thousands of England fans have descended on Gelsenkirchen ahead of the national side's opening game against Serbia on Sunday night.
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Fans were pictured drinking, chanting, arm-wrestling and having kickabouts in the centre of the west German city on Sunday.
England go into the tournament among the favourites, but lost their last warm-up game to Iceland on Friday.
Traditional heavyweights Germany, Italy and Spain have all made winning starts to the Euros, with the hosts thrashing Scotland 5-1 on Friday night in the tournament curtain-raiser.
Some 300,000 England fans are thought to have made the trip to Germany for the Euros, although only a minority of those will be in the stadium itself on Sunday night.
England fans were warned ahead of the Euros of 500 “violence-seeking Serbian hooligans” expected to attend the Sunday night game.
England’s recent Euros campaigns have been plagued with violence, most notably before their opening game in France in 2016 against Russia and ahead of the final of the last tournament
There appears to have been little trouble so far in the build-up, although one England fan was arrested and then released after a dispute with a fellow supporter.
Before the tournament there was some debate about the longstanding 'Ten German Bombers' song, with fans warned by German authorities that they faced arrest if they chanted it.
Despite this, fans have been seen singing the chant, and there were even reports some German locals saw the funny side and joined in.
Meanwhile Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer wished Gareth Southgate and his men good luck before the game.
Arsenal fan Sir Keir said: "There is no feeling like the build up to the first England game of an international tournament: the pubs filling up, the flags waving, the nerves and excitement building.
"As fans up and down the country get ready for kick off, I want to wish Gareth and the team all the best on behalf of the Labour Party.
"We will be with you for every twist, turn and VAR decision. England is behind you. Make it a summer to remember."
Elsewhere in Germany, a man was shot by police in Hamburg on Saturday after brandishing a knife and a molotov cocktail close to a fan zone for Dutch fans. He is being treated for his injuries.
