The violent clashes between Eintracht Frankfurt fans and police ahead of the Champions League game with Napoli suggest local authorities could clamp down on England supporters who will play this stadium on March 23.
There had been fears of trouble after Napoli supporters were ambushed in the streets of Frankfurt going into the first leg of the Round of 16.
This prompted the local authorities to attempt a banning order on all Germans from attending the second leg at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
It was blocked on appeal, so narrowed to just ban those who are residents or born in Frankfurt from purchasing tickets, but circa 600 managed to get them anyway and are now causing chaos in Naples, setting fire to police cars and throwing objects.
This all suggests the local authorities will be even more eager to clamp down in future and prevent potential troublemakers from coming to the city for games.
It’s a concern because the next match scheduled here is the EURO 2024 qualifier between Italy and England on March 23.
England fans have a long history of hooliganism and in the current climate seeing what the Eintracht fans have done, it is entirely possible the local Naples police and prefect will try to limit supporters from making the journey.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was the first time in the tournament’s history that no England fans were arrested.
This was largely because of the high costs of travel to Qatar and the lack of alcohol available.