England fans have apparently been involved in violent altercations with their Serbian counterparts in Gelsenkirchen ahead of the two countries' EURO 2024 match this evening.
Both sides get their European Championship campaign underway at the Arena AufSchalke this evening, in the first-ever meeting of England and Serbia.
Police in Gelsenkirchen were said to be on high alert ahead of the game, given the previous issues surrounding misbehaviour by both sets of fans at previous tournaments.
The build-up to the match had progressed without incident until Sunday afternoon, with multiple UK outlets now reporting that England fans were the instigators of a violent clash with Serbian supporters outside a city centre restaurant.
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England and Serbia fans clash ahead of EURO 2024 opener
The first formal video reports of trouble in the city in the west of Germany came from Sky News' Rob Harris, who captured chairs and tables being flung by fans outside a bar where Serbia supporters had gathered.
We have just witnessed fighting in the streets of Gelsenkirchen - around a bar being used by Serbia fans.
Unclear if fans from another country was involved.
Footage of the unrest I filmed just now on @skynews
Report from the scene ahead of England-Serbia #euro2024 pic.twitter.com/v78SrYQEGn— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) June 16, 2024
At the time of Harris' report, he said it was "unclear" if supporters other than Serbia fans had been involved in the altercation.
Daniel Boffey of the Guardian (on the ground in Gelsenkirchen) reported soon after that the trouble was instigated by a large group of English fans, who allegedly charged the outdoor area of the bar at around 4pm local time - five hours before kick-off for tonight's game.
Boffey has since retracted the mention of English fans instigating the violence in an updated version of the Guardian article.
The updated Guardian report suggests that a group of hooligans descended on the scene, with chairs, bottles, and tables flung before the group was forced to flee by the prompt arrival of some 200 German police officers.
Both the Guardian and the Telegraph now report that a man believed to be from Birmingham suffered an extensive gash to the head, with blood pouring from his head and medics attending to the man. The Guardian would add that a police officer had also suffered a head wound in the incident.
The Telegraph have also affirmed the Guardian's initial report that the incident was instigated by English fans.
Video footage from several different angles has been posted to social media, with some making claims that Albanian fans have been involved. These reports have not been ratified or even mentioned by any members of the UK media.
Albania and Serbia fans fight in Gelsenkirchen #euro2024 pic.twitter.com/Ezt8LUmswl
— Euro 2024 (@TotalFootbol) June 16, 2024
Matt Lawton of the Times would later report that six Serbian fans had been arrested in the aftermath of the clash.
Despite the line taken by both the Guardian and the Telegraph, Sky Sports News' afternoon reports quoted a senior German police officer as saying that England fans had not been involved in the altercation.
They would also allege that the incident had in fact been between Albanian and Serbian fans.
Albania played Italy on Saturday night in the nearby city of Dortmund, only 35km away from Gelsenkirchen.
German police have dealt with an incident involving Albanian & Serbian fans near the centre of Gelsenkirchen. Most senior German police officer on the scene says at the moment they believe the incident did not involve England fans. pic.twitter.com/GgQxmNNcvi
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) June 16, 2024
Reporting from Gelsenkirchen, Sky Sports News reporter Kaveh Solkehol said:
What they [German police officers] are telling us is that the incident involved Albanian football supporters and Serbian football supporters. All the German officers we've spoken to have said the incident did not involve England supporters.
What appeared to have happened was some Serbian fans were eating in a steak restaurant and there was some kind of flashpoint between them and Albanian supporters outside this restaurant.
We've seen, for instance, chairs being thrown, glasses being thrown, and there was a brawl which only really lasted between 10 and 20 seconds. Pretty quickly, German riot police arrived on the scene.
From what I've seen of the incident, I did not see any England supporters involved in the incident. There was no one involved in that fighting who was wearing an England shirt.
Some eyewitnesses told us that some England fans had been caught up in the incident. There are quite a few people who have been injured.
We will update this piece as more information becomes available. England play Serbia in EURO 2024 in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday night, with kick-off at 9pm local time (8pm Irish time).
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