The incident will raise fears about fan behaviour over the weekend in a tournament which has so far passed without widespread disorder from England fans. Arrests around all four of their games so far in Germany have been low and the only notable incident to date was an attack outside a restaurant in Gelsenkirchen involving England and Serbia fans.
Friday’s scuffle took place on Berger Strasse in Dusseldorf’s old town, the dense nightlife centre of the city which is home to more than 250 bars and restaurants. This will be the nexus for travelling England fans seeking refreshments before and after Saturday’s quarter-final against Switzerland in the city.
Estimates suggest that around 40,000 England fans will travel to Dusseldorf despite an allocation of just 7,600 tickets for England fans through official channels.Â
Gareth Sotuhgate’s team kick off at 6pm on Saturday but there is potential for more meetings between England’s fans with those from other nations before then, given the number who have used Dusseldorf as a base to travel to the three other host cities in the North Rhine-Westphalia region.