Thousands of England fans gather in Gelsenkirchen for the Three Lions’ first Euro 2024 match against Serbia.
On Sunday, supporters were seen kicking around, drinking, yelling, and arm wrestling in the centre of the west German city.
Although England is one of the favourites going into the competition, they fell to Iceland on Friday in their final practice match.
Conventional heavyweights Germany, Italy, and Spain have all gotten off to winning starts at the European Championship. In the opening match of the competition, the hosts thrashed Scotland 5-1 on Friday night.
Only a small portion of the estimated 300,000 England supporters who travelled to Germany for the tournament are expected to be present at the stadium on Sunday night.
Prior to the Euros, England supporters were alerted to the possibility of 500 “violence-seeking Serbian hooligans” showing up for the Sunday night match.
Violence has marred England’s recent Euro campaigns, most notably before their opening match against Russia in France in 2016 and before the tournament final.
In the build-up, there doesn’t seem to have been much incident so far, however one England supporter was arrested and then released following an altercation with another fan.
The traditional “Ten German Bombers” song sparked controversy prior to the competition, with supporters being threatened with detention by German officials if they screamed the tune.
Fans have been spotted reciting the song in spite of this, and there have even been rumours that even local Germans found it amusing and joined in.
Prior to the match, Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of Labour, wished luck to Gareth Southgate and his team.
“There’s no feeling like the build-up to the first England game of an international tournament: pubs filling up, flags waving, nerves and excitement building,” remarked Sir Keir, an Arsenal supporter.
“On behalf of the Labour Party, I would like to wish Gareth and the team the very best as supporters around the nation get ready for kickoff.
Thousands of England fans gather in Gelsenkirchen for the Three Lions’ first Euro 2024 match against Serbia.
“We’ll be there for you through every turn, twist, and VAR ruling. You have England behind you. Let this summer be one to remember.”
In other news from Germany, a man was shot by Hamburg police on Saturday after he was seen wielding a knife and a molotov cocktail near a Dutch fan zone. His wounds are being attended to.
