MORE THAN 300,000 ENGLAND FANS IN GERMANY FOR EURO 2024 SERBIA GAME

•  A record number of fans are predicted to travel to Germany over next month
•  One devoted fan ended his relationship when his partner gave him ultimatum 
•  Euros 2024: Get the latest scores on our live blog 

England fans descended on Germany by plane, train and road and filled the streets with the sound of Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline yesterday, as they settled in for the Euros.

Supporters had little trouble making themselves at home ahead of the team's match against Serbia tomorrow, with one describing Gelsenkirchen as 'a bit like Slough'.

A record 300,000 Three Lions supporters are predicted to make the journey over the month-long tournament.

So devoted are the fans that one, Jeremy Smith, 44, was happy to say goodbye to his 15-year relationship to spend time at the tournament.

Mr Smith, from south London, said his partner told him: 'If you go for a week, you're gone.' 

He added: 'So I said, 'All right, I'm gone'. I was with her for 15 years but I'd rather support England than have a Mrs.'

Fan chiefs said the huge numbers - mirrored by an estimated 200,000 Scotland fans who have also made the journey - were due to the contest being the first foreign tournament within a short distance from the UK in recent years.

And as fans tucked in to the Pils in Gelsenkirchen, where the team play tomorrow night, and in neighbouring Essen, supporters back home stocked up on beer for the big game.

Tesco alone said it expected to sell 33million packs of beer and cider, 5.5million bottles and cans of no and low-alcohol options and 11million pies over the month.

England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford told the media the squad's 'goal' was to 'lift that trophy and bring it home'. 

The 8pm fixture is being treated as one of the most high-risk by German police, over fears hardcore Serbian 'Ultras' could turn up. There will be alcohol restrictions in the stadium.

English fans who feel 'threatened' have been told to yell code word 'Panama' at police or tournament officials to summon assistance, as security officials adopt a similar protocol to that used at certain German football matches and music festivals. 

But there was no sign of trouble yesterday in Essen or Gelsenkirchen, where fans were filmed singing Sweet Caroline – the song that became England's soundtrack during Euro 2020.

After pitching up in Gelsenkirchen after flying from Heathrow to Dusseldorf, Peter Sirrell, 59, from Reading, said: 'To be honest, it's a bit like Slough – not that charming.'

Mike Hartley, who flew in from Kent, said the city was getting 'louder and louder'. 

In Essen's Kennedyplaz, where a big screen has been set up with stadium seating for the duration of the tournament, fans began filling the bars throughout the afternoon, ready to watch last night's curtain-raiser between the host nation and Scotland. 

The Mail also met other groups of friends from Ipswich, Suffolk, and Tamworth, Staffordshire, who drove to Germany for England's first game, while one couple, Andrew and Joanne Patterson, from Bishop Auckland, flew to Dusseldorf via Milan to soak up the atmosphere ahead of England's first game - despite not having match tickets. 

Ahead of the tournament, Mark Dittmer-Odell, the British Consul-General in Munich, said: 'We are estimating that 500,000 fans will travel from the UK and up to 200,000 could be Scotland fans'.

Thomas Concannon of the Football Supporters Association's Free Lions fanzine for England fans, said: 'It is fantastic that we are able to do it in a country that celebrates football fan culture as much as we do back home.'

Read more

2024-06-14T22:12:38Z dg43tfdfdgfd