Russia police get tough with Chelsea fans

Match: Chelsea's John Terry in Red Square. About 42,000 English fans plan to travel to Moscow for the clash with Manchester Utd

Police have placed banning orders on 152 suspected English hooligans ahead of the Champions League final in Moscow.

Eighty-three individuals linked to Manchester United and 69 linked to Chelsea have been ordered to surrender their passports at least five days before the game on 21 May.

It comes as the British officer in charge of policing English fans in Moscow warned that a hardcore of "mad" Russian hooligans would seek to provoke trouble outside the ground.

The match at the Luzhniki Stadium is the first Champions League final between two English clubs, and will see some 42,000 supporters travelling to Moscow.

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Assistant Chief Constable Steve Thomas said he expected the game to be a "festival of football" with no trouble between the two sets of English fans.

"The risk will come from a hooligan element in Russia," Mr Thomas warned. "The Russians model themselves on English supporters in the Seventies and Eighties. They are mad and their mentality is that violence is part of football.

"The Russian authorities are doing a massive amount to deal with that, and the message to English fans is don't let the Russian hooligans drag you into trouble."

Mr Thomas, the Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on football matters, will be among 18 British police - including eight from the Met - travelling to Moscow with fans.

He warned supporters to respect Russian laws, which include bans on littering in civic places such as Red Square, drinking in public, and drug use.

He advised them to use officially organised transport to travel around the city. Coaches will be laid on to take fans from the airport to the stadium and sightseers will be able to catch a Metro train from the ground direct to Red Square, where a "Champions League village" for supporters will be set up.

Mr Thomas - an assistant chief constable for the British Transport Police - said the Moscow authorities were making a big effort to assist fans. Russian authorities have confirmed that many fans will not require a visa to travel to the match.

Under a temporary rule change, fans arriving on the day of the match with ticket and passport will be allowed to enter Russia so long as they leave immediately after the game. The concession will not apply to those planning longer stays.

Letters have also been sent to known ticket touts ordering them to surrender their passports at least five days before the match. Russian police will be sent details of those who fail to comply and will turn them back at the border. The offenders will be prosecuted for breaching their banning orders when they return to Britain.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in