Revealed: England's 'high-risk' clash with Serbia set to be the ONLY game at Euro 2024 where low-alcohol beer is served to fans in drastic move to prevent trouble amid hooliganism concerns

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England's opening Euro 2024 match with Serbia will be the only game in the entirety of the tournament at which only low-alcohol beer will be served - in a drastic attempt to prevent trouble.

Such is the fear of violence on Sunday night, German Police have taken the extreme measure of demanding that booze with an ABV of just 2.8 per cent can be sold at the VELTINS Arena, where the Three Lions kick-off their campaign.

Around 40,000 England fans are expected at the Gelsenkirchen clash but those present will only be able to buy significantly-weakened drinks in a controversial move which has echoes of the last-minute booze ban at the Qatar World Cup. And despite the low-strength offering, fans can order just two beers at a time and will not be allowed to take them to their seats.

Meanwhile, on Gelsenkirchen’s Heinrich Konig Platz, the main square, no glass and no drinking of alcohol whatsoever will be permitted on matchday.

Local police fear that England supporters will be targeted by a mob of around 500 Serbian hooligans who are expected to travel among the 5-8,000 backing the Balkans side for the Group C encounter.

Fans will be limited to low-strength beer and will only be able to order two beers at a time 

Supporters will not be able to take beer to their seats for the match at the VELTINS Arena

The move has echoes of the last-minute booze ban imposed on fans at the Qatar World Cup

Organisers have designated the match ‘high risk’.

It remains to be seen how the move will go down with England supporters, who have been largely praised for their behaviour at recent tournaments held overseas. Aside from the 599 arrests at Euro 2020, on home soil, at the last World Cup in Qatar there were zero arrests, three in Russia in 2018 and 46 at the Euros in France in 2016.

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A UEFA spokesperson said: ‘The local organisers and police decided to only allow the sale of beer with reduced alcohol percentage (light beers). The police in Gelsenkirchen also do not want to allow fans to bring their cups to their seats for matches in that venue. There is no such restriction in any of the other venues.’

Chief Inspector Christof Burghardt told Sky News: ‘I think it's a very high-risk game because of the history, because of the hooligans both sides have. Serbia has many hooligans. The English guys, with alcohol, they are sometimes very aggressive. So it's a great job to do this, to prepare, so that hopefully nothing will happen.'

Andreas Schär, managing director of EURO 2024, said that focus had been placed on preventing disorder. ‘The authorities rated that match from the start as a high-risk match,’ he explained. ‘But that was also about setting up preventative measures and how they do the set-up in Gelsenkirchen…for them to take all these actions they had to rate the match high-risk.

Around 5,000 to 8,000 Serbia fans are expected to watch their opening match on Sunday

Balaclava-clad Serbian fan Ivan Bogdanov gestures towards riot police during the Euro 2012 qualifier between Italy and Serbia at Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Genoa on October 12, 2010

‘Serbia’s not been in the tournament for some time so there was some unknown factors - how are the two fan groups going to react? - that’s just an open question.

‘We - as organisers - are not that much concerned as our records do not show that there is a high risk of clashes - but of course the match has a bit of potential - if we’re not taking care - that it could escalate.’

Peter Both, chief of police in Gelsenkirchen, told The Guardian that police did not have ‘concrete intelligence, concrete information’ but said that he believed ‘up to 400 or 500 ­violence-seeking ­Serbian ­hooligans will travel’. Both added: ‘I guess the biggest challenge for us will be to identify violent, disruptive groups at an early stage, to separate them from peaceful and law-abiding fans.’

Drones will be banned in the city on matchday, while officers will also monitor the threat of terrorism.