Euro 2024: Beer cap imposed for England-Serbia clash in Gelsenkirchen

Supporters of England and Serbia attending the teams’ opening game of Euro 2024 in Gelsenkirchen will only be able to purchase reduced-strength beer, police said Friday.

A 2.5-percent “light beer” would be served in the stadium, with fans limited to two drinks at a time, a spokeswoman for police in the German city told AFP. The decision for Sunday’s match had been taken for “security reasons”, the spokeswoman said.

The choice to sell lower strength beer, instead of pints with the usual volume of between four and five percent, was also made because “the British are used to it”, she said.

German authorities have been preparing to deal with potential hooligans at the tournament. Organisers have invited officials from all the countries playing at the tournament to help monitor the situation in and around the grounds.

The British government has said that more than 1,600 English and Welsh supporters who are hit with stadium bans because of previous violent behaviour will be prohibited from travelling to Germany during the tournament.

England fans infamously clashed with supporters from Russia ahead of their match in Marseille, France, at Euro 2016, which saw running battles between hooligans.