The image of all England fans is penalised by the behaviour of a minority

Sports minister Kate Hoey

Under new measures, supporters with international banning orders will have to report to a named police station and hand in their passports.

The FA keeps careful tabs on tickets

NCIS also have 92 officers based in local forces in England who have been monitoring offenders and gathering local intelligence on the problem.

For its part, the Football Association has adopted a system of loyalty points when distributing its ticket allocation through the England Members Club.

Supporters who reach a certain number of points by attending a variety of differently categorised England games will automatically receive tickets.

But should any member be convicted of a football-related offence in that time, they are thrown out of the club and lose their ticket allocation.

England proved with Euro 96 we can host a major international tournament without trouble

The Football Association

"We know where all our tickets have gone," said a spokesman.

The FA has also been deeply involved in a campaign to clean up the image of England supporters - dubbed "Football yes, violence no"- consisting of goodwill trips to meet foreign fans.

But all those involved with the European Championships realise they face a difficult task to contain the hooligan element.

Sports minister Kate Hoey admitted to BBC Radio 5 Live that it was "probably going to be impossible" to have a completely trouble-free tournament.

"The image of all England fans is penalised by the behaviour of a minority," she said.

The FA is confident of its 2006 bid

Police in charge of venues which are considered to be a risk - such as Eindhoven in the Netherlands and Charleroi in Belgium, where the England games will be held - have already implemented "very robust steps" to prevent the problem.

Home Office Minister Lord Bassam of Brighton, who has visited both grounds, said he had spoken to the authorities in charge of the security operations.

"Of course it's impossible to screen out absolutely everything," he conceded.

"What I am confident of is that they are going to be making every effort possible and it's a very sophisticated operation that they are putting in place."

'Hooligan-fest'

But the FA has said that even if there is violence involving English fans, it will not be fatal to their bid to bring the World Cup to England.

"England proved with Euro 96 we can host a major international tournament without trouble," said a spokesman.

"It was the most successful European Championships ever, if not the most successful international tournament - although France 98 was pretty good."

"Euro 96 was widely predicted to be a hooligan-fest, but that never materialised. We are confident it wouldn't happen in 2006 either."

The problem of hooliganism is not unique to England, with fans from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany among those who will also be subject to increased security measures.

But supporters of Kevin Keegan's side at Euro 2000 attract a special focus thanks to the reputation troublemakers built for them during the 1980s, leading to the problem being dubbed the "English disease".