Sixteen suspected football hooligans going to England's Euro 2004 qualifier in Slovakia have been sent back home after being stopped at various airports.

On Friday, four men believed to be en route to Bratislava for Saturday's game were turned back from Prague airport in the Czech Republic.

Profiles of two of the men had been passed to the authorities by the UK's National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS).

The other two were turned away because they had previous convictions.

Banning orders

In the last few days five other people have been stopped at Manchester Airport, three at Stansted, two at Birmingham and one at Heathrow.

The 16th suspected hooligan was arrested on an outstanding warrant at Manchester Airport.

NCIS will apply to magistrates courts for the men to be made subject to football banning orders to stop them attending matches.

The three men stopped at Stansted, who are all Carlisle fans, have already been taken to court and given banning orders.

Fans praised

The genuine England fans who have already arrived in Bratislava have been praised for their behaviour.

The British Embassy said there had been no incidents so far.

Spokeswoman Katarina Stryckova said: "There are about 400 fans in town and everything has started very positively."

Ms Stryckova said 4,000 fans with tickets were expected, and between 1,500 and 2,000 more were seeking to buy them in the city.