By Phil McNulty Chief football writer in Baden Baden

Fans made the Paraguay game like a home game for England

Fifa insists it is not worried that England's fans effectively took over Frankfurt's Waldstadion for their World Cup game against Paraguay.

England had at least 30,000 fans in the 48,000 crowd for the 1-0 win - despite an official allocation of only 5,500.

But Fifa spokesman Andreas Herren told BBC Sport England's popularity was a factor, as well as the determination of fans to get tickets.

"English football, players and the team have lots of fans abroad," he said.

"So they may have got tickets for the game through various sources.

"It was predominantly English, although you don't know if there were ex-pats living in Germany or from other countries who support England," he added.

England fans were also helped by having only to contend with a small pocket of Paraguay supporters - whereas German fans would be out in force should they meet in the knockout stages.

So far we are very happy with how things have gone Fifa spokesman Andreas Herren

But Herren said Fifa was delighted with security procedures set up by the German authorities, working with their English counterparts, and also praised fans' groups.

He explained how England's fans may have managed to flood the Waldstadion, effectively turning it into a home fixture for Sven-Goran Eriksson's side.

"First of all they would have the quota which would be made available by the English FA, and in some cases associations received more than their original allocations," he continued.

"A lot of tickets have been sold via the internet on Fifa's World Cup website especially, and wherever possible, when tickets have been returned, they have been offered to the national associations of the teams playing in the games.

"We know that many fans from other countries support England. I know of many in Switzerland and you may recall that in Japan there were thousands and thousands of Japanese fans supporting England.

England fans took over central Frankfurt before the game

Herren added: "There is also the possibility that England fans may get tickets from sponsors or partners, because around 80% of their tickets are made available via lottery or contests, and a lot of where they go depends on what they define as key markets.

"England may well be a key market.

"Also, if sold tickets are returned they go, via the German authorities, into a public sale. Fifa's website has also set up an option programme. It is a bit like being on a waiting list for a ticket at an airport."

Holland's fans dominated their game against Serbia & Montenegro in similar fashion, but Fifa does not expect similar scenes in the later rounds.

Herren said: "Obviously there will be bigger demands from German fans for an England game than Paraguay fans, but there may well be more England fans there than originally allocated."

Thousands of England fans are in Germany for the tournament

Fifa officials are delighted with the way the tournament has started, and Herren declared: "Our experiences so far have been very, very good and a big compliment must go to the fans associations. The fact of the matter is that 99% of all tickets have now been sold.

"So far we are very happy with how things have gone.

"Security is handled by the German organisers, although they will be working with their English counterpart, and so long as they do not see any concerns and all is calm it is a matter for them.