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Italy FA chief wants travel ban for Azzurri fans

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-13 17:14

MILAN - Italy fans should be stopped from supporting the world champions abroad after minor trouble during their 0-0 draw in Bulgaria, the head of the Italian football association said on Monday.

A group of Italy fans made fascist salutes and threw bottles at Bulgaria supporters before Saturday's World Cup qualifying Group Eight match in Sofia. Three supporters were also arrested for burning a Bulgarian flag.

"We will not ask for any more tickets for Italy matches abroad," Giancarlo Abete told Radio Anch'io.

The hard line, which must be agreed with the government, follows several years of crowd trouble within Italy which has led to heavy restrictions on away travel for league matches.

"We are not talking about fans but people who want to misbehave and damage the image of football and our country. The association and the interior ministry have the first and last names of people who had tickets."

Italy partly missed out on holding the Euro 2012 championship because of their hooligan problem but Abete said not every fan was culpable.

"We need to see if some people got in without tickets. I'm sorry because most of the people among the 144 (Italy fans) present in the stadium had nothing to do with this disorder," he said.

Security is being stepped up for Wednesday's home qualification game with Montenegro in Lecce.