Gareth Southgate insists the Football Association has had assurances over fan safety ahead of England’s trip to Europe’s football hooligan hotspot.
Around 2,500 England fans are expected to fly to Naples next week for the Euro 2024 qualifier which will come just a week after horrific violent scenes in the Italian city. Napoli’s notorious ultras clashed with German fans and the riots overshadowed their Champions League tie with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Napoli’s owner has claimed the scenes were reminiscent of English hooliganism in the 1980s and they needed a Margaret Thatcher figure to step in. Liverpool fans were targeted in all three of their last trips to Naples while English supporters have been stabbed and violently attacked at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
FA chiefs have tried to allay fears by insisting the England game will not be classed as high risk as Napoli fans have a tradition of not following the Italian national team. But many regular England fans are taking day trips to avoid trouble and are concerned about a potential flashpoint in the city that was chosen ahead of Milan and Rome, which were considered the more likely venues.
England boss Southgate said: “In the end, it’s for the Italian FA to decide where they play their games. Clearly, our organisation will always try to make the travelling experience as smooth as possible for our fans and that’s important.
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“I think we’ve got to be careful about prejudging any experience. Other people will make sure that it’s as smooth as it possibly can be. From a personal perspective, to go to such a famous football city and having grown up watching Maradona win the title there, they look like they are going to do that again. I have to focus on the bits I can control.”
The violence has been such an issue that Napoli’s owner has called on the Italian prime minister to show “the courage” of Margaret Thatcher to stamp out hooliganism after claiming there was “guerrilla warfare” in the southern Italian city.
Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis said: “Families must go to the stadium, not those who want to deal or smoke marijuana. Probably, these people who shouted 'We are Naples' were outside the stadium yesterday, chasing the Germans in the city or doing guerrilla warfare with the police.
“Yesterday, Maradona was an English stadium. Now, politics must face the problem and I hope that [prime minister Giorgia] Meloni will do like the only prime minister who has had the courage: the English one Margaret Thatcher.
“UEFA? It represents itself. Just think of what happened in Paris for the Champions League final. Even [European Commission President] Ursula Von der Leyen has to ask herself the problem. Because in Europe, there are tens of millions of fans who must be respected and protected, compared to a violent fringe.”
