England fans throw bottles and clash with police in Marseille during the UEFA Euro 2016 football tournament.
Russia was among 14 countries
which signed a convention between the Council of Europe and European
soccer body UEFA on Sunday aimed at stopping a repeat of fan violence
which has marred Euro 2016.
UEFA said the convention would include a better exchange of
intelligence between police forces to warn countries hosting matches of
potential troublemakers.
The Euro 2016 tournament being played in France has seen a return of
football hooliganism which had been largely absent from recent
international competitions.
The worst incidents happened in Marseille before and after the match
between England and Russia where clashes lasted several days.
"I'm sure that in the future we can use the intelligence of various
police forces," said Michael van Praag, head of UEFA's Stadia and
Security committee.
"That has not been working 100 per cent until now and this is the reason why we have this convention.
"I am sure in the future when this exchange of information between
countries and police forces will go on, problems like the one we had in
Marseille and in many competitions in Europe will belong in the past,"
the Dutchman told reporters.
Van Praag said that "we can and must do more" to avert hooliganism
and described the Council of Europe convention as a "significant step"
forward.
However, he rejected a suggestion that tournament organisers should
change venues and kickoff times for matches which were considered high
risk.
"The authorities were very well prepared to organise this match but nobody expected this (violence)
to happen on such a level," he said. "You cannot expect the tournament
organisation to beforehand change kickoff times, or beforehand change
the venues.
"We knew for months in advance that this match had to be played in
Marseille and there were no signals whatsoever that the game would be
disturbed in the way it was."
France, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Lithuania, Moldova, Monaco,
Montenegro, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland, Macedonia and
Ukraine were the countries who signed on Sunday.
Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland said he expected more countries to sign up.
"This is the opening day for signing the convention and it is
extraordinary that so many signed on the first day, it's nearly a
record. We expect that many will follow suit," he said.
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