- Albania supporters watched their team from England sections at Wembley
- The FA are now set to strengthen their messaging on away colours being worn
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The Football Association is to strengthen its messaging on wearing away colours in home ends after hundreds of Albania supporters watched their team from England sections at Wembley.
While there were no outbreaks of serious trouble in a straightforward 2-0 victory for the Three Lions, significant numbers of opposition fans sporting the colours of their side were spotted in home areas.
The situation prompted England supporters to take to social media to complain of a ‘takeover’ with ‘absolutely tonnes’ of Albanian fans visible in sections reserved for fans of the hosts.
Mail Sport understands that FA officials will now write to anyone who buys a ticket to warn them that should they be spotted in England sections whilst wearing the colours of their opponents they will be ejected from the stadium.
Ahead of Thomas Tuchel’s first game, the FA worked closely with their Albanian and decided to hand over an allocation of 5,600, which is one of the biggest for a visiting side since the new Wembley opened.
The diaspora of Albanians, including large numbers who reside in the UK, is also thought to have formed part of a planning operation which included Metropolitan Police.
The Football Association is to strengthen its messaging on wearing away colours in home ends
The decision comes after Albania’s recent trip to Wembley where they faced England
One of the key issues in a what is a complex situation is that to purchase a ticket in home sections of buyers needed only to provide proof of an English address. And despite regularly selling out for England matches, Wembley’s 90,000-capacity means that tickets are often relatively straightforward to obtain.
Those involved in the security operation for Friday night’s fixture were happy with how it played out and had planned in advance for how to deal with the prospect of Albanians in England areas. They believe that fewer than 1,000 managed to buy tickets in home areas.
However, further preventive steps including sending emails with warnings will be made at future matches. Ground rules are already printed on tickets.One X user commented: ‘
Can we stop letting away fans get tickets in the home end, Albania are taking over Wembley’ while another added
‘Absolutely tonnes of Albania fans in the home ends’. Others wondered whether the atmosphere may have been different had the visitors managed to score.
No such issues are expected on Monday, when England face Latvia.