Organisers full of praise for England fans

BERLIN, June 16 (Reuters) England's fans, so often the pariahs of world football, are making headlines again at the World Cup -- for all the right reasons.

Wolfgang Niersbach, vice-president of the German organising committee, told journalists at FIFA's daily news briefing today that the behaviour of the England fans was one of the highlights of the World Cup so far.

''By our estimates there were 60,000 or 70,000 English fans in Nuremberg for the match against Trinidad&Tobago and their exemplary behaviour was being discussed by many people last night.

''We would like to say we have tremendous praise for the way the English fans are behaving.'' Just 26 England supporters were detained by police in Nuremberg either before or after England's 2-0 win which secured their passage to the last 16 of the tournament.

Niersbach also said the behaviour of the Swedish fans in Berlin for their match against Paraguay was also excellent -- and that many German fans donned Sweden's yellow shirts in support of the Scandinavian team.

''The atmosphere at the stadiums yesterday was incredible,'' he added. ''The fans are behaving so well, long may it continue.'' There has been only one serious incident of crowd trouble at the finals when 300 hooligans clashed in Dortmund before the Group A match between Germany and Poland on Wednesday.

REUTERS PDS BST1644