Germany

The back-slapping may be a little premature given that Saturday's clash with England now looks to have taken on even greater significance following Monday's first round of Group A games, but German officials were clearly very confident yesterday that the measures they have taken to curb the threat from hooligans at these championships are proving effective.

On a brief visit to the German training camp yesterday, the country's Minister for the Interior, Otto Schily, pointed to the absence of any trouble in Liege following Germany's match against Romania on Monday night as a sign that the hooligan threat has been defeated. "Despite all of the criticisms before these championships, it now appears that the programme we implemented has delivered and we will continue in the same vein for the England game."

Schily said that 266 known troublemakers had been told not to leave Germany during the championships, a similar number again are required to sign on at their local police stations at regular intervals throughout the tournament, while a further 36 had been prevented from crossing the border.

"We can't take all of the credit for this, of course. Our colleagues in the Belgian and Dutch police forces have worked extremely hard in ensuring that all of this goes to plan," he added.

France

French World Cup winning midfielder and Euro 2000 squad member Christian Karembeu is moving from Real Madrid to English Premiership side Middlesbrough on a £2.4 million transfer, the player's Spanish club said yesterday.

Karembeu, 29, was in the starting line-up when France beat Brazil 3-0 in the 1998 World Cup final.

The spokesman for the France football team yesterday laid the blame for a communications breakdown between coach Roger Lemerre and the French press squarely on the shoulders of the media.

In a statement to AFP news agency Lemerre's press officer Philippe Tournon said that Lemerre would continue to boycott any non-mandatory press calls and it would require a climbdown on the part of the media for any change in that policy.

Lemerre took his action after the French press boycotted his conference Saturday after 15 of France's 22 players refused to talk to the media.

Holland

Dutch defender Jaap Stam is a slight injury doubt for their Group D game against Denmark in Rotterdam on Friday.

Coach Frank Rijkaard told a press conference yesterday that Stam, who needed stitches above his left eye during their 1-0 win over Czech Republic on Sunday, had a groin injury and was a slight doubt.