By Paul Byrne and Andy Lines in Essen
England boss Gareth Southgate and his players are due to arrive in Gelsenkirchen on Saturday night, backed by an army of 40,000 excited fans.
Uefa have given the Three Lions’ supporters 10,000 tickets for the clash with Serbia. But police believe double that number will be in the Arena AufSchalke stadium, with another 30,000 watching the game on big screens in the city.
England fans started arriving in their thousands on Saturday as the countdown to Sunday’s 8pm kick off started.
In Gelsenkirchen Bournemouth fan Alan Marsh, 41, a scaffolder, and his son Tommy, 10, were with Arsenal fan and heating engineer Aaron Drayton, 39, and his son Theo, eight.
Alan said: “We drove over to Gelsenkirchen from Bournemouth – it took 11 hours and was tiring but it was worth it.”
Aaron said: “We haven’t got tickets for the match but we wanted the boys to experience being in the fan zone. We are all really looking forward to it. Hopefully it will be a memory of a lifetime for them.”