ENGLAND stars and fans prepare to brave Serbian Ultra yobs in a cauldron of hate in the toughest match of their campaign to reach next summer’s World Cup finals.
Thomas Tuchel’s men take on Serbia in Belgrade in a “high risk” qualifier clash in front of a hostile crowd infested with pro-Putin hooligans and racists.
Around 2,500 travelling Three Lions fans will be outnumbered by as many as 20-1 by feral fans amid a huge security operation.
Barrages of vile race hate earned Serbia a partial stadium ban in their last game in June against Andorra in the powder keg 51,755 seat Rajko Mitić Stadium.
And England players will be ready to walk off the pitch in protest if the abuse is repeated tonight.
But the danger tomorrow goes beyond football.
Read more on the hooligans
Serbia itself is in the grip of its worst political crisis in decades – a powder keg backdrop that risks spilling into the stands.
Since last November, mass protests have swept the country after the collapse of a newly renovated railway canopy in Novi Sad killed 16 people.
What began as student-led outrage has mushroomed into a nationwide anti-corruption and pro-democracy movement.
Hundreds of thousands took to the streets of Belgrade in March in the biggest demonstrations since strongman Slobodan Milošević was toppled in 2000.
At the heart of the fury is President Aleksandar Vučić, who has ruled for more than a decade but is accused of presiding over a corrupt “hybrid regime.”
His Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) stands accused of vote-buying, press intimidation, and using state resources to cling onto power in rigged elections.
Protesters demand accountability and snap polls, while Vučić has lashed back, branding them “terrorists” in thrall to foreign influence.
The unrest has only deepened Serbia’s split identity. On one side lies its official ambition to join the EU.
On the other, Vučić’s entrenched ties to Moscow – and the murkier world of football Ultras, far-right gangs, and organised crime who act as muscle on the streets.
Many Ultra leaders have long enjoyed political protection, their power stretching far beyond the terraces of Red Star and Partizan.
They have been accused of drug running, extortion rackets, and even links to paramilitaries.
The government has at times cracked down – a 2021 raid netted 17 fans linked to murder, drugs and “monstrous crimes” – but insiders insist the firms still wield “terrible power” in the state.
Vučić’s own son Danilo has been photographed alongside notorious Ultra bosses and was even rumoured to have tried to join clashes with England fans in Gelsenkirchen last summer.
Such ties underline how deeply entwined the hooligan scene is with Serbia’s political elite.
It means tonight’s match is not just sport, but theatre for a restless nation – a chance for Ultras to flex muscle, flaunt nationalist symbols, and remind Vučić’s embattled regime of their street clout.
And with angry crowds, flares and chants echoing nationalist slogans, even the EU’s muted calls for calm may struggle to contain what comes next.
‘Ivan the Terrible’: Serbia’s fiercest hooligan
SERBIA’S most notorious yob is Ivan Bogdanov – better known as “Ivan the Terrible” or the “Beast of Genoa.”
The heavily tattooed Red Star Belgrade Ultra, linked to far-Right paramilitaries, shot to infamy in 2010 when he single-handedly sparked mayhem at a Euro qualifier in Italy.
Wearing a balaclava, Bogdanov was pictured perched on a fence with wire cutters in one hand and a flare in the other as chaos exploded around him. Serbian fans hurled missiles, flares and fireworks, forcing the Italy v Serbia clash to be abandoned after just six minutes.
Italian coach Cesare Prandelli said the Serbian team’s own goalkeeper had been left “trembling with fear” after Ultras stormed the team bus and even threatened him for daring to switch clubs.
Bogdanov was jailed for nearly three years after the violence, but within months of release was back in the stands leading Red Star’s Delije mob.
Since then, he has been a constant presence at violent flashpoints – from Red Star’s riotous derbies with Partizan to Serbia’s ill-fated Euro 2016 clash with Albania, abandoned after fans stormed the pitch.
Now in his 40s, Bogdanov remains a cult figure for Serbia’s hardest core. Police fear his shadow still looms over international fixtures, with English and German fans seen as prized targets for Ultras hungry for blood and headlines.
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