England fans after violence broke out following the match against Sweden on Tuesday

Cologne: World Cup organisers played down Tuesday night’s violence at the England-Sweden match in Cologne saying there was often more trouble at German League matches.

A large gang of known German hooligans and 22 England fans were detained in Cologne either before or after the Group B match which finished in a 2-2 draw, police said on Wednesday.

Gerd Graus, spokesman for the German World Cup organising committee, said at Fifa’s daily media briefing in Berlin: “There were about 100 arrests but they were lot less compared to German league matches.

“There was some trouble but it was dealt with very quickly, and considering the number of people in Cologne for the match and the numbers in the city, it is an insignificant number.

“From the point of view of the organising committee, I have to say that we really have such a cloudless blue sky, it’s almost worrying.”

In one incident in Cologne, riot police detained a large group of German soccer hooligans who were drinking in a bar in the centre of town.

A Cologne police spokesman said the group was thought to number about 50 hooligans but the city’s police president later said he thought some 30 had been held.

A spokeswoman for a team of British police officers working in Germany said the English arrests were mostly for minor offences with 11 held at the stadium for trying to get in without tickets and 11 in the town.

The police dispersed the crowd quickly and Cologne Police president Klaus Steffenhagen said he was pleased with the situation. (Reuters)