Over 500 England fans were detained in Stuttgart before their side's second-round match against Ecuador in the town's main square following clashes with German supporters and riot police.

But in Gelsenkirchen, the venue for Saturday's quarterfinal match against Portugal, the fans are spread over several miles, in the town centre, campsites and fan park areas.

"Our supporters will be spread over the region, rather than being in one area," Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Thomas told a press conference. "I think that's a good thing because it will avoid the scenes we saw in Stuttgart.

"We won't see the repeat of those incidents here," he said before praising the supporters.

Some 70,000 England supporters are expected to descend on the industrial city for England's 1500 GMT match and unlike the other venues England have played in, Gelsenkirchen has a small town feel to it with no obvious focal point.

Gelsenkirchen Mayor Frank Baranowski said he was not concerned by the situation however and said there would be enough room to accommodate the thousands of fans who follow the England team.

"We are ready," he said. "This is the second smallest host city but football is at home (here)," he said of the town that is home to club side Schalke 04.

Following England's 1-0 win over Ecuador last Sunday, Gelsenkirchen's officials decided to build a second fan park area outside of the town, which will hold over 40,000 fans and show the games on big screens with English commentary.

The site was still being constructed on Friday.

English supporters have had a long history of soccer-related violence but there has been little trouble in Germany, as more and more families choose to follow the national team and make the tournament part of their summer holiday.

Some 5,800 people have been arrested in Germany during the tournament so far, including 593 English but a spokesman for a British Crown Prosecution Service team working in Germany said the arrests had only led to 13 criminal proceedings.

Of those, three fans paid fines of up to 5,400 euros for assault, two received suspended sentences and eight are still being dealt with.