BERLIN: German police arrested three hooligans on Wednesday as England and German football fans clashed just before the two sides' friendly international in Berlin, taking the number of arrests to 15.

Police struggled to keep the two sets of fans apart outside Berlin's historic Olympic Stadium as fans threw bottles at each other outside the entrance to the historic Olympic Stadium.

The situation calmed down once the match started at 8:45 pm (1945 GMT), and no extra police had been drafted in because of the clashes to add to the 1,900 officers already in place for the match, a police spokesman told AFP.

Police have made 15 arrests in total since almost 2,000 England fans began arriving in the German capital on Tuesday for the match and around 65 restraining orders have been issued, the spokesman said.

"Most of those arrested are English," the spokesman added.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning, police arrested five English supporters for breach of the peace and for actual bodily harm.

German sports agency SID said police arrested the fans and issued restraining orders against 15 England supporters.

Seventeen German fans, who are known hooligans, were also detained by police. During the arrests, one England fan received a facial injury and was treated in hospital.

According to German police information, some 1,800 England fans arrived through Berlin's Tegel and Schoenefeld airports on Wednesday and 140 high-risk fans, identified by British police officers, were detained on arrival.

Police added that nine known English hooligans were barred from travelling to Germany. - AFP/de