Lack of World Cup segregation a risk - fans' chief

The head of fan group Football Supporters Europe says a lack of segregation at the World Cup is "a risk", and shows Fifa has "lost control of their ticketing".

Most group games so far have been played in front of fans of both countries mingling at venues - in stark contrast to what is normally the case in football.

Ronan Evain, executive director of Football Supporters Europe, told BBC Sport: "The absence of segregation is not normal for a tournament like this.

"What is worrying is that Fifa doesn't really know who has tickets here and there... by pushing so much for people to buy tickets and re-sell them.

"So the possibility - or the risk - to have fans from 'Team A' in the middle of the crowd of 'Team B' is stronger than ever before."

Evain was speaking in Dallas, where BBC Sport saw pockets of Dutch and Japanese fans mixed together when the two teams played each other on Sunday.

"I don't know if there are mitigation measures in place, but the risk does exist," he said.

"Hopefully this kind of situation can be solved by just switching tickets and people moving from one section to another. But there is very little that Fifa can do at this stage because they don't know who owns their tickets.

"It's an additional risk, and I don't think it's been taken into consideration.

"There's so many tickets on the resale platforms - Fifa has zero control with what's happening with these tickets. It's hard to tell what will be the behaviour of the people that control these tickets."

Fifa sources referred BBC Sport to the fact that ring-fenced allocations include tickets reserved for supporters of the Participating Member Associations (PMAs), who are allocated 8% of the tickets for each match in which they take part, and that this is in line with previous tournaments.

'Lack of clarity' over flags

Evain also says he is concerned that some fans were prevented from bringing flags into the Dallas Stadium at Sunday's match.

The venue will host England's opening game against Croatia on Wednesday.

"You were not really allowed to bring a flag in, or at least to show it, which is inconsistent with most Fifa rules and regulations, but also what was allowed at previous tournaments. That seems to be closer to what is in place for NFL games," he said.

"At a lot of the stadiums it hasn't been a problem, so it's hard to understand what is the actual policy and what is improvisation by the staff locally with the rules that they now have.

"Most of the flags were removed by the staff. The broader problem - and I think it's a demonstration of how much Fifa has little control over this tournament - is that there's no consistent rule, and when you look at what Fifa has published, there's a code of conduct that is very broad.