Some 3,500 known English soccer hooligans will be stopped from travelling to Germany for the World Cup, British Sports Minister Richard Caborn said on Thursday.

Over the past six years, Britain's security organizations have compiled a list of people who could pose a threat at the tournament in Germany. Police will be on duty at airports, seaports and train stations to stop them from leaving the country.

"The banning orders, which number about 3,500, will take out the core of what we see as the main troublemakers," Caborn said.

"This was effective in Euro 2004 and hopefully it will work in Germany."

Riots at the 1998 World Cup in France and Euro 2000 in Belgium and the Netherlands prompted the British government to take tougher action to stop known troublemakers from traveling to England games.

Source: Xinhua