Austrian football officials believe that violent clashes are unlikely to happen at the Euro 2008 football tournament, which is co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland.

Friedrich Stickler, president of the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) said at a parliamentary question hour on Tuesday that the situation at international tournaments was very different than at local games.

“I want to mention that there is a big difference between club football and national teams. What is happening now in club football all over Europe, cannot be directly compared to national teams,” Stickler said.

One reason was that the higher proportion of female fans at international games reduced the potential for violence, he said.

UEFA head Michel Platini expressed concern over hooliganism in Europe’s football stadiums after the unrest, the Austrian press agency reported. His concerns were for football itself, not the Euro 2008 in particular, he said.

“We live in a violent world and that has its effects on football,” the UEFA president told journalists at the headquarters of European football in Nyon,Switzerland.

Admitting that football organizations were struggling to deal with the violence, Platini announced close cooperation with European police forces.

In the recent weeks a number of football-related instances of violence all over Europe caused widespread concern, the most serious of which happened in Italy and resulted in the death of a policeman during clashes between fans during a Serie A match between Catania and Palermo.

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