ITALY have indefinitely banned their own supporters from away games after trouble flared during the Azzurri's goalless draw in Bulgaria on Saturday.
The Italian Football Federation have announced they will not take up their allocation of tickets for away fixtures following events in Sofia.
A section of the travelling support threw bottles at the Bulgarian fans and made fascist salutes and chan
ted fascist slogans.
Three Italian fans were also detained by police after burning a Bulgarian flag.
FIGC president Giancarlo Abete has condemned those involved and, although authorities cannot prevent fans from travelling to away fixtures, they can stop them from gaining entry to the stadium.
"Until we have certainties and we are able to verify certain things, we will not ask for any tickets for Italy's away games," said Abete.
"I feel great bitterness and pain for what has happened.
"Everyone knows the process to isolate these individuals is long but this is a dark episode.
"I believe with all the technological means available we can now identify those individuals.
"I don't believe they are fans but individuals who are prone to delinquent behaviour with the intention of damaging the image of our nation.
"But we have all of their names and we will punish them."
The incidents come just a month after the Italian government announced measures to stamp out hooliganism.
The game in Italy has been plagued by the problem in recent seasons. In February 2007 the FIGC suspended all matches for two weeks after a policeman was killed at a Serie A match between Sicilian rivals Catania and Palermo. The start of this season's Serie A campaign has also been marred by unruly behaviour in and around Italy's football grounds.
Italy's interior minister, Roberto Maroni, recently launched an advertising campaign against violence in football.
The world champions host Montenegro in tomorrow's World Cup qualifier in Lecce and security is being stepped up in the Puglian city.
Their next away game is in Montenegro on 23 March, 2009 and they will visit Dublin for a game against the Republic of Ireland in October next year.
Italy partly missed out on holding the Euro 2012 championship because of their hooligan problem but Abete said not every fan was culpable.
"We need to see if some people got in without tickets. I'm sorry because most of the people among the 144 (Italy fans] present in the stadium had nothing to do with this disorder," he said.
Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro agreed with the tough stance.
"If this is the only way to avoid nights like Sofia then it is right," the Real Madrid player told reporters, with his central defensive partner Giorgio Chiellini also backing the idea.
"It is a decision which disadvantages many fans who follow the national side with passion but I think it is correct and they will understand it. We can't go on like this," said Chiellini.
Midfielders Gennaro Gattuso and Daniele De Rossi and forward Giuseppe Rossi failed to train fully yesterday because of knocks and are doubts for the match.
The full article contains 513 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
