Goodwill trip by England fans

Two matches
In addition, the supporters will participate in two matches at the impressive Colovray stadium opposite UEFA's HQ – the children will take on local club Stade Nyonnais' Under-10 team while the adults play a game against the UEFA staff side.

Nyon host
Nyon, a town on the shores of Lake Leman some 25km from Geneva, has been home to UEFA since 1995. The Stade Colovray has hosted a number of international and club teams for pre-season training sessions down the years.

Important place
Now the England fans have decided Nyon is the place to see. Supporters' spokesman Mark Perryman said: "In the evening we'll be back in Geneva to cheer on England, but Nyon is such an important place for European football we were really keen to visit the town during the day."

UEFA invite
UEFA has responded to this adventure in fan friendship by inviting the travelling England supporters to a reception. "We want to promote a fan-friendly England," Perryman continued. "UEFA will be listening to what we are trying to do, and we will be meeting the young Stade Nyonnais players and talking with Swiss fans of Stade Nyonnais, as well as visiting this wonderful training centre. This is going to be a tremendous day out for our fans and we're really excited about the visit."

Supporters' band
The fans will be sampling Swiss food, Nyon wines, and treating the locals to a performance by the England supporters' band, who will be debuting the unofficial England theme song for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Positive relationship
The initiative has been backed by the Swiss office of the British Council, keen to promote a positive relationship between Swiss and English football followers. Perryman feels this is important. "The atmosphere in Portugal when our teams played each other was really great," he said. "After the Argentina match is over, we'll celebrate by cheering the Swiss team on against Turkey, and of course we expect to be back here in three years' time for UEFA EURO 2008™. We're sure our visit will help further develop these friendly relations."

Fans welcome
Matches kick off at 12.00CET at the Centre Sportif de Colovray in Nyon, and spectators are welcome.