Portugal and Britain signed a pact on Monday aimed at combating soccer hooliganism at this summer's European soccer championship, with measures including barring about 2,500 England fans from travelling.

The signing comes two days ahead of Wednesday's international friendly between England and Portugal. The match is seen as a trial run for fan-friendly security procedures at the tournament in Portugal.

"It's a test match for how things might turn out in the main tournament," Hazel Blears, a British Home Office minister, told a news conference after signing the document.

"We're testing out some of our ways of working...to be sure we get it right."

Under the accord, British police officers will work with Portuguese security forces during the tournament. British police will also monitor fans leaving for Portugal and check whether they have a history of violence.

Among other measures, about 2,500 hooligans will be barred from leaving Britain by having their passports seized. The accord is customary ahead of big international matches.

Europe's soccer governing body UEFA has warned a repeat of past violence at matches could result in England's expulsion from the tournament.

Nuno Magalhaes, an Interior Ministry secretary at the signing, told reporters Portugal and Germany also were discussing possible moves to bar about 4,000 German hooligans.

500,000 FANS

Organisers expect the 16-team tournament to attract about 500,000 fans. About 60,000 police, firefighters and other emergency personnel are being mobilised for the three-week event.

Wednesday's friendly between Portugal and England in Faro, about 250 km (150 miles) south of Lisbon in the Algarve resort region, is expected to attract about 2,500 English fans. That number is far below the 50,000 foreseen for when the event starts in June.

Policing at the match is aimed at winning over England fans and preventing the unruly behaviour for which they are notorious. Officers will mingle with fans from early on and there are plenty of welcoming events.

"The police are making all the right noises at this stage," Kevin Miles, international coordinator of England's Football Supporters' Federation, said in a phone interview from Faro.

"If we can make a good impression now, the welcome is likely to be all the warmer when we come back."

Entertainment, beer and food tents, and free buses to the stadium were being set up. That is likely to be repeated in the summer.

Portuguese police are expected to have pepper spray, water cannons and dogs waiting in the wings in case violence does flare.

Ex-hooligan John Theone warned that while banning orders would stop some troublemakers from travelling, there will always be some English fans, many from smaller clubs, travelling in search of a fight.

"One of the problems people don't seem to realise is they tend to go out and ban known hooligans from the major clubs," Theone, who witnessed one of the worst bouts of recent English violence at Charleroi, Belgium, in 2000, told Reuters.