POLICE are taking 18 suspected football hooligans to court as part of a new crackdown to keep troublemakers away from the Euro 2004 championships.

The action is part of a move by senior police chiefs to keep troublemakers away from this summer's prestigious football tournament.

They want to take every possible step to prevent yobs getting the England team booted out of the tournament.

Already 10 people who claim to support Blackburn Rovers and 50 connected to Burnley FC have been banned from travelling to Portugal to watch the tournament this June.

But 18 further suspected football hooligans from East Lancashire, who also associate themselves with Rovers or Manchester City, have been ordered to appear before the Blackburn magistrates on Wednesday.

Detectives have applied to ban the men from attending all UK matches and selected European and international games under the Football Disorder Act 2000.

If the order is successful, they will be made to surrender their passports before and during Euro 2004.

Police have been building up a dossier of evidence to try and root out suspected hooligans. They have been filming in and around games to try and catch suspects on camera. Now they are preparing to take that evidence to court so that the yobs can be ordered to stay out of Portugal.

Detective Constable Tim McDermott, a football intelligence officer who is responsible for ensuring trouble makers stay away from Blackburn Rovers, said: "We have been building up to this throughout the season, but this doesn't mean we won't go for some more before the tournament.

"We need to prove these people have been involved or contributed to disorder connected to football."

Nationally, more than 2,000 football hooligans are already barred from travelling to watch the tournament after a season-long crackdown.

But police forces across the country are stepping up their efforts so that football's European governing body, UEFA, are not given chance to invoke their threat to expel England if supporters cause trouble.

An extra 600 suspected football hooligans from throughout the country are being targeted by police as a result.

Some £5million in Government cash is being used to fund the crackdown.