This Saturday, Geneva’s LaPraille Stadium will host a ’friendly’ soccer match between England and Argentina. It is likely the two rival teams will be anything but friendly, not to mention the 8,000 British fans that are expected to stomp into town. Patrick Puhl, spokesman for Geneva’s police, sees the match as a life-sized exercise for the security measures planned for the Euro 2008 Championship. Measures taken this weekend respect the norms imposed by UEFA for the Euro 2008. This Saturday, 500 police officers, amongst which several dozens come from other parts of the country, will be making sure everything runs smoothly in the city. Local police will be collaborating with Scotland Yard specialists to detect potential hooligans. Security inside of the stadium will be the responsibility of the stadium’s private security forces. The Euro 2008 games will be hosted by Geneva, Zurich, Basel, and Bern. The Swiss cities will have to invest a total of 65.6 million francs for security measures, with less than half of the amount being sponged up by the federal government.

I can't wait........