BERLIN, June 1 - Hearty German hospitality is meant to be the hallmark of this year's World Cup, but foreign hooligans who abuse it may end up staying longer than they planned.

Rather than simply kicking them out of the country, prosecutors are warning they will face the full weight of German justice, including possible jail terms.

Authorities expect few problems in the 12 stadiums, thanks to a personalised ticketing system that makes it "highly improbable" that known troublemakers will get access to matches, officials say.

"We assume very few hooligans will be in a position to get tickets," Berlin police chief Dieter Glietsch said this week.

"But many will arrive without tickets, because fans who are looking for violence are more interested in trouble-making on the fringes than they are in the soccer match. So we need to take special measures to protect the inner city."

Huge crowds are expected to gather in Berlin's "fan mile" along the wide avenue and adjacent park stretching west from the Brandenburg Gate, where matches will be shown live on giant screens.

That poses a potential nightmare for police, concerned about spontaneous clashes between rival fans as passions run high and beer flows freely. Tens of thousands more will gather at an estimated 400 such "public viewing areas" across Germany.

MASS BRAWL

Another worry is the prospect of pre-arranged battles between rival national groups competing to show who's tougher, as happened last November when German and Polish hooligans met up for a mass brawl in woods on the German side of the border.

Police are bracing for possible trouble when the two countries play each other in Dortmund on June 14, and the June 11 Leipzig encounter between Serbia and Montenegro and the Netherlands is also classed as high-risk.

The next few weeks will test the assertion of British officials that England's hooligan reputation belongs firmly to the past. But sheer weight of numbers will pose a security challenge as an estimated 100,000 England fans will travel to Germany during the tournament.

German officials praise the English system of travel bans on nearly 3,300 known soccer hooligans, and they have their own national database of some 7,000 troublemakers, of whom 2,170 are subject to stadium bans.

But other countries lack legislation to ban people from travelling to Germany, and will make up for this with closer police surveillance.

The Dutch, for example, will send a dozen specialist police "spotters" to keep an eye on problem fans and liaise with German police. Polish police have told German officials they will screen all ticket holders.

Police leave throughout Germany has been cancelled and the justice system is primed to process cases as fast as possible to avoid the system being overwhelmed.

Hooligans arrested in Berlin, for example, will be whisked to a central police station where police and prosecutors are on round the clock duty, with foreign prosecutors also available to assist if needed.

On match days, six prosecutors will be on duty at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, which also has several dozen cells conveniently available on site.

Berlin prosecutor Ralf Rother told reporters this week that foreigners who committed crimes would be charged in Germany rather than simply thrown out -- a different approach from previous soccer championships like Euro 2000, when hundreds of England fans were deported from Belgium for rioting.

Straightforward cases may come to court almost immediately and lead to a conviction within a few hours, Rother said. In more complex cases, some suspects may be released on bail -- but others will not be so lucky.

"If there are crimes that reach a certain dimension, we will keep the foreign offender here for longer to conduct a calm, not necessarily quick, but standard court procedure," Rother said.

"And he, like anyone else, must expect painful penalties that could lead to him staying for longer in German custody."