England soccer fans react in Gelsenkirchen during World Cup soccer match against Portugal in Gelsenkirchen, July 1 2006.[Reuters]

About 80 supporters, most of them English, were arrested when they went on the rampage downtown and threw objects at the police just after Portugal won the match in a penalty shoot-out.

The other fans were arrested later in the night, or well before the match. By Sunday morning all but about 20 had been released.

Some of those still in detention are likely to face charges, the police said Sunday.

"The people we arrested were not hooligans but guys causing trouble and damage because they were unhappy," a police spokesman said.

Police brought reinforcements, including English and Portuguese colleagues, to Gelsenkirchen for the match, which drew more than 100,000 supporters.

"We had our hands full, but on the whole things went quite well," the spokesman said.

England's once notorious fans were praised for their behaviour at their country's first two matches of the World Cup, but several hundred were detained after the clashes with German fans in Stuttgart.

A German court on Thursday handed one of the England fans involved in the Stuttgart violence a five-month suspended prison sentence.

With England now out of the tournament, thousands of the side's supporters were heading home on Sunday.