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Real Madrid announce new system to stop Ultras attending away games

Real Madrid have introduced a new ticketing system aimed at ensuring hooligans do not attend the team's away games.

Madrid banned the extremist Ultras Sur from the Bernabeu in December 2013 after a series of violent incidents around games amid an internal battle for leadership of the group.

However Ultras banners and flags have since been seen at the team's away fixtures from time to time, while club president Florentino Perez has also been personally threatened for his role in breaking all official links with the radical group.

A club statement said a new arrangement which should guarantee that only approved individuals could have access to Madrid's official away allocation of tickets had been introduced successfully at last week's Champions League group fixture at Paris Saint Germain.

"Real Madrid have implemented a new system for managing entry to games played away from home," the statement said.

"The club are adopting this measure to ensure the correct use of tickets for games played away from the Santiago Bernabeu, thereby guaranteeing that members and fans are the real beneficiaries of the tickets. The club successfully introduced the initiative in the away trip to Paris, for the Champions League game that Madrid played against PSG at the Parc des Princes."

The system involves individuals having to buy and collect their ticket personally, and being given an "identification bracelet" which is required to gain access to the stadium on match day.

"Fans that are allocated a ticket should pay for it at the Santiago Bernabeu's ticket offices and during the period indicated by the club," the statement said. "All of the tickets, without exception, should be collected in the destination city or at locations outlined by Real Madrid in the days prior to the game.

"The ticket, bearing the holder's name, will only be given to the person that it has been allocated to, following presentation of the payment voucher. An identification bracelet will then be provided.

"It cannot be tampered with and must be brought to the game, in addition to the ticket, in order to gain access to whatever stadium Real Madrid are playing in."

The Ultras Sur were formed in the 1980s but have been regularly involved in offensive chanting, acts of violence and spreading extreme right-wing political views.