England v Germany: German fans shun Wembley friendly as ticket request is downgraded to 1,000

The interest in the game is in stark contract to the estimated 18,000-20,000 Polish fans who attended the World Cup qualifier against Poland last month

Travel concerns are a factor behind Germany's lack of support for Tuesday's game (Getty Images)

Germany football fans have turned their backs on Tuesday night’s glamorous Wembley friendly against England with so little interest that the German football federation (DFB) have downgraded their ticket request to less than 1,000.

The interest in the game is in stark contract to the estimated 18,000-20,000 Polish fans who attended the World Cup qualifier against Poland last month, many of them expats living in the United Kingdom. The English Football Association would have made more than double the tickets available to travelling German supporters had they requested it.

While it is unclear why the Germans have decided not to attend the game, which the FA still expects to sell out, the DFB believe it is because the mid-week scheduling makes it more difficult for travel. The team play Italy in Milan on Friday night and it is expected that their supporters will attend that game in far greater numbers.

There have been concerns about elements of England’s support seeking trouble with German supporters visiting Wembley and the FA believes that fewer away fans will mean that the threat of clashes is vastly reduced. As of yesterday the FA website was still selling tickets in home and away ends for Friday night’s game against Chile. Tickets were available for home fans, and non-members, for the Germany game.

Steven Gerrard will miss the Chile game having had an injection on his hip. Roy Hodgson said: “He's definitely out of the Chile match but he's had an injection so we're hoping he'll be ok for Germany.” Kyle Walker will also miss The Chile game with injury while Daniel Sturridge is a doubt. Frank Lampard has a cold but trained today.