England fans are preparing the warmest of welcomes for their German counterparts before the game at Wembley

England v Germany
International Friendly
8pm, Wednesday 22 August 2007
Wembley Stadium
England Squad named on Friday 17 August 2007 on TheFA.com

England fans are preparing the warmest of welcomes for their German counterparts ahead of next week's friendly at Wembley, the scene of England's greatest football triumph.

Tuesday will see members of englandfans, the official England supporters club, take on a team comprised of the actors from the hit film "Miracle of Bern", which recounts Germany's World Cup triumph in 1954.

Bert Trautmann, the German goalkeeper who achieved iconic status with Manchester City for his heroics in the 1956 FA Cup Final, will be a special guest.

On matchday, England fans will adapt their traditional Raise the Flag pre-match ritual, with 20,000 cards forming the word "Danke fur 2006", which means "thank you for 2006" in German.

Representatives of both groups of fans will exchange shirts before the game.

Mark Perryman, co-ordinator for the London branch of englandfans, said: "We wanted to return the the fantastic friendship shown by the German people towards the 350,000 England fans who travelled to last year's World Cup.

For many England supporters, the Germans are our new best friends, and we want to build on those new links. Of course we still badly want England to win, but it's a healthy football rivalry."

Log on to TheFA.com on Friday 17 August for first news of Steve’s squad to face Germany.