The FA will attend the hearing, which will take place in Nyon, Switzerland on 9 November, to give their account of the incidents that took place outside the Maksimir Stadium.

"We will go to UEFA with what we consider a very strong case and the intention to clear ourselves,'' said FA Director of Communications Adrian Bevington.

"We made it clear after the game that we were unhappy with the treatment of our supporters and we have received a huge amount of correspondence from England fans who attended the game, explaining the problems they encountered.

"In conjunction with UK police and government, The FA works very hard with opposing nations ahead of every fixture, to ensure appropriate plans and measures are put in place for our supporters. Unfortunately, we do not believe the agreed plans were followed by Croatian authorities in Zagreb and this lead to a bottleneck at the turnstiles when they were suddenly closed twice before the game.

"As a result of the bottleneck, riot police baton charged the England supporters closest to the turnstiles and a number of them suffered injuries.

"We will be contesting the charge vigorously."

UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said that the conduct of English fans in recent years has been excellent.

"Since the Charleroi incident at Euro 2000, the behaviour of English fans has been exemplary,'' he said.

"We know the tremendous efforts that the English FA have put into this part of the game and I know that this effort is also improving.

"There are a lot of options available to us, including the possibility the case could be dismissed."