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Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, will provide border control officers from around Europe to assist Poland to ensure safe border passage for football fans heading to Russia for the World Cup this month.

Thousands of fans are expected to cross Poland by car, bus or train on their way to Kaliningrad, Russia. Each will cross the Polish border on their way to four matches at the Kaliningrad Stadium.

Many fans from the competing countries are expected to travel by to Kaliningrad Russian Federation via the land border crossings at Grzechotki and Bezledy and the railway crossing at Gronowo, often using the airport of Gdansk as a hub for further onwards travel to the border with the Russian Federation.

Twenty officers from Spain, Latvia, Bulgaria, Norway, Germany, Switzerland and Greece will be deployed by Frontex to cooperate with the Polish Board Guard (Straż Graniczna) to help bridge the language barriers and check documents and vehicles during the busy days around the matches.

Football fans can travel to the Russian Federation without a visa, as long as they have a Football Fun ID card and a valid ticket.

Matches to be played in Kaliningrad are:
•    16 June, Croatia vs. Nigeria (21.00),
•    22 June, Serbia vs. Switzerland (20.00),
•    25 June, Spain vs. Morocco (20.00) and
•    28 June, England vs. Belgium (20.00).

Frontex deploys thousands of officers each year to assist EU member state in controlling their external borders. The agency provided experts from around Europe to help national border guards at land and air borders during the 2012 and 2016 European Championships.