Sevilla fans scramble for passports for Basel final

Spain's Foreign Office is negotiating with authorities in Switzerland with the hope that Spanish fans travelling to Basel for this month's Europa League final will be allowed to enter the country with their national identity cards (DNI), and without the need of an emergency passport.

While Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, it did sign the Schengen Agreement, allowing free movement with other member states; but Swiss authorities have decided to suspend its open-borders policy on the days running up to the final for security reasons. It means that anyone travelling to Switzerland will only be allowed entry with a valid, up-to-date passport.

Police sources have told EFE that the Spanish Foreign Office have made a request to the Swiss government to ensure that all fans who are travelling from Spain on a charter final, expressly laid on for the final  should be subjected to a border control check at their departing airport, once passenger lists have been closed.

That way, all passengers will be able to take the flight by producing their National Identity card - the usual documentation required for Spanish citizens to enter other EU countries, including Switzerland .

The Foreign Office have been forced to act because of avalanche of requests for emergency passports at various police stations in Seville. Local authorities have been unable to cope with processing all of the requests on time - and many have been extending opening times to deal with the high demand. Sevilla have been allocated 7,000 tickets for the final and the club expects all will be sold.