The Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC) is to stop asking for tickets for the world champions' away matches because of incidents in Bulgaria Saturday, FIGC chief Giancarlo Abete said Monday.
''From now on we won't ask for tickets for our fans for Italy's away matches until we have found out how this happened and made sure it won't happen again,'' Abete said.
A small group of Azzurri fans made Fascist salutes and burned the Bulgarian flag ahead of the 0-0 draw in Sofia.
Abete said he suspected approved ticket outlets of letting known trouble-makers buy tickets.
He said the outlets, who had been vetted by FIGC and the interior ministry, may have helped ''write an ugly page'' in the history of Italian support abroad.
Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro said: ''If this is the only way to avert incidents like Sofia, stopping sales to travelling fans is right''.
''What happened in Sofia were scenes none of us would ever like to see in a soccer stadium,'' said Cannavaro, who led the Azzurri to World Cup victory in Germany in 2006.
Italian police chief Antonio Manganelli said the names of ticket-buyers had been supplied to Bulgarian police to compare with video footage of trouble-makers, who also hurled bottles at Bulgarian fans.
Three Italy fans have already been arrested for the flag-burning incident.
Abete said security had been tightened for Italy's match against Montenegro in Lecce Wednesday.
The FIGC move has to be agreed with the Italian government, which has launched successive crackdowns on hooliganism.
Italian soccer has seen a wave of travel bans since the first day of the season when Napoli fans forced passengers off a train which they proceeded to wreck en route to Rome.
