Fifa has played down reports that ticketless England supporters were able to gain entry for the World Cup opener against Croatia after evading security checks at the Dallas Stadium.

An unspecified number of fans without tickets are said to have made their way into the ground despite a huge security operation being put in place at the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington. Officials said that snipers were in place inside the stadium, with the Arlington police department deploying “highly trained personnel and specialised resources” at the venue.

But despite those measures and some fans having paid thousands of pounds for tickets, there were widespread reports of supporters without tickets gaining access.

“It was ridiculous,” one fan told the Daily Mail. “There were big gaps at the side of the ticket barriers and people just strolled through. There were volunteers who were basically old ladies and they weren’t stopping anyone. I scanned my ticket because I had one, but nobody checked my flag or my trophy. Loads just walked through while others just jumped over the top. There were huge gaps.”

Another told the Times: “The security checks weren’t great. They wanted people to flash tickets, but many didn’t. The turnstile itself was quite easy to jump over. Quite a few managed to jib in.”

A Fifa spokesperson said: “At this stage, we have no indication of fans entering the stadium without a valid match ticket for the game in question.”

Some England fans were also forced to remove flags from certain areas of the ground after stewards intervened. According to the Telegraph, they threatened to confiscate the flags if they weren’t taken down. One fan from London, Dan, who had an Arsenal and England flag, said: “For the amount of money we have paid it is a joke. But what can you do? It is another occasion where football fans are getting treated like cattle.”