Prince William visits England football team

Jun 2, 2006, 18:04 GMT

Britain's Prince William has visited the England football team to wish them good luck in their World Cup campaign.

William - the President of the Football Association - met the team during a training session in Manchester, England.

According to BBC, team's manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson, paused the warm-up to introduce players to their royal guest - who appeared relaxed and casually dressed.

The prince was keen to talk to injured striker Wayne Rooney about his chances of being fit for the competition.

William was then treated to a repeat performance of striker Peter Crouch's infamous 'robotic dance' - during which the footballer moved his arms in a robot motion after striking a goal in a pre-World Cup match.

Crouch was quoted in Britain's The Daily Telegraph newspaper as saying: 'When the future King is asking to see it, I couldn't really turn him down, so I had to throw the shapes. He seemed to like it.'

The 24-year-old prince wished the England team luck and urged the squad to return home with the World Cup.

He was quoted in Britain's The Sun newspaper as saying: 'I know they want to win it. They promised me they would bring it home.'

As he was leaving the squad, William took time to chat to young fans, who had won a competition to watch the training session.

According to reports, William will fly to Germany to support the team in their opening World Cup match against Paraguay, which will make it the first England game he has seen since becoming the President of the FA.

The prince is set to meet fans and dignitaries at Frankfurt stadium before the match starts on June 10.

Copyright 2006 BANG Media International