First the good news….. football fans will be able watch two World Cup quarter finals on a big screen television outside the Forum in Norwich. And the bad news……. neither of them will be the England match.

First the good news… football fans will be able to watch two World Cup quarter finals on a big screen outside the Forum in Norwich

And the bad news… neither of them will be the England match.

The travelling BBC television screen making its way around the country is due in the city on Friday, the day before England's big game against Portugal.

Fans wanting to watch the match on the travelling screens would have to join lucky viewers in either Southampton or Swansea on Saturday afternoon.

In Norwich, the television will show Germany v Argentina, which kicks off at 4pm, live from the Berlin Olympia stadium and then Italy take on Ukraine in Hamburg, live at 8pm.

Mark Hand, marketing manager at The Forum Trust, said: "We would have loved to have the television on the Saturday as well but it was the luck of the draw and was decided ages ago.

"The first quarter final should be very exciting and could be the best game of the tournament so far. It will be a wonderful occasion for everyone to enjoy. Meanwhile, Henman, Murray and Rusedski are all flying the England flag in the tennis. Let's hope all three will still be competing come Friday."

The BBC had threatened to stop screening England's World Cup matches on giant city-centre screens after violence broke out in London and Liverpool earlier this month.

Police ordered the screens to be turned off after trouble erupted during the second half of England's victorious match against Paraguay.

An estimated 50,000 people watched the match on June 10 on 10 of the BBC's public space broadcasting screens across Britain.

There are screens in London, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Swansea and Plymouth. Another two are touring England.

At the time a BBC spokesman said: "The BBC has been operating city Big Screens successfully for a number of years as part of the Public Space Broadcasting Project. We have never had crowd problems at any of the screens before, and it should be remembered that yesterday well over 50,000 people watched the England v Paraguay matches on screens operated by the BBC."

On Friday, the screen will be in the alcohol-free zone amphitheatre outside the Forum, from where Radio Five Live will be broadcasting all day.