Germany to use tailor-made training base in Brazil

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany have kept things in the family and will set up their Brazil 2014 World Cup base at a German-built resort under construction in Porto Seguro, north of Rio de Janeiro, the country's football association said on Friday.

Germany, bidding for their fourth World Cup title and their first international trophy since 1996, are eager to have ideal preparations in the run-up and during the month-long tournament starting in June.

"We saw at the previous World Cup in 2010 that short distances between team headquarters, training pitches and media centre are crucial for everyone involved," team manager Oliver Bierhoff said.

The "Campo Bahia" as their headquarters will be known consists of 65 rooms still under construction with a what the DFB said was a "village atmosphere" and well away from the crowded metropolitan areas of Sao Paolo and Rio.

It is to be completed by March next year.

The location is also 45 minutes from the Port Seguro airport which Germany will use for their group matches to cities within two hours' flight as they are keen to avoid long trips across the vast country.

"It was important for us to minimise any travel fatigue because of the size of the country and the great distances between cities," Bierhoff said.

The Germans have been drawn against Ghana, the United States and Portugal in Group G. They face Portugal in Salvador on June 16 before traveling to Fortaleza to face Ghana on June 21 and finishing off in Recife against the United States five days later.

They will kick off their pre-tournament preparations with a camp in Italy on May 21 before playing two friendlies against yet undetermined teams on June 1 and on June 6 before departing for Brazil on June 7.

German also have scheduled friendlies on March 5 against Chile and on May 13 against Poland.

(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)

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Brazil duo ordered to play 20 games away from home cities

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - The two teams whose fans fought running battles on the terraces during a Brazilian first division game last weekend have been ordered to play a total of 20 matches away from their own cities.

Brazil's Superior Court of Sporting Justice ruled on Friday that hosts Atletico Paranaense must play 12 home games at least 100km from their home city of Curitiba and six of them must be behind closed doors.

Opponents Vasco da Gama, who were relegated after losing the match, must play eight games outside Rio de Janeiro, four of them behind closed doors.

Atletico were also fined 140,000 Brazilian reais ($59,900)and Vasco were fined 80,000 reais.

The fighting was a huge embarrassment for the hosts of next year's World Cup and came days after world governing body FIFA said some stadiums had missed an initial deadline to be ready.

Atletico, playing in a rented stadium while their own arena is being refurbished for next June and July's showpiece, were 1-0 up in Sunday's game when fights broke out in the stands.

The match was halted for more than an hour as hooligans ran riot and a police helicopter landed on the pitch to ferry one injured fan to hospital. Four people were seriously hurt.

The game, which marked the end of the Brazilian season, eventually restarted and Atletico won 5-1.

"The repercussions and the seriousness of what happened made such a punishment inevitable," Atletico's lawyer Domingos Moro told reporters.

Both clubs said they will appeal the decisions.

(Writing by Andrew Downie; reporting by Rodrigo Viga Gaier; Editing by Mark Meadows)

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