SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - The Brazilian Soccer Confederation will receive $2 million US ($2.32 million Cdn) to have its team prepare for the World Cup finals in the central Swiss city of Weggis, Brazil's largest newspaper reported Sunday.

The Folha de S. Paulo daily said the Brazilians also won't have to pay for their stay at the Park Hotel Weggis, a luxury hotel by Lake Lucerne that will be used exclusively by the Brazilian delegation.

A training facility worth $1.1 million US ($1.27 million Cdn) will be built to accommodate the five-time world champions, Folha said.

The Brazilian confederation announced in November that it had chosen Weggis for Brazil's pre-World Cup training from May 22-June 4 before travelling to Germany.

The site was chosen among 40 offers from around the world, including from locations in France and the United Arab Emirates.

The deal was reportedly closed by a sports marketing agency called Kentaro, which earned the right to organize two friendly matches for Brazil before the World Cup, Folha said.

The CBF confirmed Brazil won't have to pay for the hotel, but spokesman Rodrigo Paiva told Folha he could not confirm or deny that the confederation would receive the money for choosing Weggis as its base. Paiva said that Weggis was one of the locations indicated by FIFA.

In Germany, Brazil will stay at the Kempinski Falkenstein Hotel in Koenigstein, in the wooded Taunus hills outside Frankfurt, from June 5-16. Then it will move to the upscale Lerbach Castle, near Cologne and Leverkusen.

Folha said Brazil would pay for its hotel expenses at the locations in Germany, but it wasn't clear whether CBF would earn a fee.

The World Cup begins June 9, but Brazil is scheduled to debut on June 13. It will open its Group F campaign in Berlin against Croatia, then play Australia on June 18 in Munich and Japan on June 22 in Dortmund.

Brazil leads FIFA's world rankings and is a favourite to win its record sixth World Cup title. The defending champions won the Copa America and the Confederations Cup, and finished first in the South American World Cup qualifying race earlier in the year.

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German police told to tidy up appearance ahead of World Cup

BERLIN (AP) - German police officers have been banned from sporting ponytails, stubbly beards and earrings in order to tidy up their appearance ahead of the World Cup.

The new rules for Germany's 30,000 green-uniformed federal police officers come into force on Feb. 1, the Interior Ministry said Sunday, well ahead of the start of the competition on June 9.

News magazine Spiegel said the new rules ban "any hairstyle which could be seen as an expression of obvious individualist behaviour."

Male officers without a full-blown beard or mustache must be freshly shaven. However, female officers can reportedly wear small earrings and a "socially adequate" amount of makeup.

The ministry said the new rules were a response to a court ruling last year against a police trainee, who filed a suit after being ordered to cut his hair.

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FIFA chairman meets Putin, laments EU's interference in soccer

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who lamented what he described as the European Union's heavy meddling in soccer affairs on Sunday.

"European Union has excessively strong influence over the organization of soccer tournaments and on soccer in general on the territory of the EU, and, moreover, is trying to expand its influence throughout entire Europe," Blatter told Putin at the start of their meeting in remarks broadcast by Russia's NTV television.

Putin responded with a smirk: "Imperialism in soccer."

Blatter has been trying to reintroduce limits on overseas players in competitions and retain a link between clubs and their countries, but the EU principles of free circulation for citizens has made it difficult to impose limits on clubs.

Blatter is in Moscow to support the CIS Champions Cup, annual indoor soccer tournament of ex-Soviet countries, held in the off-season since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The playing standard at the tournament has decreased and favourites, UEFA Cup holder CSKA Moscow and Shakhtar Donetsk, have only reserve players on their rosters.