体坛英语新闻：Brazil approves "Law of Fan"

BRASILIA, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday approved the "Law of Fan", which establishes rules for fans, officials and referees at sport events, including soccer and aiming at ensuring security in stadiums.

With the approval of the law, results manipulated by referees and the purchase of results by leaders become a crime punishable by imprisonment of two to six years, as well as violence promoted by the organized fan groups will be considered felony.

The regulation also prohibits requesting or accepting benefit, advantage, or promise to alter the outcome of a sport event or contributing by any means to fraud the result of the competition.

People who resell tickets for matches will be subject to imprisonment for two years and payment of fine. Inciting mobs to violence in the stadiums will result in two years in jail plus fine and conviction.

According to the text approved last year by the Congress, all members of organized fan groups must be registered, and these groups may respond civilly for damage caused by any of their members in a distance of up to five kilometers from the stadiums.

Stadia, in their turn, must maintain a technical information center and all sport events should have sufficient facilities to allow image monitoring of the audience and of access doors.

Security at sport events is a priority for Brazilian government, since the country will host 2014 World Cup and 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.