RIO DE JANEIRO, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Since the beginning of the FIFA World Cup on June 12th, Brazil' s Federal Police denied entry to the country to 267 foreign citizens for a number of reasons, local governmental news agency Agencia Brasil said on Wednesday.

There are many Argentinean nationals among those denied entry - before the FIFA World Cup, the Argentinean authorities sent to Brazil a list of over 2,000 so-called 'barrabravas', soccer fans with a history of violence in stadiums. So far, at least 44 barrabravas had their entry denied in the country, and one was arrested in Brasilia last week after managing to get in.

Other countries sent similar lists to the Brazilian authorities, in a move to reduce violence in the stadiums and host cities.

In addition, at least one U.S. citizen was denied entry for featuring in a list of people involved with sexual abuse of minors. In an initiative to curb sex tourism and end abuse of minors, Brazil' s President Dilma Rousseff last month signed a decree authorizing the Federal Police to deny entry to any people involved with pedophilia and sexual crimes against minors.