Rio de Janeiro, Sep 21: Brazilian football fans have called for a greater say in the naming of the country's 2014 World Cup mascot.
Days after confirming an armadillo as the event's official mascot, Brazil's World Cup organising committee released a list of three names which have been put to a public vote, reports Xinhua.
But the names - Amijubi, Fuleco and Zuzeco - have been heavily criticised by the Brazilians who are unhappy at being left out of the selection process for the short-list.
An online petition calling for the scrapping of the names had already been signed by more than 26,000 people Thursday night.
"We want to participate in choosing the names that are put to the vote," a note from the petition's organisers said.
"The World Cup is open to everybody and we believe a similar philosophy should be adopted to name the mascot."
Brazil's World Cup organising committee released a statement Thursday saying the names would not be revised.
"We are confident that after the Brazilian public votes to decide the name of the mascot it will start developing along with the character," the statement read.
Amijubi comes from the words "amizade" (friendship) and "jubilo" (joy), Fuleco comes from "futebol" (football) and "ecologia" (ecology), while Zuzeco comes from "azul" (blue) and "ecologia" (ecology).
