By David Gold
September 21 – A petition in Brazil calling for a “more democratic” choice of names for the mascot of the 2014 FIFA World Cup has attracted over 23,000 signatories.
It was confirmed that the three-banded armadillo, an endangered species native to North East Brazil, would be the mascot of the World Cup earlier this week.
The three names put forward are Amijubi, Fuleco and Zuzeco.
Amijubi comes from the Portuguese words for friendship and joy (amizade and jubilo), Fuleco from the words for football and ecology (futebol and ecologia) and Zuzeco from blue (azul) and ecology.
However, those putting forward the petition want the public to be able to suggest alternative names, with the five most popular made available to a public vote.
Brazil 2014 remained unmoved when questioned about the naming procedure.
“The names will not be revised,” it said in a statement.
“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 initial list was 450 names long and the names on the final list had to meet legal requirements for approval, with the process overseen by a high profile group which included Bebeto (pictured above), Brazil’s 1994 World Cup winning forward who is a member of Brazil 2014.
The winner of the vote, which is being conducted on FIFA’s website, is to be announced on November 25.
This is not the first naming process that has caused controversy for Brazil 2014.
There was disappointment that the word “Gorduchinha” was not included on the shortlist of names for the World Cup ball, despite a campaign.
In the end, the ball was last week named Brazuca.
The three-banded armadillo rolls up into the shape of a ball when threatened, and the mascot will be dressed in the yellow, green and blue colours of Brazil.
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