Brazilian soccer 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 organizing committee released a list of three names which have been put to a public vote.

But the names - Amijubi, Fuleco and Zuzeco - have been heavily criticized by the Brazilians who are unhappy at being left out of the selection process for the shortlist.

An online petition calling for the scrapping of the names had already been signed by more than 26,000 people on Thursday night.

"We want to participate in choosing the names that are put to the vote," a note from the petition's organizers 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 organizing committee released a statement on 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).

FIFA defends World Cup mascot names

World football's governing body FIFA released a statement Friday defending its selection process for naming the 2014 World Cup mascot.

"When the original plan was drafted we thought about having an open system in which the public could suggest names," the FIFA statement said.

"However it was impossible to put this process into practice due to the complexity of legislation regarding intellectual property."

FIFA earlier said the names had been coined by a panel of experts who used fusions of Portuguese words meaning joy, ecology, football and blue.

An online petition calling for a more democratic approach to the naming of the mascot - a rare Brazilian species of armadillo - received 30,000 signatures by Saturday morning.

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