FIFA defends World Cup mascot names

FIFA defends World Cup mascot¹ names

 RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- World football's governing body FIFA released a statement Friday defending its selection process for naming the 2014 World Cup mascot.

Brazilian fans have been critical of FIFA's decision to force the public to choose between three names selected by an independent panel.

The names - Amijubi, Fuleco and Zuzeco - have this week been put to a public vote in Brazil's media.

"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 complexity² of legislation regarding intellectual property."

FIFA earlier said the names had been coined by a panel of experts who used fusions³ of Portuguese⁴ 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.

1 mascot   

n.福神，吉祥的东西

参考例句：

• The football team's mascot is a goat.足球队的吉祥物是山羊。
• We had a panda as our mascot.我们把熊猫作为吉详物。

2 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

3 fusions   

熔合( fusion的名词复数 )； 核聚变； 联合； 合并

参考例句：

• Fusions were common between strains from deciduous hosts or coniferous hosts. 来自阔叶树或针叶树寄生的菌系间融合是普遍的。
• They were fusions which are evolutionarily programmed for. 它们是进化上已安排好的融合现象。

4 Portuguese   

n.葡萄牙人；葡萄牙语

参考例句：

• They styled their house in the Portuguese manner.他们仿照葡萄牙的风格设计自己的房子。
• Her family is Portuguese in origin.她的家族是葡萄牙血统。