SAO PAULO — FIFA president Sepp Blatter wants to lower the age limit for the Olympic football tournament even more and ban the addition of three over-23 players.

In an interview published Sunday by the O Globo newspaper, Blatter said there is a movement to at least keep under-23 teams in the competition, but that he would rather see only under-20 squads playing.

"For me, the logic is to have the best 20-year-olds," Blatter said. "Those who played in the under-20 World Cup the odd year preceding the Olympic Games."

The president, in Brazil accompanying FIFA's inspection of the cities bidding to host the 2014 World Cup, said that even if the limit is kept at 23, teams will not be able to use the three overage players anymore.

"The Olympic Games are for the youth. We should play them with the youngsters. It's my conviction," Blatter said. "Although the limit of 23 years gives us a better quality of football, it is bad to keep adding up to three players above this limit. It's illogical. We are going to abolish that."

Blatter said FIFA had planned to ban overage players from the Beijing Games last year, but that it made an exception after a request by International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.

Last year's Olympics was marred by controversy after clubs refused to released their players to participate in the tournament, citing a conflict with other competitions. Only days before the competition, the situation was resolved.

"The problem is the international calendar," Blatter said.

He said football's governing body will discuss the theme in March and could reach a final decision at its annual congress in May.

In the interview, Blatter also said that FIFA accepted Brazil's request to host the World Cup with 12 cities instead of the usual eight or 10 because it is a "subcontinent with more than 180 million people and 8 million square kilometers (3 million square miles)."

"Brazil assured us that it is best with 12," Blatter said. "The chance was given. We trust Brazil."

The president reiterated that the world financial crisis will not heavily impact football.

"We can't say that the economic crisis won't affect football, but we are in a privileged situation," he said. "It will not affect the national federations, the confederations and FIFA as much as the clubs."

Blatter had not spoken to the media since arriving in Brazil last week.

FIFA's representatives on Sunday will visit the southern cities of Curitiba and later Rio de Janeiro, which is expected to host the final at Maracana stadium.