UEFA president Michel Platini has backed Sepp Blatter's call for the 2012 London Olympics to be contested by under-20 squads.

Blatter believes the age limit should be lowered from the current under-23 level, which caused ugly club-versus-country rows in the run-up to last year's games in Beijing.

A number of players went against the wishes of their clubs to compete for medals in China, the most high-profile case being that of Barcelona's Lionel Messi, which went all the way to the Court of Arbitration for Sport before the Catalan outfit allowed the Argentina forward to participate.

Blatter revealed he will discuss the issue of lowering the age limit from the current 23 to 20 at a meeting of the FIFA executive committee on March 19-20.

Platini today said: "I salute the excellent initiative of President Blatter, which finds complete agreement among the European football family."