Blatter, the 75-year-old Swiss who has run football's world governing body since 1998, has rejected talk of a crisis in the game. -AFP Photo

ZURICH: Calls for FIFA to reform football's governance intensified on Tuesday with England's Football Association urging the postponement of Sepp Blatter's unopposed re-election and heavyweight sponsors voicing their concerns.

Blatter, the 75-year-old Swiss who has run football's world governing body since 1998, has rejected talk of a crisis in the game and stands poised to win what he has said will be a final four-year term at FIFA's Congress on Wednesday.

English football's governing body (the FA), which had announced it would abstain in protest at corruption allegations, called on other nations to support its bid to delay that vote and provide an opportunity for another candidate to stand.

The FA joined a chorus of discontent from fans, officials, governments and sponsors, after Blatter shrugged off recent criticism with a call of “Crisis? What crisis?” in a bad-tempered news conference on Monday.

Emirates airline became the latest of FIFA's top-tier sponsors, known as FIFA partners, to express disquiet, saying it was “disappointed with the issues that are currently surrounding the administration of the sport”.

Earlier, Coca-Cola said the allegations of corruption were “distressing and bad for the sport”. German sportswear maker Adidas also said the controversy had hurt soccer.

In the space of a few days, Qatar has been tainted by suggestions it bought the 2022 World Cup; the head of Asian soccer Mohamed bin Hammam and CONCACAF chief Jack Warner have been suspended over bribery allegations; and Bin Hammam withdrew from Wednesday's FIFA presidential race, leaving Blatter to run unopposed.

FIFA's general secretary Jerome Valcke has since said he had not meant to suggest Qatar had used bribes to get the World Cup, Qatar has flatly denied any wrongdoing, Bin Hammam has launched an appeal against his provisional suspension and Warner called the ethics committee a kangaroo court.

The only way Blatter will not be re-elected on Wednesday is if the FIFA Congress proposes and passes a motion to call off the vote with the support of 75 percent of voting delegates.

That is unlikely to happen as while Blatter may not be able to connect with fans, he is highly skilled at talking to the only audience that really matters – the voting delegates at the Congress.

Since Blatter became president in 1998 the governing body has grown rich thanks to its ability to generate billions of dollars from television rights to major tournaments as well as sponsorship deals with major corporations.

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As FIFA's current “difficulties”, as Blatter called them, have made front-page headlines worldwide, calls for reform from outside the sport have also been getting louder.

Anti-corruption watchdog Transparency International said FIFA should allow an external inquiry into the way it handles its affairs following allegations of cash-for-votes in both the presidential campaign and the World Cup bidding process.

“They should postpone the election and really clear up everything, take some time and then hold a new election,” Sylvia Schenk, sports advisor for the Berlin-based watchdog, told Reuters.

Australian Les Murray, who sits on the global soccer governing body's 13-man ethics committee, called for “complete structural” reform at FIFA.

The in-fighting and proliferation of accusations have triggered a torrent of criticism. Brazil's 1970 World Cup-winning captain Carlos Alberto Torres led calls from the sport's most successful country.

“There should be a general change, there are so many good people who could take office,” Carlos Alberto told Reuters.

“I think there should be new people in command of the bodies,” he said in a telephone interview.

“With the same people staying (in power) so long there is a vicious circle.”