FIFA election to go on despite scandal

Joseph S. Blatter, President of FIFA talks during the 61st FIFA Congress Opening Ceremony in Zurich, Switzerland, on May 31NEW: German football chief says the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar should be re-examinedFIFA president Sepp Blatter is the only candidate running in the electionSoccer associations urge the world football governing body to delay the vote FIFA chooses who hosts the World Cup every four years

(CNN) -- The election for the president of FIFA will go on as scheduled Wednesday despite calls from powerful football associations for a delay over a corruption scandal.

Incumbent FIFA President Sepp Blatter is the only one running to head the world football governing body.

Blatter said Monday night that the organization was not in crisis after two top officials were suspended amid ethics concerns.

One of the officials, Mohamed Bin Hammam, was the only contender against Blatter for the presidency.

Football associations urged FIFA on Tuesday to delay the vote.

"This has been a very damaging time for the reputation of FIFA and therefore the whole of football," said David Bernstein, chairman of the English Football Association

The Scottish Football Association echoed the call.

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"The events of the last two days, in particular, have made any election unworkable," SFA head Stewart Reagan said in a statement.

Sponsors of international soccer including Visa, Coca-Cola and Adidas have warned that the ethics scandal is hurting the sport.

"The current situation is clearly not good for the game," a Visa spokesman told CNN Tuesday, echoing comments from other companies that pay to have their logos at the World Cup and other major soccer events. The Visa spokesman declined to be named.

"The negative tenor of the public debate around FIFA at the moment is neither good for football nor for FIFA," Adidas chief communications officer Jan Runau said.

Sponsor Emirates airlines said it was "disappointed" by the "issues around the administration" of FIFA, and Coca-Cola said Monday that the ethics allegations were "distressing and bad for the sport."

The concerns came as Blatter shrugged off corruption allegations within FIFA and said he would press ahead with his bid to be re-elected as president for the fourth time.

The FIFA ethics committee on Sunday suspended Bin Hammam of Qatar, along with fellow leading official Jack Warner.

Bin Hammam was a major influence in Qatar's surprising victory in winning the right to host the 2022 World Cup finals.

He and Warner have been accused of offering cash gifts to national associations in return for pro-Bin Hammam votes in the presidential election.

Warner and Bin Hammam both deny wrongdoing.

FIFA is the body that decides where soccer's quadrennial World Cup will be held, among other responsibilities.

The head of the German Football Federation said the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar should be re-examined in the wake of the scandal.

"Especially regarding the awarding of the World Cup 2022 to Qatar, there has been repeated speculation and corruption allegations," Theo Zwanziger said in an interview posted on the league's website Wednesday.

"Even the FIFA secretary general had critical views of the financial possibilities of Qatar, which he noted in an e-mail, even though that may have been phrased in a very casual way. That is why I believe that the awarding of this World Cup should be re-examined."

CNN's David Wilkinson, Ben Wyatt, James Montague, Frederik Pleitgen and Aaron Akin c ontributed to this report.

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