UCATT yesterday backed the ITUC’s decision to get behind Dutch football president Michael van Praag to be the next Fifa president, saying he offers the best hope to the abused Qatari migrant workers building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup.

Since the tournament was awarded to Qatar almost five years ago, there have been constant calls for a boycott due the country’s continued exploitation of foreign workers — there have been hundreds of deaths and well documented abuses of migrant workers — as well as alleged corruption surrounding the Fifa bidding process for the right to host the tournament.

The ITUC backed Van Praag’s bid on Monday, with the election less than three weeks away, and noted that trade unions first raised concerns with Fifa about labour exploitation connected to the World Cup more than 10 years ago, with Ucatt also supporting the Dutch candidate.

Speaking to the Star, a Ucatt spokesperson said: “Fifa’s failure to even consider the plight of the migrant workers in Qatar shames football.

“If a candidate for the president of Fifa is willing to tackle the huge exploitation faced by the workforce and ensure that hundreds of workers aren’t dying every year, then of course that candidate should be supported by everyone who believes in common decency.”

The other candidates, Luis Figo and Ali bin al-Hussein, have spoken about the need to install human and workers’ rights standards at Fifa but the ITUC believe it is Van Praag’s bid which had the “most concrete statements on Qatar’s notorious system of worker exploitation and the need for Fifa to act.”

ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow said on Monday: “Fifa can save itself from the catastrophe of a World Cup built on modern slavery in Qatar by electing a candidate who will act decisively to support human rights.

“Prince Ali has also spoken strongly on the issue, but only one candidate, Michael van Praag, has put human rights in his official election manifesto.

“On that basis Mr van Praag offers the best hope today that Fifa will finally put real pressure on Qatar to reform its medieval labour laws.”

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett has previously spoken out against the decision to award Qatar the World Cup, saying: “I think there are so many issues around Qatar — gay rights issues, workers’ rights issues.”

Under Qatar’s kafala system migrant workers, mostly from southern Asia and outnumbering Qataris about five to one, need their boss’s permission to change jobs, leave Qatar or even open a bank account.

Qatar last May announced plans for a new law that could eventually end the practice, but has yet to do anything.