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.