A Dutch trade union has threatened to take FIFA to court ©Getty Images

The Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (FNV) have threatened to take FIFA to court unless they achieve an "agreement" to end the alleged "exploitation" of workers who are building venues for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The Union, along with Bangladesh worker Nadim Shariful Alam, have claimed they will take football’s governing body to court unless they act within the next three weeks on the issue.

The build-up to the event in six years’ time has been littered with suggestions by Amnesty International that FIFA and Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy have persistently done little to address "rampant migrant labour abuse".

Concerns were fueled by the publication of high death toll figures among migrant workers, with it claimed as many as 1,200 may have died since 2010.

An Amnesty International study, entitled "The ugly side of the beautiful game: Labour exploitation on a Qatar 2022 World Cup venue", an independent report written by John Ruggie - a professor at Harvard Kennedy School in Massachusetts and one of the world's foremost human rights experts - was released in March.

It made 25 recommendations to FIFA, including that tournaments already awarded should be moved to different host countries if human rights abuses continued.

The FNV have claimed that workers are continuing to be exploited while building stadiums for the tournament, with the majority being migrants from nearby nations.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced in April that a panel would be created to oversee working conditions at Qatar 2022 World Cup sites ©Getty Images
FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced in April that a panel would be created to oversee working conditions at Qatar 2022 World Cup sites ©Getty Images

"These workers are just as Nadim, lured with great stories to Qatar and now work as modern slaves for the fabulously wealthy Qatari," said Ruud Baars, from the FNV.

"They work under the so-called kafala system.

"This system provides an extremely lopsided power relationship between the employer and the worker.

"The workers have nothing to say.

"Nothing about where they work, how long they work and are grossly underpaid as they have already paid.

"And apparently it's no problem to run these people in a blood heat of around 50 degrees celsius in summer, while the World Cup has been moved to the winter because it is too hot in the summer for the highly paid footballers."

Approximately 5,100 construction workers from Nepal, India and Bangladesh are building stadiums in the wealthy Gulf nation.

In April, FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced a panel would be created by FIFA to oversee working conditions at World Cup sites in a bid to allay growing human rights concerns.

In what was his first working trip to the country, which was controversially awarded the rights to FIFA’s flagship quadrennial competition in December 2010, Infantino revealed the group would include "relevant sectors of civil society and other relevant FIFA stakeholders".

"Over the last few weeks I have been following very closely the discussions on FIFA and human rights, particularly around the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar,” the Swiss said at the time.

"I have seen the measures taken by the Supreme Committee and I am confident that we are on the right track.

"An encouraging example is the Supreme Committee’s response to issues that have occurred, such as the ones raised by Amnesty International in its latest report, which were already tackled by the Supreme Committee prior to the release of the report.

"This shows that the mechanisms in place are working related to FIFA World Cup construction although challenges remain." 

"We confirm that FIFA has received the letter," a FIFA spokesperson told insidethegames.

"FIFA refutes all allegations made in this letter. 

"However given the legal implications of such matter we cannot comment further at this stage."