RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil’s football ruling body (CBF) has backed Fifa’s message of focusing on the football at the World Cup in Qatar, a week after several European nations urged Fifa to take action to improve the rights of migrant workers in the host country.

The statement from the record five-time champions follows that of the South American Football Confederation (Conmebol), who said “disagreements and fights” should “take a back seat” when the tournament kicks off on Nov 20.

Qatar has come under intense pressure over its treatment of foreign workers, restrictive social laws and LGBT rights, leading to many teams participating raising concerns, although the country has denied claims that workers were exploited.

“We wholeheartedly agree that, together with Fifa, the Qatari authorities and other bodies, extra-football issues are being addressed in the certainty that football can be a force for positive change in societies around the world,” the CBF said in a statement.

“As Fifa always insists on remembering, this tournament will also be an opportunity for fans... to meet and live together in peace and joy, regardless of their origin, religion or sexual orientation, united by the universal language of football.

“For a football without prejudice.”

Fifa president Gianni Infantino had angered rights groups by calling for the 32 nations competing in Qatar to “focus on the football” in a letter earlier in November.

He also urged the teams to stop “handing out moral lessons”.

The football associations of 10 European countries, including England and Germany, last week published an open letter to take action and improve the rights of migrant workers in Qatar.

The Netherlands team will take time during their stay in Qatar to talk to the workers who helped build the stadiums for the World Cup, coach Louis van Gaal said last Friday.

The Dutch will meet a group of about 20 on Thursday to talk about their working conditions and to give them the opportunity to join the players in training.

Van Gaal said the meeting was meant to give attention to the often dire conditions under which stadiums and other infrastructure for the tournament were built before the team’s focus totally shifts to the World Cup itself.

“It will of course be a somewhat manufactured situation, but the fact we are willing to do this tells you something about the ideas of the KNVB (Dutch football association) and of this squad,” he added.

“But after the hour with the migrants, the focus needs to shift to Senegal (their first Group A opponents on Nov 21).” REUTERS, AFP