The creation of their Task Force Against Racism and Discrimination in March 2013 appears to be a step in the right direction and has led to the development of a new Anti-Discrimination Monitoring System, which has now been launched at London's Wembley Stadium.

In collaboration with anti-discrimination network Fare, who will run the system, matches during the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers will be analysed for their level of risk for possible incidents of discrimination.

Following the assessment, which takes into account the history between nations and fan groups, the diversity of teams and the stadiums in which the matches are being played, the most high-risk matches will be attended by "Anti-Discrimination Match Observers". They will then provide FIFA with a report within 24 hours of the completion of the tie, with football’s governing body then able to decide whether disciplinary proceedings need to be opened.

The system itself makes a great deal of sense.

Firstly, it removes the pressure from the shoulders of referees to need to be aware of what is occurring in the crowd, as well as performing their undoubtedly tricky task of policing the 22 players on the field of play.

As explained by former FIFA World Cup Final referee Howard Webb, a member of the Task Force, officials would often be unaware of the potential cultural differences between fan groups. More often than not they would not speak the language of those in the crowd, so might not be aware of potential chants being aimed at players.

Although referees would still be in control and would be able to can ask for an announcement to be made in the event of racist abuse, with the power to take players off the pitch or abandon matches entirely, an extra few pairs of eyes, who could report issues perhaps missed by match officials, would make a difference.

A point stressed at the launch was that the monitoring system would help aid football’s governing body by providing them with additional evidence than they would currently receive from matches. In theory, the increase in evidence would help them to dish out far stronger punishments against countries in which racist abuse occurs during international matches.

Ultimately the success of the system will be judged on the reduction of abuse from the terraces or indeed outside the grounds, allowing players and fans from every diversity to feel included at football matches across all continents. The good work of the Task Force in creating the system could fall down and amount to nothing more than a token effort should action not be taken when discrimination occurs.

Stronger sanctions certainly were on the mind of Ivory Coast and Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré at the launch, politely fending off a question regarding a summer transfer to focus on the more important issue at hand.

Touré, a member of the Task Force, was a victim of racist abuse during a Champions League tie against CSKA Moscow in 2013, leading to the Russian side being forced to play their next home match in the competition with a partial stadium closure by European football’s governing body, UEFA.

While welcoming the monitoring system the Ivorian made repeated calls for more education and increased action to be taken to deal with the issue.

“I have been in the situation where there have been monkey chants and it’s difficult to deal with that,” he said.

“As sportsmen you want to continue to the end but when you hear something like that it hurts you and breaks you.

“You need to give them a radical sanction - paying a 20,000 fine is not enough; you need to do more.”

The 32-year-old, who suggested a boycott of the 2018 World Cup in Russia could be a possibility following the CSKA match in 2013, has hit the nail on the head regarding the issue. Previous instances of racist abuse at matches appear to have been punished with nothing more than a slap on the wrist.

For instance, one of the first examples of racist abuse I remember at football matches took place in 2004, when black England players were subjected to monkey chants during a friendly match against Spain in Madrid. The Spanish Football Federation were fined the paltry sum of £44,750 ($70,000/€62,000).

Fines have continued to be the main punishment facing National Federations following instances of abuse. The Croatian FA were fined CHF 30,000 (£21,000/$32,000/€29,000) in 2008, while UEFA fined the Serbian FA £65,000 ($102,000/€90,000) following abuse directed at England’s Danny Rose, during an under 21 match. By contrast the same governing body fined Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner £80,000 for displaying a sponsor’s logo on his underpants during a Euro 2012 game.

FIFA have since admitted that more has needed to be done to tackle the problem, reflected by the birth of the Task Force in 2013 and in the same year they forced Hungary and Bulgaria to play behind closed doors following instances of racist abuse.

Piara Powar, Fare’s executive director and another member of the Task Force, insisted that with the FIFA’s new powers introduced in 2013, which coupled with the increased evidence from the monitoring system, could see countries banned from participating in tournaments as punishment.

“If there is evidence of discrimination this will be passed to FIFA and there will be associations who will be banned or play behind closed doors,” he said.

“There will be some pain as a result of this process but without that pain people will not really understand how they should be tackling these issues.”

Although FIFA have the power to exclude teams from competitions, I do wonder whether they would wish to take the nuclear option and remove teams from World Cup and potentially damage the quality of their tournament in a bid to tackle the problem.

The simple fact that the governing body acknowledged a “significant” report into the extent of Russian football’s problem with racism, just three years out from hosting the tournament, yet stated their position as hosts is “unconditional”, seems to undermine the effort somewhat.

Despite FIFA also stating that the monitoring system, which will be run throughout the qualifiers and finals of the 2018 World Cup, will see some friendlies observed, one wonders whether Russia, who will only play friendlies in the build up to the finals, would be observed.

While insisting they will provide the Russian Football Union with additional support prior to the tournament, perhaps the governing body's efforts to tackle the problems in the country prior to the competition would be enhanced by insisting that all Russian matches are monitored in the build-up and appropriate action taken should discrimination occur.

By being strict on their own hosts FIFA could rightfully be seen to be viewed as trying to tackle the issue, whereas by focusing efforts on the qualifiers, they could be seen as hiding away from the difficulties within the country ahead of the tournament.