England's Ashley Cole was racially abused in Slovakia

This week, at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground in London, European football's governing body was joined by representatives from all 52 of its members to confront the continuing problem of racism.

The delegates were warned by top players from the English Premiership that more must be done by those who run the game.

UEFA imposed its toughest sanction yet when it forced Slovakia to play its next European Championship qualifying match behind closed doors after England players were racially abused in Bratislava last October.

Frantisek Laurinec, President of the Slovak FA, says the authorities weren't prepared for what happened at the game.

"We were very shocked as well. This is the first time it has happened" he said.

"We were shocked but we will try to prevent this happening again in the future, but the problem is too complicated. Football can do a lot but not enough. Stopping racism is a common task for society".

Laurinec believes that the integration of Eastern Europe into the European Union will play the biggest part in forcing change, but warns that the problem may not go away for some time - whatever sanctions UEFA impose. England and West Ham goalkeeper David James recently visited a school in East London to speak to children there about combatting the problem. He told World Football about his personal experience of racism.

"There was a game at Blackburn when I was playing for Watford and they had a promotion for a chocolate bar" he said.

"Coming out for the second half and seeing ten thousand people throwing chocolate bars at you and calling you a black-this and a black-that - it hits home a bit.

"The fact that we've come to an ethnic minority school symbolises our approach - we're going to the attacked minority" he went on.

"What we need to do is go to everyone. It's a social issue and the problems need to be addressed across the board if we're going to deal with it.

"My club West Ham United is in a very racially diverse part of London, and we can make a very big difference. There aren't enough ethnic minority supporters here.

"We can influence the situation but it's got to be done in the right way".