SASSUOLO, Italy -- It has been almost six years since Kevin-Prince Boateng made the decision to walk off the pitch, followed in solidarity by his AC Milan teammates, in protest at the racist abuse he, M'Baye Niang, Urby Emanuelson and Sulley Muntari were subjected to during a friendly against Pro Patria. The gesture made headlines around the world, starting a conversation about what could be done within football and society as a whole to tackle the issue.
Shortly after that incident in Busto Arsizio, Boateng was invited to join a newly created FIFA Task Force Against Racism and Discrimination. But as we sit down in the temporary cabin doubling as Sassuolo's media room in October, the former Ghana international tells me, "with FIFA I didn't talk for a long, long time." He remains in touch with the UN and made an impassioned speech at a convention in March 2013 in Geneva. "They want to know what's going on. If something has changed. What they can do."
But the silence from the football authorities is deafening.
"I had three or four ideas. I put them out there. I spoke to them about it. But at the end of the day, nothing happened. Nothing changed. It's just Champions League. 'Say No to Racism.' That's it."
How disappointing is that? "Very," Boateng says.
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