FIFA President Gianni Infantino has disclosed that centre referees will be given the power to abandon or stop World Cup matches in Russia next year as a result of discriminatory incidents.

This is in line with a “three-step procedure” that provides officials with the power to stop, suspend and call off fixtures over fan behaviour and was trialled earlier this year at the FIFA Confederations Cup in the summer.

According to Infantino, the fight against discrimination remains a “high priority” for the football body.

Speaking on the matter, Infantino said: “We will be very, very firm.”

“We can expect fair play in Russia. We’ll make sure that no incidents will happen.” he added.

The aforementioned trial at the Confederations Cup earlier this summer included deploying anti-discrimination observers, a continuation of the monitoring procedure put in place for 2018 World Cup qualifiers and selected friendlies.