(CNN) -- The scourge of racism within football has reared its head once again, with Inter Milan charged by UEFA over "racist behavior" of its supporters during last week's Europe League contest against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Italian club has also been charged with "insufficient organization" and "throwing of missiles and/or fireworks."
Inter supporters are alleged to have taunted the English team's Togolese striker Emmanuel Adebayor and other black players with monkey chants -- actions which were reported to European soccer's ruling body by the match delegate.
The case will be heard on April 19. Inter won the match 4-1 but was eliminated from Europe's second-tier competition on the away goals rule with the aggregate score tied at 4-4.
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AC Milan's Mario Balotelli reacts to racist abuse from the visiting Roma fans at the San Siro on Sunday. It was not the first time the Italian-born striker has been racially abused in Serie A.
Italy's complex racism problem
Last month, Inter was fined $65,500 by the Italian football authorities after its fans were found guilty of racially abusing former players Mario Balotelli and Sulley Muntari, who now play for rival AC Milan.
The club was also fined $22,700 after fans sang racist chants about Balotelli during a Serie A game against Chievo.
Read: Lazio punished for fourth racism offense this season
Fellow Italian club Lazio was hit with a $52,000 fine last month by UEFA for several offenses, including a fourth charge of racist behavior this season.
Lazio had already been fined a total of $230,000 for racist abuse and other fan offenses during two group-stage matches with Tottenham and another against Slovenia's Maribor.
In January, the president of football's world governing body FIFA insisted that a more hard-line approach should be taken in dealing with racism.
Sepp Blatter advocated punishments such as point deductions and relegation for clubs found guilty.
"It is not enough to give a fine," he told FIFA's website.
"Playing a game without spectators is one of the possible sanctions, but the best would be the deduction of points and the relegation of a team, because finally the club is responsible for their spectators."
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U.S. star Jozy Altidore was subjected to racial abuse during AZ Alkmaar's cup win at Den Bosch in the Netherlands. The match was halted and the crowd were asked to stop the abusive chanting before the action resumed.
Racism in football
Since AC Milan forward Kevin-Prince Boateng walked off the pitch in a friendly match in January following racist abuse, both FIFA and UEFA have faced criticism over their reactions to such incidents.
Blatter's stance has changed in recent months given that just two years ago he said racism did not exist in football and that any problems could be solved with a handshake.
But the 77-year-old, who has spent the past 15 years in charge of FIFA, has changed his view following a number of recent unsavory incidents. He will be meeting Boateng at FIFA headquarters in Zurich this Friday to discuss the problem of racism in football.
"It is a phenomena where football is a victim of our society," Blatter said in January.
"Discrimination and racism is everywhere in our society. We in football cannot be made responsible for what happens in our society.
"It is now up to us to take the adequate steps. What I feel we should do is give instructions to our national associations and the confederations -- specifically to the disciplinary committees -- to be very strong."
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Serie A side Lazio has already been punished four times in the 2012-13 season due to racist offenses by its fans in European matches.
"I don't care what game it is -- a friendly, Italian league or Champions League match -- I would walk off again," the Germany-born Kevin-Prince Boateng, who has represented Ghana, told CNN in an exclusive interview in January after he walked off in protest at racist abuse he was subjected to in a friendly match.
At the end of January, Boateng had a new teammate after AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi sanctioned a $30 million deal to sign striker Mario Balotelli from Manchester City. Berlusconi had previously branded Balotelli a "rotten apple."
La Stampa newspaper estimated that the signing of "Super Mario" could have been worth 400,000 votes in Berlusconi's bid for re-election in Italy back in February.
Before moving to England, the Italy-born Balotelli played for AC Milan's rivals Inter Milan, and during one Serie A match against Juventus the Turin club's fans once shouted: "There are no black Italians."
Soon after Balotelli returned to Italy, Inter Milan were fined $20,000 after racist chants from their fans about the AC Milan's striker at a match against Chievo. Inter play AC in the Milan derby on February 24.
"Berlusconi is an opportunist, who will say anything to win short-term support," Italian historian John Foot -- the author of the authoritative book on Italian football "Calcio" -- told CNN, in reference to the AC Milan owner's support for Boateng after the player walked off the pitch. "His comments are hypocritical at best, especially given his alliance with anti-immigrant and far-right parties, and his comments on Barack Obama (he called him 'sun-tanned')," added Foot. Berlusconi is pictured in the center, wearing a scarf.
Soon after Balotelli returned to Serie A, Berlusconi's brother Paolo -- during a political rally -- invited the public to an upcoming AC Milan match and was caught on camera -- the video was featured on the website of Italian newspaper La Repubblica -- saying: "OK, we are all off to see the family's little black boy." Paolo is pictured here, wearing glasses.
"I don't think you can run away, because then the team should have to forfeit the match," FIFA president Sepp Blatter told Abu Dhabi's The National newspaper. "This issue is a very touchy subject, but I repeat there is zero tolerance of racism in the stadium, we have to go against that. The only solution is to be very harsh with the sanctions (against racism) -- and the sanctions must be a deduction of points or something similar."
Two days after Boateng's walkoff, some sections of Lazio's crowd at Rome's Olympic Stadium were heard making monkey noises at Cagliari's Colombian striker Victor Ibarbo. However, the majority of the home crowd jeered and whistled to drown out the racists.
In 2010, Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o suffered racist abuse from Cagliari fans when playing for Inter Milan in a Serie A game. The Sardinian club was subsequently heavily fined.
In 2005 the Italian authorities banned Paolo di Canio -- then playing for Lazio -- and fined him almost $11,000 for his use of a straight-arm salute. "The sports court decided that it was an act of racism," the head of Italy's Observatory on Racism and Anti-racism in Football, Mauro Valeri, told CNN. "The ordinary court, however, did not intervene. For me it's racism, for the Ministry of the Interior, no." Di Canio is now manager of English club Swindon Town.
While English football embarked on a program of stadium reconstruction after the 1980s disasters at Bradford, Heysel (pictured) and Hillsborough, Italian football has been arguably hampered by a lack of stadium redevelopment.
Of Serie A's big clubs, only Juventus has built a new stadium in recent years.
The Italian Ministry of the Interior has introduced an identity document -- "tessera del tifoso" -- for supporters to counteract hooliganism. In order to buy match tickets, fans must present their document, with the system designed to ensure away fans can't buy "home" tickets for games.
Owen Neilson is writing a book about Italian football grounds, "Stadio: The Life and Death of Italian Football." "If a stadia revolution is undertaken in Italy -- as it has happened in England -- a layer of culture unique to Italy will be tarmacked over, with 'Juventus Stadium' type replacements," said Neilson. "Football will be changed again in favor of profit and central figures in a club's history, such as Giuseppe Meazza (who played for both AC Milan and Inter) or Romeo Menti (Vincenza), will be moved from the spotlight . That will be a real loss."
"The Football Italian Federation, FIFA and UEFA must empower fan-based initiatives that are capable of creating a culture of self-regulation," Professor Clifford Stott, who has advised governments and police forces internationally on crowd management policy and practice, told CNN.
AC Milan's Kevin Prince-Boateng walked off the pitch after being racially abused during his side's friendly game with Pro Patria earlier this month. The midfielder was praised for his actions by FIFA president Sepp Blatter.
Serbia was ordered to play one under-21 match behind closed doors and was fined $105,000 by European football's governing body UEFA for racial abuse in a match with England. UEFA president has appealed the verdict of his organization in the hope of seeing stiffer punishments administered.
Chelsea and England captain John Terry was charged by UK police after allegedly making racist remarks to Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand in October 2011. Terry was cleared of the charges in a London court in July 2012.
Liverpool's Luis Suarez was banned and fined by the English Football Association after Manchester United's Patrice Evra claimed the Uruguayan racially insulted him during a match, also in October 2011. Suarez flatly denies Evra's claims.
Brazilian World Cup winner Roberto Carlos walked off the pitch while playing for Russian team Anzhi Makhachkala against Krylya Sovetov in June the same year, after having a banana thrown towards him in the closing stages of the match.
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