UEFA chief executive Lars-Christer Olsson has reaffirmed the organisation’s commitment to fight racism.

Despite years of anti-racist campigns, racist chants against black players have marred three matches in Spain in the last 10 days

“In our opinion it is one of our priorities and this is what we are working on continuously, and then it pops up and disappears from time to time,” Olsson said at a news conference in Lisbon.

On Thursday UEFA confirmed that it would hold an inquiry following Real Madrid’s Champions League match with Bayer Leverkusen at the Santiago Bernanbeu stadium on Tuesday.

Television pictures showed fans with swastika tattoos giving Nazi salutes towards Leverkusen’s black players.

Last week, world governing body FIFA said it would investigate racist taunts against England’s black players during an international friendly with Spain at the same stadium on November 17.

UEFA officials have asked clubs to ban racist fans and clubs are co-operating, Olsson said.

“The problem of racism is not only in football, it is in society in general,” Olsson said.

“We are planning on developing the cooperation we have with FIFA, for example, against racism in general and to work together with the authorities to get rid of it, kick it out of football,” he said.