FIFA President Sepp Blatter has urged players encountering racial abuse during matches against walking off the pitch like AC Milan did last week.

Kevin-Prince Boateng led the Milan players off Thursday during a friendly against lower division club Pro Patria that was abandoned following racist chanting by fans.

Blatter was quoted in Abu Dhabi's The National newspaper on Sunday as saying: "Walk off? No. I don't think that is the solution ... I don't think you can run away, because eventually you can run away if you lose a match."

Stressing that there should be "zero tolerance of racism in the stadium," Blatter urged local football authorities to impose "harsh" sanctions such as point deductions.

Blatter says the Italian federation has yet to provide FIFA with a report into Thursday's incident.