New members of the ruling Council, the replacement for the Executive Committee, have been elected over the last week - in some Confederations, at least - but it is old problems which have continued to give plenty of reason for the organisation to come under further criticism.

The decision to disband the FIFA Taskforce Against Racism and Discrimination has, rightly, been widely condemned by a number of organisations and officials. Many feel the move, confirmed on Monday (September 26) by secretary general Fatma Samoura, the first African and first woman to hold the position of number two at the organisation, was poorly timed at best and "shameful" at worst.

Despite being barely three years old, the taskforce’s work was declared as “complete” by FIFA, with Samoura claiming it had “fully fulfilled” its intended remit. As a result of this apparent completion, world football’s governing body informed its members in a letter that it was "hereby dissolved and no longer in operation", according to news agency the Associated Press.

The timing could not have been more negligent. Just two days later, a banana was thrown onto the pitch during FC Rostov’s UEFA Champions League clash with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven - a racist gesture aimed towards black players. The incident happened just eight minutes into the match and the piece of fruit in question remained there for around a quarter of an hour.

The Russian club are likely to face consequences for this latest regrettable display of abhorrent behaviour from football fans, with Russian Football Union honorary president Vyacheslav Koloskov admitting “this banana could cost us heavily” before going on to reveal his concerns that Rostov’s next match would have to be played behind closed doors - essentially in front of no supporters at all.

What is painfully ironic in this case is that the game at the Olimp-2 stadium in Rostov-on-Don, a venue due to be used for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, was staged in front of a reduced capacity as punishment for – you guessed it – racism.

It comes amid heightened concerns of racism in the nation, whose fans hardly painted a glorious picture of themselves with violent displays of thuggery when following their team at this summer’s European Championships in France and whose behaviour has often crossed the proverbial line.

The Fare network, a group which monitors racist incidents for UEFA, revealed in a study that 92 examples of discriminatory chants, flags and displays were uncovered in and around stadiums in Russia in the 2014 to 2015 season. That was significantly more than the 83 flagged in the previous two campaigns. Surely a worrying statistic for the footballing bigwigs, particularly with the World Cup less than two years away.

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein, who unsuccessfully stood for the FIFA Presidency earlier this year, was among the leading voices of dissent in the wake of the axing of the taskforce, which several within the governing body and further afield believe should have been made a permanent group rather than consigned to the waste bin.

The Jordanian Football Association head did not hold back in his statement, claiming FIFA was “more worried about its reputation than implementing actual change and measures to combat racism” while blasting the decision as “ridiculous” and “shameful”.

Samoura, who was questioned relentlessly on the subject during her appearance at the Soccerex Convention in Manchester earlier this week, attempted to defend the seemingly indefensible, insisting the disbanding of the taskforce did not mean FIFA had given up the fight against racism. The highly-respected United Nations official will know better than most that actions speak louder than words.

Actions certainly came to the fore during another difficult moment for FIFA earlier this week as the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Congress lasted less than 30 minutes after members voted “no” when Bahraini President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa called for the agenda to be approved. Delegates voted with their feet and swiftly departed the hall in Goa.

Elections for three vacant AFC spots on the Council were due to be held but were postponed following the vote, leaving those who were challenging feeling more than a tinge of annoyance.

“As a candidate, I was naturally disappointed,” Australian Moya Dodd, a co-opted member of the Executive Committee who was standing to become the AFC’s female representative on the Council, said.

“It's like showing up for a Grand Final, then hearing that the match has been rescheduled. I was ready today, and I'll be ready when the election proceeds - be it next week, next month or next year. Asia needs a full deck at FIFA's top table as soon as possible.”

Confusion remains as to when the rescheduled elections will be staged, with the bizarre occurrence in the Indian state meaning FIFA will not be able to hold a full meeting of its newly-expanded Council in Zurich on October 13 and 14 as they had planned. More promises have thus been broken.

FIFA only have themselves to blame for the debacle, which led to Shaikh Salman, beaten in the second round of voting at the Presidential Election in February by Infantino, declaring that a “clear message” had been sent to world football’s governing body in front of the observing President.

After all, it was FIFA who ruled that Qatar Football Association vice-president Saoud Al-Mohannadi was ineligible to stand in the Council election due to an ongoing Ethics Committee investigation on the eve of the vote. It was FIFA which caused the turmoil to unfold and it was FIFA who will be left to deal with the consequences.

Usually, barring a candidate from entering a race for any position because they have an investigation hanging over their head is heralded. There have been too many instances of late which have made a mockery of the democratic process within football governance - banned former UEFA President Michel Platini being granted permission to address last month’s Congress in Athens springs to mind – and the integrity checks are there for a reason.

Yet the case surrounding Al-Mohannadi appears questionable. FIFA have refused to confirm the reason behind the Ethics Committee probe; all they have done is announce it has nothing to do with the way in which Qatar won the rights to host the 2022 World Cup.

Al-Mohannadi, who is alleged to have committed a series of ethics breaches, including duty of disclosure, cooperation and reporting and general obligation to collaborate with an investigation, can therefore be considered unfortunate. In a statement released last month after formal proceedings were opened against him, FIFA were keen to trumpet this particular line, which stated “the presumption of innocence until proven guilty” was in existence.

Their actions suggest otherwise. By excluding him from the race, FIFA has automatically led the general public and those in the footballing fraternity that he is guilty – if he is innocent, why wasn’t he allowed to stand?

Infantino, ever the spin-doctor, claimed the decision of the AFC perfectly summed up the reform process FIFA is attempting to undertake in a bid to drag itself away from the corruption scandals which have been ever-present in recent times.

But it came across as little more than a show of defiance from the AFC; they showed they will not be manipulated by the Swiss and will not bow down to the organisation's attempts at having too much influence over their Confederation. In this instance, FIFA’s input has been far from welcome.

They have a long way to go before the new dawn promised by Infantino’s “new” FIFA becomes a reality.