Thierry Henry, Lilian Thuram, Viv Anderson and Anthony Elanga are among a number of prominent footballers past and present to have signed a pledge committing themselves to publicly push for racial equality in football.

An idea initially proposed by the Lilian Thuram Foundation, which exists to support anti-racist education, the statement was agreed during a conference at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground in which players and Harvard academics discussed how to further anti-discriminatory aims.