While soccer is played in parks across the city, games tend to be dominated by one ethnic group, players say, adding that Central Park games, while mixed, are more competitive than in Prospect Park.
New research has revealed damningly slow progress towards increasing diversity among managers and coaches in professional football, estimating that at the current rate it will take more than 30 years to achieve parity with the proportion of black and minority ethnic (BME) players.
In October, the head of Fifa's anti-racism task force, Jeffrey Webb, said he was left "disheartened" after meeting "demoralised" black and ethnic minority players in England.
The head of Fifa's anti-racism task force says he was left "disheartened" after meeting "demoralised" black and ethnic minority players in England.
Asked if more black and ethnic minority players should be in positions of power, Boateng replied: "If it's more multi-cultural, it gets more people and more countries involved and these things can help.
Fifa vice-president Webb, who also met Yaya Toure to discuss racial abuse the Manchester City player received against CSKA Moscow, has previously called on English football to "look in the mirror and engage", given what he believes is a lack of opportunity for black and ethnic minority players in terms of senior coaching, managerial and boardroom positions.
In June, 2007, the Yankees signed the league's first ethnic-Chinese players born in the People's Republic, with the permission of Chinese authorities: left-handed pitcher Kai Liu and catcher Zhenwang Zhang.
This is a generation that draws on multiple ethnic communities, with players' families coming from Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia as well as Slovenia.
The players' ethnic backgrounds spanned from Brazil to Poland to Tunisia, including the young German star Mesut Özil, whose family comes from Turkey, Germany's largest source of immigrants.
"By proceeding along this current path we are not only failing to reflect our national game but we are also letting down so many black and ethnic minority people - players, ex-players, coaches and volunteers, who have so much to offer and are so often discouraged and disheartened by the attitudes they encounter.
