FIFA are to investigate allegations of racist abuse by Croatia fans towards England striker Emile Heskey in last week's World Cup qualifier.

The Football Association lodged an official complaint with world football's governing body after the Wigan forward was targeted during the match in Zagreb.

Heskey was singled out by sections of the Maksimir Stadium crowd after receiving a yellow card for a challenge on home skipper Niko Kovac.

The former Liverpool player claimed he tried to ignore the "ignorant people".

Wigan boss Steve Bruce said: "If you watched the game, you could hear monkey chants and all the rest of it, which I thought we'd seen the back of."

Croatia Football Federation spokesman Davor Gavran condemned those involved, but claimed the fans were showing their frustration.

He said: "There seemed rather an expression of frustration from fans at how the match is going on, than an attempt to insult someone. We condemn those individual cases."

The Croatia federation was punished in June for fans' racism at the European Championship.

They were fined 20,000 Swiss francs after European governing body UEFA ruled they showed racist conduct towards Turkey supporters in the Euro 2008 quarter-final.