An Albanian footballer led fans’ chants of ‘f*** Macedonia and f*** Serbs’ with a megaphone after his side’s 2-2 draw with Croatia, footage on social media has revealed.

Mirlind Daku, 26, featured off the bench during the enthralling Euro 2024 clash and helped his side secure a dramatic late point, with fellow substitute Klaus Gjasula striking deep into stoppage time.

Footage taken shortly after the final whistle shows Daku holding a megaphone and shouting derogatory chants in Albanian, translated into English as ‘f*** Macedonia and f*** Serbs’, while making rallying gestures to supporters to join him.

Serbia, whom England narrowly beat 1-0 in their opening Euro 2024 match last Sunday, threatened to quit the tournament on Thursday if UEFA do not impose strict punishment on Croatia and Albania following offensive chants during the match.

Now, the Macedonian FA have revealed they will send an appeal to UEFA against the ‘nationalist chant’ involving Daku. 

We express our deep concern and unequivocal condemnation regarding nationalist chants by Mirlind Daku, a representative of Albania, directed against the Macedonian state after yesterday’s match between Croatia and Albania in the European Championship,’ the country’s football federation said in a statement on Thursday.

‘The behaviour is unacceptable and contrary to the basic values of sportsmanship and mutual respect that football promotes.  

‘Sports, especially football, is the basis for keeping people of different nationalities and an environment for cooperation and respect. Nationalist rhetoric, however, undermines these principles, fuelling division and hostility between fans and societies.  

‘The principles of political neutrality are enshrined in the regulations of international associations such as FIFA and UEFA. The Football Federation of Macedonia will send an official letter to UEFA for this scandalous behaviour. 

‘We call on Albania’s footballer Mirlind Daku to publicly apologise for his behaviour, recognising the damage he has caused.’

Both sets of supporters could be heard shouting ‘Kill the Serbs’ inside the stadium during the match, and Daku’s megaphone incident appears only to sparked more derogatory chants from supporters.

Serbia were also upset when a Kosovan TV journalist aimed an Albanian ‘eagle’ sign towards their fans during a live broadcast at their opening game against England.

Arlind Sadiku, who reports for the television channel Artmotion, has been banned from the remainder of the tournament for ‘misconduct’.

‘What happened is scandalous and we will ask UEFA for sanctions, even at the cost of not continuing the competition,’ Serbian FA General Secretary Jovan Surbatovic said.

‘We are sure that they will be punished, because they have already responded to our appeal to remove the so-called journalist from Albania from the championship.

‘We will request UEFA to punish the federations of both selections. We don’t want to participate in that, but if UEFA doesn’t punish them, we will think about how to proceed.

‘We were punished for the cases of fishing and our fans behaved much better than the others. One fan was fined for racist abuse and we don’t want it to be attributed to others. We Serbs are gentlemen and we have an open heart, so I appeal to the fans to remain gentlemen.’

Animosity from Croatians and Albanians towards Serbs has its roots in the break-up of Yugoslavia in 1995. 

The first-ever meeting between Croatia and Serbia in 2013 was branded the ‘match of the decade’ by the media in both countries and tickets for the clash at the 34,000 stadium sold out within hours.

Despite there being no away fans present in the stadium, 1,500 police officers patrolled the game in a bid to prevent any outburst of nationalism.

Similarly, when Serbia faced Albania for the first time as independent nations, their Euro 2016 qualifier descended into chaos on the pitch and in the stands – and the arrest of the brother of the Albanian Prime Minister. 

UEFA had banned Albania fans from attending the clash in Belgrade but elected to allow the two countries to face each other, despite long-standing political tensions.

And when the Albanian flag – accompanied by a map of Kosovo and the message ‘autochthonous’, meaning indigenous – was flown above the pitch using a remote-operated drone – chaos ensued.