The Disciplinary Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced that the Libyan national team lost its match against Nigeria by a score of 3-0 in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, which was scheduled to be held on October 15 in Benghazi.
The committee said in a statement that the Libyan Football Federation violated Article 31 of the 2019 African Cup of Nations regulations of the Confederation of African Football as well as Articles 82 and 151 of the Confederation’s Disciplinary Code.
The Disciplinary Committee also ruled that the Libyan Football Federation pay a fine of $50,000, to be paid within 60 days from the date of notification of the decision, and rejected all other additional requests for reassessment.
The Nigerian national team delegation left Libya on October 14, without playing the match against the Libyan national team due to what it described as “inhumane treatment” in Libya.
Following that, CAF announced that it had opened an investigation into the Nigerian national team’s crisis at Labraq Airport in Libya, the return to its country, and its refusal to play the match against the Libyan national team.
The Libyan national team’s mission in the first leg of the round experienced difficulties during its trip to Nigeria, including waiting for long hours at Abuja International Airport without an official reception, and the delay of buses designated to transport the players to the hotel.
The mission also headed to the Nigerian city of Uyo by land in difficult circumstances, and the authorities refused the return of the national team by land, due to what they called security conditions, demanding that officials coordinate a return by air to Abuja and then to Libya, which delayed the return of the players; under the pretext of the lack of available planes at the airport. Nigeria won against Libya in the first leg match1-0 in the third round of AFCON qualifiers.
