Libya Blames Nigeria For Postponement Of Qualifier Following Airport Debacle

The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) said Nigeria was to blame for the postponement of Tuesday’s scheduled Africa Cup of Nations qualifier in Benghazi after the visitors refused to play the match, citing mistreatment on arrival in the country.

Nigerian players and officials spent over 16 hours locked inside an airport nearly 250 km away from their intended destination after their charter flight was redirected while approaching Benghazi and instead landed in Bayda.

They said they had no access to food or water or contact from Libyan officials during the episode and decided to fly back to Nigeria on Monday rather than fulfill the fixture

On Monday, the LFF stated that the incident was unintentional and called on Nigeria to be understanding, noting that their players had also encountered travel challenges the previous week.

The Confederation of African Football has said it has referred the matter to its disciplinary board.

In a statement, the LFF expressed its disapproval of the actions taken by the Nigeria Football Federation and announced its intention to pursue all legal avenues to safeguard the interests of the national team.

“The Libyan Football Federation apologizes to the Libyan football fans everywhere and the parties concerned with the arrangements of the match due to the state of confusion caused by the Nigerian Football Federation, which led to the failure to hold the match on time,” it added.

The LFF had earlier complained about the treatment of their players and officials on arrival in Nigeria for a qualifier in Uyo last week, which saw their flight land hours away from the match venue and the players endured long travel delays.

Nigeria won that match 1-0 and is in pole position to qualify for the Cup of Nations finals that will be staged in Morocco late next year. The top two teams in each qualification pool advance to the finals.