AFCON qualifier: Libyan FA faces CAF, FIFA sanctions - Adebajo

Advertisements

The Libyan Football Association could face severe sanctions over the crisis that dogged the failed African Cup of Nations qualifier slated for Tuesday in Libya between the country’s national team and the Nigeria national team, the Super Eagles.

Adetilewa Adebajo, chairman Stationary Stores Football Club of Lagos, stated this in an interview on Arise News on Monday.

Adebajo called for immediate diplomatic intervention, suggesting that punitive measures are likely to follow from the Confederation of African Football, CAF.

According to him, “It’s a shame, but I think at the end of the day, the sanctions that CAF and FIFA will impose on the Libya FA are going to be very punitive.

“I think we should make this a diplomatic incident. Our ambassador in Libya should get to the matter right away, and we should also call the Libyan ambassador to Nigeria for discussions. More importantly, we should talk to FIFA, because it’s a modern era. These are old tactics that a lot of teams used to employ to frustrate opponents.

“With this sort of incident, I think that we might look at a replay. These players have to be back in their clubs by the weekend, so another day delay might be something they might look at.”

Adebajo, while reflecting on the challenges faced by teams in international competitions, said the situation is unacceptable.

“You won’t expect at the international level for something like this to happen… At this level, this is completely unacceptable,” he said.

However, the Super Eagles are back to Nigeria after thei maltreatment by their opponents, Libya, on Tuesday’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier.

The Super Eagles and team officials waited for over 12 hours at Al Abraq International Airport, after their plane was diverted about three hours away from Benghazi, the venue of the Tuesday match against Libya.

This was after the plane carrying the team and officials were diverted mid-air to Al Abraq said to be a small airport primarily used for hajj operations.

After the plane landed, however, the Nigerian team was left stranded without assistance from the Libyan Football Federation for over 12 hours.

The host team failed make arrangement to take the team to Benghazi while the vehicle arranged for the trip by the officials of Super Eagles was also not allowed to access the airport.