The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has awarded the botched Libya versus Nigeria Africa Cup of Nations qualification match to the Super Eagles.
The board fined the Libyan Football Federation (LFF) $50, 000 for breaching “the Article 31 of the African Cup of Nations Regulations, as well as Articles 82 and 151 of the CAF Disciplinary Code.”
In a notification letter to the LFF, dated October 26, 2024, tagged: “Notification of the terms of the Decision DC23175 – QAFCON – 23.10.2024 of the CAF Disciplinary Board,” the body said: “(1) The Libya Football Federation is found to have breached Article 31 of the African
Cup of Nations Regulations, as well as Articles 82 and 151 of the CAF Disciplinary Code;
(2)The match No.87 Libya v. Nigeria of the CAF African Cup of Nations Qualifiers 2025 (scheduled to be played on October 15, 2024 in Benghazi) is declared lost by forfeit
by Libya (by a score of 3-0);
(3) The Libya Football Federation is ordered to pay a fine of USD 50,000;
(4) The fine is to be paid within 60 days of notification of the present decision:
(5) All other and further motions or prayers for relief are dismissed.”
CAF said that that decision was reached by the disciplinary board in their meeting of October 23, 2024 in Cairo, Egypt.
The CAF Disciplinary Board comprises Ousmane Kane of Senegal as Chairman,
Ms. Njeri Onyango (vice chairperson, Kenya), Felix Golbassia (Tchad), Patrick Shale (Lesotho) and Norman Arendse (South Africa).
The match billed for Benghazi on October 15 was called off by CAF when Nigeria decided boycott the fixture following inhumane treatment by the Libyan authorities, who detained the Super Eagles delegation to the game for over 16 hours without food, water and access to communications.
The Libyans had earlier diverted the Nigerian team’s flight from the earlier scheduled Benghazi to Al Abraq Airport, which, according to the Nigerian team’s Tunisian pilot, did not have the required navigation facilities for such flights.
With that development, both Libya and Nigeria petitioned CAF, seeking ‘justice’ from the African football governing body.
While Libya asked CAF to award the game to it, alleging that Nigeria erred by choosing to boycott the game, Nigeria prayed the body to discipline the North Africans for breaching the rules governing the treatment of away teams in CAF competitions.
The CAF Disciplinary Board met on October 23 to investigation both countries’ claims and found Libya guilty of unethical practices.
However, reports from Libya indicate that the Mediterranean Knights have opted to appeal the ruling.
According to Libya Al-Ahrar Channel, the Libyan Football Federation has instructed its lawyers to appeal the decision.
