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AFCON

Nigeria’s Afcon Group qualifiers opens as Libya are held to draw

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Libya played a first international match in their capital for more than a decade on Wednesday but were held to a surprise 1-1 draw by Rwanda at the start of the group phase of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.

Fullback Sobi Al Dawi put the home side ahead in the first half as Libya returned to the refurbished stadium in Tripoli for the first time since August 2013.

But hopes of a celebratory return, and three points in Group D, were spoilt by Innocent Nshuti’s equaliser in the 51st minute.

The 45,000-capacity venue, once a stronghold for Libya, was less than half full and supporters chanted angrily in reaction to the draw at the final whistle.

There were four matches on the opening day of the group phase qualifiers but only Sudan emerged winners.

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Winger Abo Eisa, who played for several clubs in Leagues One and Two in England before a recent move to Thailand, netted the only goal for the Sudanese in a 1-0 victory over Niger in Group F.

The match was played in Juba in neighbouring South Sudan because of the civil war in Sudan.

The Comoros Islands are another of 18 African countries who cannot host international matches at home until they upgrade their stadia. They took on Gambia in El Jadida, Morocco instead and went ahead when Youssouf Mchangama scored from a 37th-minute free kick.

But on the stroke of halftime, Gambia’s Musa Barrow replied with an even better set-piece, expertly bending it wide of the wall and the goalkeeper to earn a draw in the Group A match.

In Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania were held to a goalless draw by Ethiopia in Group H’s opening match.

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It took two years to renovate Tripoli’s stadium which had been damaged and was run down in the wake of the civil strife in the country, which followed the overthrow of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

For almost eight years, Libya were banned from hosting international matches because of the civil conflict. But from 2021 they have been able to play in their second city, Benghazi

The Tripoli stadium has dropped its former name of June 11 Stadium, which was the date U.S. military left the base they used in Libya in 1970, some six months after Gaddafi came to power.

The venue was used to host the 1982 Africa Cup of Nations final, where Libya lost on penalties to Ghana.

The qualifiers for the 2025 finals, to be held in Morocco, continue on Thursday with seven more matches, including home ties for former African champions Algeria, Ghana and Tunisia.

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-Reuters

Kunle Solaja is the author of landmark books on sports and journalism as well as being a multiple award-winning journalist and editor of long standing. He is easily Nigeria’s foremost soccer diarist and Africa's most capped FIFA World Cup journalist, having attended all FIFA World Cup finals from Italia ’90 to Qatar 2022. He was honoured at the Qatar 2022 World Cup by FIFA and AIPS.

AFCON

NFF Communication director unfolds 20 Points of a 20-hour ordeal on Libyan soil

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NFF’s Director of Communications, Dr Ademola Olajire, provides a point-by-point account of how a keenly-anticipated Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match was relegated to a fiasco by Libyan federal authorities and Football Federation

1) The chartered ValueJet aircraft departed from the Victor Attah International Airport, Uyo at 11.55hours on Sunday, 13th October 2024, and landed at the Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano at 13.10hours, for the completion of immigration formalities and for the aircraft to refuel.

2) The aircraft took off from Kano at 15.18hours, for the 3 hours and 35 minutes flight to Benghazi, Libya, expecting to arrive a few minutes before 8pm Libya time.

3) Just as he was about to commence his initial approach into Benghazi, the captain (pilot) was instructed by the control tower that he could not land in Benghazi (despite having all the required landing papers and having completed all formalities before leaving Uyo and later, Kano, but should proceed to the Al-Abraq International Airport, even though the airport lacked the control navigators for landing at such hours. He complained that he was short on fuel but his words fell on deaf ears as he was told sternly that the directive was from ‘higher authorities.’

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4) On landing at the Al-Abraq International Airport, in the small town of Labraq, at 19.50 hours, it was clear that the airport was not a well-utilized facility. There were no scanning machines or the usual equipment for this service, and officials had to make do with mobile phones to scan passport data pages.

5) The delegation, which included 22 players and team officials; NFF President Alh. Ibrahim Musa Gusau; Deputy Governor of Edo State, Comrade Philip Shaibu; a couple of NFF Board members; NFF General Secretary, Dr Mohammed Sanusi; a couple of parliamentarians; a couple of NFF Management; a couple of media representatives and; a couple of stakeholders, was shown scant respect by the airport authorities who applied curt manners and stern tones.

6) It took over one hour for the team’s luggage to roll through the carousel, despite the fact that the bags and other items had already been hauled from the aircraft immediately on arrival.

7) No official of the Libyan Football Federation was at the airport to receive the delegation, as is the best practice globally. Airport officials could not answer the simple question on where the buses that would take the delegation members back to Benghazi (where the NFF had booked hotel rooms) were.

8) When delegation members including the NFF President, Comrade Shaibu and Dr Sanusi attempted to venture outside the airport to ascertain if there were vehicles waiting for the team, they were stopped in the most uncouth of manners by airport security personnel.

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9) Calls to the General Secretary of LFF, Mr. Abdul-Nasser by Dr Sanusi yielded no fruits as the former kept promising that the buses would arrive in ‘10 minutes’, which later became ‘two hours’, and afterwards, ‘three hours.’ Later in the evening, it was no longer possible to reach him on the phone. Frustrated by this attitude, Dr Sanusi approached the security operatives to request that the team be allowed to go out and board the buses the NFF eventually hired. This request was rejected with insults. It took the intervention of the NFF dignitaries to prevent what would have escalated into a row as the NFF President himself was not spared when he heard an exchange of voices between the security personnel and his General Secretary. This aggravated the tension and further frustrated the team.

10) Hour after hour, and with mounting frustration, delegation members, particularly the players, grew restless. There was no food or water provided by the LFF, or where to even procure these items, and there was no network or internet connection at the airport. These swiftly increased the level of frustration and anger.

11) At past midnight, it was learnt that there had been word from ‘higher authorities’ (Libya is a jurisdiction governed by two different administrations – a UN-recognized cabinet in Tripoli and a self-imposed team over Eastern Libya including places like Benghazi and Labraq) that the Nigeria delegation should be delayed for minimum of 10 hours at the airport for what they falsely claimed was done to their team in Nigeria.  (All conversations between the NFF General Secretary and the LFF General Secretary on the match in Uyo, both written text and voices notes, are still in the NFF General Secretary’s phone)

12) The NFF team was shocked because the incident referred to in Nigeria was entirely generated by the Libyans. They informed the NFF that their contingent would be landing in Port Harcourt, and not Uyo, only two hours to the team’s arrival in Nigeria. Despite this, the NFF moved swiftly to get authorities to grant their aircraft movement permit from Port Harcourt to Uyo, but this was jettisoned as the LFF apparently did not cherish the additional fee dispatched by the charter company. They opted to travel by road, refused to use the buses hired by the NFF and instead hired their own, and disrespected advice not to travel by night. When they stuck to their guns to move by night, the NFF provided security. The NFF even provided the team training facility the day after the match and secured direct flight permit from Uyo to Benghazi for the delegation.

13) Infuriated, the NFF President reacted: “We anticipated some shocks here given the false account of what happened in Nigeria as narrated by their team captain. But we did not expect these shenanigans. What I am seeing is despicable and has no place in the game of football which is meant to foster excellent relationships among nations and bring peoples from diverse cultures, religious persuasions and economic and political interests together in an ambience of peace and joy.”

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14) The NFF learnt that the Embassy of Nigeria in Tripoli had written, a fortnight earlier, to the authorities in Benghazi that they would want to welcome the Nigeria delegation on arrival. This application was said to have been rejected outright.

15) In a conscious effort to play down their frustration, anger and hunger, players and officials resorted to playing games, listening to music, chatting themselves up, scanning through the airport exit door to see if any vehicles had arrived, and generally looked forward to daybreak, which they hoped would bring much-sought-after relief.

16) Many calls were made to higher authorities in Nigeria to apprise them of the situation, and these persons all expressed fears for the safety and security of the team. These fears were real and justified given the plethora of threats thrown by the Libyans on legacy and social media in the days before and after the match in Uyo. At 2am, Captain William Ekong met the NFF President in the company of the NFF General Secretary to inform the President that the team may not be able to go ahead with the match, due to trauma, fatigue and body aches that resulted from lack of food, dehydration and very cruel and unimaginable treatment, which had led to some players falling ill.

17) The NFF repeated calls to officials of the Confederation of African Football, Nigeria’s FIFA Council Member Mr. Amaju Melvin Pinnick and higher authorities in Nigeria. It dispatched a letter to CAF in which it detailed the antics of the hosts and hoped that the continental governing body would go ahead to “punish this rare bestiality visited on the beautiful game.” It noted that the Super Eagles had travelled hoping to enjoy a great game of football but had been sorely disappointed and frustrated by the unprecedented level of hostility and poor attitude of the hosts.

18) At daybreak, Mr. Maurice Eromosele, president of the Nigerian community in Eastern Libya, arrived with words of empathy from the Ambassador of Nigeria to Libya, His Excellency Alhaji Muhammad Muhammad. He expressed shock at the treatment meted out to the Nigeria delegation, who were made to spend the entire night inside the departure lounge of the Al-Abraq Airport. He said His Excellency ordered him to get a few things for the team, and he later returned with plastic bags loaded with croissants and drinks. These served as breakfast for the team.

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19) More calls were made and eventually, it was agreed by all parties that the team should not go ahead with the match, but return to Nigeria to await the decision of CAF (who were briefed in detail on the situation) with regards to the un-played match.

20) After spending many more hours waiting for the Al-Abraq airport authorities to sell fuel to refill the chartered ValueJet aircraft (which was initially proving to be some sort of robotic engineering), the Nigeria delegation departed the Al-Abraq Airport (not worth the toga of ‘international’ by any scale) at exactly 15.05hours, bound for the city of Kano, and onwards to the Federal Capital, Abuja.

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AFCON

African football legends, Adebayor and Aubameyang condemn Libya’s treatment of Super Eagles

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Two former African Footballers of the Year, Emmanuel Adebayo of Togo and Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang of Gabon have condemned the actions of the Libyan authorities who subjected the Super Eagles of Nigeria to inhumane treatment at the Al Abaq Airport Adebayor was the African Footballer of the Year in 2008 while Aubameyang won the 2015 edition.

Local authorities left the Nigerian contingents unattended for more than 15 hours after they arrived on Sunday night.

Players were seen sleeping on the bench, and the team’s doctors raised concerns over their health ahead of the match.

Adebayor, a legend of African football and Arsenal wrote on X-platform:

“Nigerian Super Eagles were stranded at a Libyan airport, locked in without food, wi-fi, or a place to sleep after their flight was diverted.

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“This type of behaviour is unacceptable for the progress of African football. No team should face such treatment. We stand with Nigeria’s Super Eagles.

“Respect and fair play must come first on and off the field.”

His Gabonese counterpart, Aubameyang who also played for Arsenal that the Libyan action should not happen in 2024. He wrote on X:

“Anyway that is not possible in 2024 acting like that.”

In a related development, the cheerleader of Nigerian football, Dr. Raufu Ladipo told Sports Village Square: “It is a big shame that an African country will treat our Super Eagles this way. It is barbaric. If they could do this to our team,

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“One could imagine what they would have done to members of the supporters club . It is high time CAF and indeed, FIFA takes a very serious look and takes a decision that will serve as deterrent to forestall future occurrence.”

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AFCON

BREAKING! CAF wades into the Libya-Nigeria Airport episode

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Just as the Nigerian delegation is set to return to the country from Libya, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has waded in and referred the matter to its disciplinary board for investigation and appropriate action will be taken against those who violated the CAF Statutes and Regulations.

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CAF issued the following statement:

“The Confederation Africaine de Football (CAF) has been in contact with the Libyan and Nigerian authorities after it had been informed that the Nigerian National Football Team (‘’Super Eagles’’) and their technical team were stranded in disturbing conditions for several hours at an airport that they were allegedly instructed to land by the Libyan authorities. 

“The matter has been referred to the CAF Disciplinary Board for investigation and appropriate action will be taken against those who violated the CAF Statutes and Regulations.”

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