The Confederation of African Football (CAF) have released a statement on the “disturbing and unacceptable experiences” of the Nigeria Men’s Football Team upon their arrival in Libya.
The Super Eagles had arrived in Libya on Sunday evening but were not allowed to leave the airport, with players and officials claiming the instruction came from government officials after their flight had been rerouted to a different airport.
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“Libyan government rescinded our approved landing in Benghazi with no reason. They’ve locked the airport gates and left us without phone connection, food or drink. All to play mind games,” Nigeria captain Williams Troost Ekong wrote on social media.
While the Libyan Football Federation downplayed the incident, citing a misunderstanding and dismissing claims of any malicious intent, saying such inconveniences occur regularly, adding that they encountered challenges prior the first leg in Nigeria, the Nigerian Football Federation were yet to release an official statement.
After players had taken to social media and threatened not to honour the fixture, CAF stated the matter will be reviewed by it’s Disciplinary Board for investigation.
“CAF views the disturbing and unacceptable experiences of the Nigerian National Football Team (“Super Eagles’’) at an airport in Libya in a very serious light,” the statement read.
“CAF has been in contact with the Libyan and Nigerian authorities after it had been informed that the Nigerian National Football Team 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.”
