The Confederations of African Football have punished Libya and awarded a walkover to Nigeria after the Super Eagles were held at an airport in Libya for over 16 hours before their 2025 African Cup of Nations qualifiers go cancelled.
The Nigerian Football Federation had lodged a complaint, with Disciplinary Board opting to rule in favour of the Super Eagles.
Nigeria were scheduled to play Libya in Libya on 15 October, but were not allowed to leave the airport upon their arrival, with players and officials claiming the instruction came from government officials after their flight had been rerouted to a different airport.
CAF had initially labelled the incident as “unacceptable” and now punished the Libyan Football Association and awarded Nigeria three points for the match.
“1. Libya Football Federation was found to have breached Article 31 of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa 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 TotalEnergies CAF African Cup of Nations Qualifiers 2025 (scheduled to be played on 15 October 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. The fine is to be paid within 60 days of notification of the present decision.
“4. All other and further motions or prayers for relief are dismissed.”
