The Disciplinary Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has found Libya guilty of breaching its regulations.
An inquiry was launched after the Super Eagles complained about being held hostage at the Al Abraq International Airport in Bayda for about 20 hours without essentials such as food and water.
This led to the cancellation of their 2025 AFCON qualifiers match earlier this month.
The Nigerian team had complained that their flight to Benghazi Airport was diverted at the last minute to Al Abraq, which is about 220 kilometres away to the venue where the match was supposed to be played.
CAF published a statement of their findings following the probe and amongst others, fined Libya $50, 000 which must be paid within 60 days.
“The CAF Disciplinary Board met to deliberate on the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morrocco 2025 Qualifier that was scheduled between Libya and Nigeria.
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.
The match No.87 Libya v. Nigeria of the Total Energies CAF African Cup of Nations Qualifiers 2020 (scheduled to be played on 15 October 2024 in Benghazi) is declared lost by forfeit by Libya (by a score of 3-0).
All other and further motions or prayers for relief are dismissed,” read the statement from CAF.
This tallies up Nigeria’s points to 10 in Group D, making it four points ahead of Benin, and five over Rwanda, leaving Libya at the bottom with one point.
According to various reports, the Libyan Football Federation has rejected CAF’s ruling, describing it as malicious.
It further vowed to appeal the decision and involve the Court of Arbitration for Sports if those efforts are unsuccessful.
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has since warned African countries to desist from mistreating each other during continental competitions.
