Confederation of African Football, CAF, President Patrice Motsepe has called for improved sportsmanship in African football teams.
He warned that CAF will no longer tolerate the poor treatment of visiting teams during continental competitions.
His utterances come after the cancellation of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers match that was scheduled for 15 October between Nigeria and Libya.
According to a series of posts on X by Nigeria’s team captain, William Troost-Ekong, they were stranded at the Al Abraq airport for more than 10 hours without food ahead of their clash with Libya.
“Twelve plus hours in an abandoned airport in Libya after our plane was diverted whilst descending.
The Libyan government rescinded our approval of landing in Benghazi with no reason.
They’ve locked the airport gates and left us without phone connection, food, or drinks.
All to play mind games,” read one of the posts followed by some images of his teammates sleeping in a deserted airport lounge.
During the CAF Ordinary Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Motsepe sent a stern warning to host countries and reiterated the need to uphold the integrity of football in the continent.
“Apparently during Covid, they would look at who the best players are from your team and say those 10 players have Covid-19.
You tell them you have just been tested and they say no, you have Covid.
But it’s this lack of sportsmanship that has existed and we haven’t taken effective action’’, said Motsepe.
The President did not comment further on the Libya-Nigeria saga, but he assured that thorough investigations are underway and those found guilty of violating regulations, will be dealt with accordingly.
The qualifiers will wrap up by 19 November 2024 and eligible teams will then battle it out for the 2025 AFCON championship title between 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026 in Morocco.
