Sports

Nigeria boycott AFCON qualifier against Libya - federation

.Oct 14, 2024, 09:52 AM ETNigeria have pulled out of their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier versus Libya on Monday, according to their leader William Troost-Ekong and the Nigeria Soccer Alliance (NFF), in protest at their trip to the nation being actually redirected just before gamers and personnel were abandoned for hrs in a flight terminal much coming from the suit venue.The Super Eagles were due to play holds Libya in the city of Benghazi, where they wanted to seal a credentials berth for the finals in Morocco late next year.Editor's Picks2 RelatedBut after being actually stranded for much more than 16 hours at an airport terminal 250 kilometres (155 kilometers) away from their desired location, the Nigeria gamers claimed they will certainly certainly not meet the fixture and the NFF released a statement." The delegation of Nigeria to Tuesday's 2025 AFCON qualifier versus Libya still continued to be at the Al Abraq Flight terminal 12 hours after landing in Libya," the statement claimed." The legal ValueJet aircraft was, strangely and also in an unsafe manner, redirected to the little airport terminal far from Benghazi equally as the pilot was finishing his strategy to the Benghazi Airport terminal." Exhausted gamers and also officials have remained nonplussed as the host Libyan Soccer Alliance fell short to deliver any celebration team or perhaps lorries to take the delegation participants from the airport to their lodging, stated to be 3 hrs away in Benghazi." Players have resolved certainly not to play the suit any longer as NFF authorities are bring in strategies to take flight the team back home." Troost-Ekong said on X: "As the captain, along with the staff, our company have determined that our company will not play this video game. Obviously our airplane is actually being actually fed as we speak and we need to be delegating to Nigeria quickly." CAF said in a statement that they had actually been in contact with both countries' football alliances which the "matter has been actually pertained to the CAF Disciplinary Board for examination and also appropriate activity will definitely be taken against those who breached the CAF Statutes and also Legislations." Nigeria ahead Winner Boniface belonged to the crew stranded at a small airport terminal in Libya. William Troost-Ekong on XThe Libyan Soccer Alliance claimed the occurrence was certainly not purposeful as well as prompted Nigeria to become comprehending." Our experts have miraculous respect for our Nigerian equivalents and also intend to comfort all of them that the diversion of their flight was actually not intentional," it mentioned, including that disturbances may happen from regular sky traffic protocols, protection examinations or other logistical obstacles." Our experts securely refuse any kind of claims that propose foul play or subversion within this scenario. Our experts really hope that this false impression can be fixed along with understanding as well as goodwill." Nigeria striker Winner Boniface fussed he had been actually stuck at the airport for practically 13 hrs with no meals, WiFi or place to rest. "Africa, our company may do far better," he mentioned on X.It is actually unclear what will certainly happen to the points coming from the video game with the concern probably to become described CAF's Disciplinary Board.Nigeria pounded Libya 1-0 in the reverse installation in Uyo on Friday with the help of an overdue target coming from Fisayo Dele-Bashiru, taking all of them to 7 points coming from three video games in their group.Benin have six points, Rwanda two and Libya one. The best 2 teams in each group deposit to the 24-team finals.Information coming from ESPN's Colin Udoh helped in this document.