2025 AFCON Qualifiers: CAF Gifts Super Eagles Victory, Slams $50,000 Fine On Libya
BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – The Disciplinary Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has awarded the Super Eagles of Nigeria three points and three goals in their abandoned Match day 4, 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya.
The match, scheduled for Tuesday, October 15, 2024, in Benina, suburban borough and an administrative division of Benghazi, Libya, failed to hold due ill-treatment suffered by Nigeria.
The Continental Football governing body gave the ruling on Saturday in a statement signed by the Disciplinary Board Chairman, Ousmane Kane.
According to the Board, the Libyan Football Federation (LFF) was in breach of Article 31 of the Africa Cup of Nations Regulations and Articles 82 and 151 of the CAF Disciplinary Code.
The statement read in part; “The Libyan Football Federation is found to have breached Article 31 of the 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 CAF Africa Cup of Nations Qualifiers 2025 (scheduled to be played on 15 October 2024 in Benghazi), is declared lost by forfeit by Libya (with a record of 3-0)”.
Additionally, the LFF was ordered to pay a fine of 50,000 US dollars within 60 days of being notified of the Board’s decision.
With this Disciplinary Committee’s decision, Nigeria is on the verge of qualifying for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, with two matches left to play.
Going by the latest development, the Super Eagles now have 10 points from four matches, four points ahead of second-placed Benin Republic, while Rwanda has five points.
Bottom-placed Libya has only one point and is already out of the running for qualification.
For now, Nigeria only needs a win or draw against the Cheetahs of Benin Republic in Abidjan on Thursday, 14 November Match day 5 encounter to secure the ticket to the finals in Morocco, scheduled for December 2025/January 2026.
Forefront News recalled that after the Super Eagles players were left stranded at the remote Al-Abraq airport on the outskirts of Benghazi for over 22 hours, Nigeria decided to boycott the match citing security and safety concerns.
However, not ready to accept any blame for the botched match, the LFF accused the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) of not cooperating with it regarding the travel itinerary.
This is as it further alleged that the Libyan national team suffered the same fate in Nigeria during the Match day 3 fixture a week earlier, claiming the team was left stranded at the Port Harcourt Airport by the Nigerian authorities.
