Nigeria to boycott AFCON qualifier against Libya after players claim they were left stranded at airport overnight
The Nigeria men’s soccer team is set to leave Libya after being stuck at a remote airport for over 15 hours, according to Nigeria’s governing body.
The Super Eagles are scheduled to play against host Libya in a 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier in the city of Benghazi on Tuesday, but the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has stated the players have decided to not play the match.
In an Instagram post, the NFF said that the squad was stranded at Al Abraq airport outside of Al Bayda, Libya, overnight. It had originally been set to land over 200 kilometers (roughly 124 miles) away in Benghazi.
“The chartered ValueJet aircraft was, strangely and in a dangerous manner, diverted to the small airport away from Benghazi just as the pilot was completing his approach to the Benghazi Airport,” said the NFF. “We understand the Al Abraq International Airport is only used for hajj operations.
“Fatigued players and officials have remained nonplussed as the host Libyan Football Federation (LFF) failed to send any reception team or even vehicles to take the delegation members from the airport to their hotel, said to be 3 hours away in Benghazi.”
The NFF added that transport had been organized for the team but was no longer in place due to the flight’s diversion.
According to Reuters, the LFF said that it has “utmost respect for our Nigerian counterparts” and claimed that the flight diversion was not intentional.
“We firmly reject any claims that suggest foul play or sabotage in this situation,” the LFF said. “We hope that this misunderstanding can be resolved with understanding and goodwill.”
Last week, the NFF released a statement rejecting claims of poor treatment in Nigeria made by Libya captain Faisal Al-Badri and insisted that the LFF “created chaos for its own team.”
CNN has reached out to the LFF, NFF and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for comment.
Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the situation had been brought about as a result of “mind games.”
“12+ hours in an abandoned airport in (Libya) after our plane was diverted whilst descending,” he wrote. “(Libyan) government rescinded our approved landing in Benghazi with no reason. They’ve locked the airport gates and left us without phone connection, food or drink.
Nigeria to boycott AFCON qualifier against Libya after players claim they were left stranded at airport overnight
“I’ve experienced stuff before playing away in Africa but this is disgraceful behavior. Even the Tunisian Pilot who thankfully managed to navigate the last minute change to an airport not fit for our plane to land had never seen something like this before.
“This kind of behavior, let them have the points. We will not accept to travel anywhere by road here even with security it’s not safe,” the defender added later in the thread.
“We can only imagine what the hotel or food would be like given to us IF we continued. We respect ourselves and respect our opponents when they are our guests in Nigeria. Mistakes happen but these things on purpose have nothing to do with (international) football.”
Super Eagles and Bayer Leverkusen striker Victor Boniface also posted about the situation.
This is getting scary now
You guys can have the point
We just want to return to our country
— Victor Boniface (@boniface_jrn) October 14, 2024
It is unclear what will happen if the match does not go ahead.
Troost-Ekong – who also shared images of players attempting to sleep in the airport – later said that the squad and staff were set to leave the country and return to Nigeria before implying once again that there was a deliberate attempt to disrupt the team.
“We would NEVER treat a guest nation for a game in this way,” he said. “Mistakes happen, delays happen. But never on purpose!”
The Super Eagles defeated Libya 1-0 in the reverse fixture in Nigeria on Friday and are top of Group D with 7 points, while Libya is at the bottom of the standings on one point. Benin and Rwanda are second and third in the group respectively.
