This announcement was made on the afternoon of Monday, October 14, 2024, following the message of the Nigerian Captain William Troost-Ekong who asked his country to do everything possible to pass it.
The Libyan Football Association, LFF, initially blamed the players for the problems they faced, saying that it was caused by bad weather, which caused the plane to land in Tripoli instead of continuing to Benghazi.
LFF said: “We are aware of the incident, but it is common for the weather to change decisions, and there are other issues related to security management or baggage screening, especially in these international trips. All over the world they face these problems, and there are delays and other things, but we respect the Nigerian team because what happened was not our intention."
The Libyan Football Federation has reminded Nigerians that they should not continue to express their grief because what happened to them in Libya last week.
LFF said, “We have condemned those who continue to say that there were mistakes because we want to show what happened last week, when our team arrived in Nigeria for the third day's match. All that was done to us, we did not put it out there or have anyone to blame."
The Nigerian national team stuck to its decision, and immediately took a flight back home, canceling the game scheduled for Tuesday, October 15, 2024.
Despite this, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced that it is aware of the incident and has spoken to both parties. CAF added that the matter has been referred to the Ethics Commission and the party at fault will be held accountable.
This was the fourth day's match in Group D in the search for a ticket to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, which will be held in Morocco.
