October 23 – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is reviewing rules on the treatment of away teams following the suspension of the Africa Cup of Nations qualifier between Libya and Nigeria because of a diverted flight.
Earlier this month, the plane carrying the Super Eagles was diverted at the very last minute ahead of their qualifier in Libya, leading to the match being postponed. CAF opened an investigation into the incident, with CAF president Patrice Motsepe emphasising that rules are under review to avoid similar scenarios in the future.
On the sidelines of the CAF general assembly, Motsepe did not want to be drawn into specific comments but remarked that CAF wouldn’t tolerate gamesmanship in the future.
“This has been going on for quite a while. I have heard too many stories of a football club or a national team going to a country – you spend hours at an airport and you are asked about documents that don’t exist. During Covid-19 apparently, they’d look at who the best players of your national team were and those ten players, they have got Covid. You reply: ‘We have just been tested.’ ‘No,no, they have got Covid’.
“There is this lack of sportsmanship. We haven’t taken effective action. We are reviewing those laws and we want to emphasize sportsmanship.”
In the end, Nigeria refused to play the match and Motsepe repeated that “appropriate actions will be taken” following the postponement of the match.
The Libyan Football Federation (LFF) blamed the cancellation of the qualifier on Nigeria. A previous LFF statement said: “We reject any claims that suggest foul play or sabotage in this situation.
“There are no grounds to accuse the Libyan security teams or the Libyan Football Federation of deliberately orchestrating this incident. Such actions are inconsistent with our values and principles. We firmly reject any claims that suggest foul play or sabotage in this situation.”
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