On Tuesday, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced postponing the 2025 AFCON qualifier between Libya and Nigeria that its events trended in the past few hours.
The qualifier was slated to be today in Libya, but several circumstances caused a real crisis between the Libyan and the Nigerian football federations.
In an official statement CAF said that the "fixture between Libya and Nigeria will not take place as scheduled tonight."
“The matter will be referred to the competent CAF bodies," it concluded.
It was reported earlier that CAF will investigate the crisis of the game.
Yesterday, the Nigerian team decided to reject playing the game, protesting the “inhumane treatment” of their squad by the Libyan authorities and eventual return to their country.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed on Monday that their national team had returned home after their long “ordeal” at a deserted airport in Libya.
“The Nigeria delegation departed the Al Abraq Airport at exactly 15.05 hours [13:05 GMT], bound for the city of Kano, and onwards to the Federal Capital, Abuja,” the Nigerian federation said in a statement.
The officials of the federation revealed that the Nigerian team were left an abandoned airport in Libya for more than 20 hours after their landing. They were left without internet, food, or accommodation, according to the Nigerian authorities.
Their plane was diverted to al-Abraq, 230km (143 miles) away from their intended destination.
Nigeria’s captain William Troost-Ekong said the team would not move from the airport.
“As the team captain together with the team we have decided that we will NOT play this game,” he said.
“Let them have the points.”
On the other hand, Libyan football federation said that the Nigerian team were to blame for the postponement of the game.
The Libyan football body said that the incident was not deliberate and urged Nigeria to be understanding, adding that their players had also faced travel difficulties last week.
"The Libyan Football Federation apologises to the Libyan football fans everywhere and the parties concerned with the arrangements of the match due to the state of confusion caused by the Nigerian Football Federation, which led to the failure to hold the match on time," the federation's statement said.
They added that earlier they complained about the treatment of their players and officials in Nigeria for the last week's qualifier in Uyo, Nigeria.
The last qualifier ended with Nigeria winning the game 1-0.
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