…We will emphasize sportsmanship
By Hussein J-Isah
President of the Confederation of Africa ,CAF, Patrice Motsepe, has spoken up on the Libya vs Nigeria, Africa Cup of Nations Cup (AFCON) qualifier game by condemning the former for the treatment meted out to their opponent.
Motsepe expressed his feelings during a press conference where he condemned what happened to the Super Eagles of Nigeria at the Libya airport ahead of the AFCON 2025 qualifying match. The CAF President stated that he would only speak further on the incident when CAF reaches a final decision from the ongoing probe into the matter.
Patrice Motsepe said: “We should have zero tolerance. When there was this problem of the Nigerian national team in Libya, I will not comment on that because there is a proper investigation.
“But I want to emphasise a principle that we will not tolerate. This is something that has been going on for quite some time. Forget about the Libya vs Nigeria situation; forget about that; appropriate action will be taken.
“I have heard too many stories about a football club or national team that goes to a country. You spend hours at the airport, and they ask you about documents that don’t exist. Apparently, during COVID, they would look at the best players and then say those ten players have got COVID.
“But it is this lack of sportsmanship that has existed, and we haven’t taken effective action. We are reviewing those laws, and we want to emphasise sportsmanship.”
Recall that on October 15, 2024, the Nigerian national team was scheduled to play against Libya in the return leg of the match last week Tuesday, but changed their plans buy refusing to play after they were held at the airport for over 20 hours at the airport.
The Punch reports that the Nigeria Football Federation had lodged a complaint with CAF after the Libyan authorities subjected the Super Eagles to inhuman treatment upon arriving in the country for the second leg against the Mediterranean Knights on Sunday.
The medium referenced a video posted by the Eagles media team, where the players and officials were left stranded with their luggage at the airport, with the Libyan airport officials indifferent to their plight and conversing in Arabic.
Libya were scheduled to host the three-time African champions at the 10,000-capacity Martyrs of Benina Stadium in Benina, located just 10 kilometres from Benghazi, but their plane was diverted to the Al Abraq Airport, which is over 200 km and three and a half hours drive from the planned camp site.
Also recall that the team’s flight to Benghazi, where the match was supposed to hold got diverted to the small airport away from Benghazi just as the pilot was completing his approach to the Benghazi Airport. A CAF verdict on the matter is being awaited on Wednesday (today.)
Ahead of today’s judgement, some football fans have expressed concern following CAF President’s comment that the football governing body will go hard on offenders over poor treatment of visiting teams.
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