Nigeria: The Libyan Football Federation was fined $50,000 by CAF as they made Nigerian Super Eagles wait at the airport. Both the players and the staff were held hostage at the airport in Libya without food and water for more than 20 hours.
After that, during the game, the soccer team Super Eagles was awarded with 3 points and 3 goals against Libya in the AFCON qualifiers match by CAF.
Considering the prior situation, Nigeria was pulled out of the game over security concerns. And then the game was eventually cancelled.
The disciplinary committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) released its official statement and said that Libya must forfeit the match 3-0 and pay fine of $50,000 (which counts to €46,000).
The Nigerian Super Eagles team also made a clear statement over the situation and said that it was left standard at an unstaffed airport for more than 20 hours without food or water, which is very disrespectful.
They returned home without playing the match in Benghazi, which is some 250 kms or 155 miles away from the airport, where they had landed.
However, the decision on announced on Saturday puts Nigeria as a three-time winner of the cup at the top of Group-D with 10 points in total.
As per the records, Nigeria is now four points ahead of Benin, which is placed second and five points ahead of team Rwanda.
After the recent situation, Libya has been placed at the bottom of Group-D and has a single point.
According to the sources, there are only two qualifying matches, that are left to play. The top two teams in the group will qualify for the 2025 finals, to be held in Morocco.
Notably, poor treatment of visiting teams in their away matches is known as a tactic used in African football games to give the hosts an advantage on the pitch.
Some common tricks include delaying the team as it goes through immigration on arrival, lengthy bus trips and poor training facilities.