* After their chartered plane was diverted by the Libyan authorities as it had originally been set to land over 200km away in Benghazi
* The chartered ValueJet aircraft was, strangely and in a dangerous manner, diverted to the small airport
* Away from Benghazi just as the pilot was completing his approach to the Benghazi Airport
By Sam Joseph, CNN
Nigeria’s Super Eagles returned back home after being stuck at a remote Libyan airport for over 15 hours, according to Nigeria’s football governing body and team captain William Troost-Ekong.
The Super Eagles were scheduled to play against host Libya in the Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) Morocco 2025 qualifier in the city of Benghazi today, but the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) has stated the players have decided not to play the match.
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In an Instagram post, the NFF said the squad was stranded overnight at Al Abraq airport outside of Al Bayda, Libya after their chartered plane was diverted by the Libyan authorities as it had originally been set to land over 200km away in Benghazi.
“The chartered ValueJet aircraft was, strangely and in a dangerous manner, diverted to the small airport away from Benghazi just as the pilot was completing his approach to the Benghazi Airport,” said the NFF. “We understand the Al Abraq International Airport is only used for hajj operations.
“Fatigued players and officials have remained nonplussed as the host Libyan Football Federation (LFF) failed to send any reception team or even vehicles to take the delegation members from the airport to their hotel, said to be 3 hours away in Benghazi.”
The NFF added that transport had been organised for the team but was no longer in place due to the flight’s diversion and according to Reuters, the LFF said it has “utmost respect for our Nigerian counterparts” and claimed that the flight diversion was not intentional.
“We firmly reject any claims that suggest foul play or sabotage in this situation,” the LFF said. “We hope that this misunderstanding can be resolved with understanding and goodwill.”
Last week, the NFF released a statement rejecting claims of poor treatment in Nigeria made by Libya captain Faisal Al-Badri and insisted that the LFF “created chaos for its own team.”
Yesterday, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) issued a statement noting the governing body had been in touch with both national teams and “had been informed that the Nigerian national football team and their technical team were stranded in disturbing conditions for several hours at an airport that they were allegedly instructed to land by the Libyan authorities”.
“The matter has been referred to the CAF disciplinary board for investigation and appropriate action will be taken against those who violated the CAF Statutes and Regulations.”
Troost-Ekong said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the situation had been brought about as a result of “mind games”.
Troost-Ekong
“12+ hours in an abandoned airport in (Libya) after our plane was diverted whilst descending,” he wrote early yesterday. “(Libyan) government rescinded our approved landing in Benghazi with no reason. They’ve locked the airport gates and left us without phone connection, food or drink.
“I’ve experienced stuff before playing away in Africa but this is disgraceful behavior. Even the Tunisian pilot who thankfully managed to navigate the last minute change to an airport not fit for our plane to land had never seen something like this before.
“This kind of behavior, let them have the points. We will not accept to travel anywhere by road here even with security it’s not safe.
“We can only imagine what the hotel or food would be like given to us IF we continued. We respect ourselves and respect our opponents when they are our guests in Nigeria. Mistakes happen but these things on purpose have nothing to do with (international) football.”
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The defender shared images of players attempting to sleep in the airport and implied once again that there had been a deliberate attempt to disrupt the team.
“We would NEVER treat a guest nation for a game in this way,” he said. “Mistakes happen, delays happen. But never on purpose!”
Later on Monday, Troost-Ekong said the team had traveled back to Nigeria and it is unclear what will happen if the match does not go ahead.
The Super Eagles defeated Libya 1-0 in the reverse fixture in Nigeria on Friday and are top of Group D with 7 points, while Libya are at the bottom of the standings on one point. Benin and Rwanda are second and third in the group respectively.
First leg match
Meanwhile, Libyan FA says Nigeria was to blame for the postponement of the game, saying the incident was not deliberate and urged Nigeria to be understanding, adding that their players had also faced travel difficulties last week.
It said in a statement that it deplored the actions taken by the Nigeria Football Federation and that it would take all legal measures to protect the interests of the national team.
“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,” it said.
The LFF had earlier complained about the treatment of their players and officials on arrival in Nigeria for a qualifier in Uyo last week, which saw their flight land hours away from the match venue and the players endured long travel delays.
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