The Nigerian Football Federation has decided to withdraw the Nigerian national team from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Libya, after a frustrating 12-hour travel ordeal at Al-Abraq International Airport in Libya, the Nigerian Punch newspaper said.
The Nigerian newspaper reported that the Nigerian delegation was on its way to Benghazi to attend the decisive match when their chartered plane was suddenly diverted to Al-Abraq Airport, where the players and officials were left stranded without any assistance from the Libyan Football Association, which failed to provide transportation, according to the newspaper. .
The newspaper added, quoting the Nigerian Football Federation, that the delegation remained stranded at the airport for more than 12 hours, without being able to reach their hotel in Benghazi, which is three hours away from Al-Abraq Airport.
The newspaper pointed out that the Nigerian delegation for the 2025 African Cup of Nations qualifiers against Libya is still stuck at Al-Abraq Airport, 12 hours after landing.
The Nigerian Football Federation said that the exhausted and frustrated players decided not to play the match, according to the newspaper, noting that Nigerian Federation officials are planning these moments to return the team to their homes.
For his part, the captain of the Nigerian national team, William Troost-Ekong, denounced on his Instagram account the treatment the team received by the “Libyan authorities,” stressing that the hotels near the airport refused to receive them, and only accepted the Tunisian captain of the plane.
Ekong stressed that they will not accept “the humiliating conditions imposed on them,” noting that traveling by land is unsafe, and that they “cannot imagine how they will be treated at the hotel or the food that will be provided to them.”
The Nigerian leader’s statements ended with the team confirming that it did not want to play under these “ludicrous” circumstances, sending a message to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) demanding urgent action to solve this problem.
Source: Nigerian Punch Newspaper + Ekong.