The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has awarded Nigeria three points and three goals and fined Libya the sum of $50,000 from the botched match day 4 encounter of the 2025 AFCON qualification series scheduled to be played by Libya and Nigeria in Benina on 15th October.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the CAF Disciplinary Board had met to deliberate on the CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 Qualifier that was scheduled between Libya and Nigeria.
This is following the embarrassing incident which occurred when three-time African champions, Nigeria visited Benghazi for the AFCON 2025 qualifier second leg against the Mediterranean Knights of Libya.
The Super Eagles were forced to spend over 15 hours at the Al Abraq Airport without food or water in a hostage-like situation; which forced the game to be cancelled.
The Libya Football Federation was found to have breached Article 31 of the African Cup of Nations Regulations as well as Articles 82 and 151 of the CAF Disciplinary Code.
CAF Disciplinary Board on Saturday disclosed that the match No. 87 Libya v. Nigeria of the CAF African Cup of Nations Qualifiers 2025 (scheduled to be played on 15 October 2024 in Benghazi) is declared lost by forfeit by Libya (by a score of 3-0).
“The Libya Football Federation is ordered to pay a fine of USD 50,000. The fine is to be paid within 60 days of notification of the present decision. All other and further motions or prayers for relief are dismissed,” a statement by the CAF Disciplinary Board reads.
TNG reports the statement was signed by Ousmane Kane, Chairperson of the CAF Disciplinary Board.
The implication is that Nigeria is now poised to qualify for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, with two matches to spare. With the decision, the Eagles are now on 10 points from four matches, four points better than second-placed Benin Republic, while Rwanda have five points. Bottom-placed Libya have only one point and are out of the running for qualification.
Victory or draw against the Cheetahs of Benin Republic in Abidjan on Thursday, 14th November (a Matchday 5 encounter) will land the Super Eagles a ticket to the finals in Morocco, December 2025/January 2026.