Nigeria return from Libya as Algeria and Cameroon qualify for AFCON 2025
Al Jazeera
Nigeria’s claims about mistreatment in Libya are being investigated by the Confederation of African Football.
Nigeria’s refusal to play their Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualification fixture in Libya after alleged “inhumane treatment” of their squad and eventual return home has overshadowed Algeria and Cameroon qualifying for the 2025 football finals.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) confirmed on Monday that their national team had returned home after their long “ordeal” at a deserted airport in Libya.
“The Nigeria delegation departed the Al Abraq Airport at exactly 15.05 hours [13:05 GMT], bound for the city of Kano, and onwards to the Federal Capital, Abuja,” the NFF said in a statement.
NFF director of communications, Ademola Olajire, outlined in a 20-point statement the team’s “ordeal on Libyan soil”, saying the “keenly-anticipated match” had been “relegated to a fiasco by Libyan federal authorities and Football Federation”.
The Nigerian team were held at an abandoned airport in Libya for more than 20 hours after their chartered flight landed on Sunday.
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