Claim: Facebook users Heritage Blog and The Great Africa claim that the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) disciplinary committee has issued four sanctions on Libya for their treatment of the Super Eagles.
Verdict: DUBAWA’s findings reveal that all four claims are FALSE.
Full Text
On Oct 15, 2024, social media was flooded with reports that Nigeria’s senior men’s national team, the Super Eagles, had been held at Al Abraq Airport in Libya by local authorities upon their arrival for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying Group D match against the Mediterranean Knights.
In viral videos, players and officials, along with their luggage, were stranded at the airport. Reports, here, here and here indicated that the Nigerian team were left without food or water for over 20 hours, completely cut off from communication.
Some Super Eagles players, including Troost-Ekong and Victor Boniface, expressed their frustration about the poor treatment on social media. Following the incident, CAF, via its official X (formerly Twitter) account, announced that it would set up a disciplinary committee to investigate the situation.
Amid the ongoing discussions, Facebook users Heritage Blog and The Great Africa, on Oct 24, 2024, posted several claims regarding CAF’s actions against Libya:
“1. The Disciplinary Committee of the Confederationn of African Football (CAF) has bann Libya from hosting Home matches and finedd them $100,000, following maliciousss treatmentt against Nigeriaa Senior Team Super Eagles Nigeria
2. The match will be replayed in Nigeria as part of their punishmentt
3. Nigeria is next to host AFCON Cup tournament.
Finally if Libya can afford to pay their fine in 2 days from now the match will be replayed in Morocco!”
Are these claims true? DUBAWA looked into them.
Verification
DUBAWA investigated these claims and noted several spelling errors in the post, such as “Confederationn,” “maliciousss,” and “bann,” which raised questions about the information’s credibility.
Claim 1: The CAF Disciplinary Committee has banned Libya from hosting home matches and fined them $100,000 for their treatment of the Super Eagles.
Verdict: FALSE
DUBAWA’s findings reveal that, on Oct. 26, 2024, the Disciplinary Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) ordered the Libyan Football Federation to pay a $50,000 fine, which must be settled within 60 days of the notification of this decision.
Claim 2: The match will be replayed in Nigeria as part of Libya’s punishment but if Libya pays the fine within two days, the match will be replayed in Morocco.
Verdict: FALSE
Contrary to this claim, CAF did not mandate a replay of the match in Nigeria. Instead, CAF awarded the Super Eagles of Nigeria three points and three goals for the abandoned matchday 4 fixture of the 2025 AFCON qualifier against Libya.
Also, CAF’s ruling did not stipulate that a match replay will occur in Morocco if Libya pays the fine within two days. Instead, the ruling requires Libya to pay the USD 50,000 fine within 60 days.
Claim 3: Nigeria is next to host the AFCON tournament
Verdict: FALSE
According to CAF’s official website, Morocco, not Nigeria, has been selected to host the upcoming AFCON tournament.
Details of CAF’s Press Statement
The CAF Disciplinary Board met to deliberate on the Total Energies CAF AFCON Morocco 2025 Qualifier that was scheduled between Libya and Nigeria.
The Disciplinary Board decided as follows:
1. Libya Football Federation was found to have breached Article 31 of the Total Energies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Regulations as well as Articles 82 and 151 of the CAF Disciplinary Code.
2. The match No.87 Libya v. Nigeria of the TotalEnergies 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).
3. 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.
4. All other and further motions or prayers for relief are dismissed.
Conclusion
The findings from DUBAWA show that each claim regarding CAF’s decisions was found to be false. The official CAF ruling penalized the Libyan Football Federation with a fine of USD 50,000 but did not include any provisions for a match replay, either in Nigeria or Morocco. Additionally, Morocco is confirmed as the host of the next AFCON, not Nigeria.
