The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has awarded a three-point win to the Super Eagles of Nigeria in the 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier with Libya which failed to be held in October 2024.
CAF also fined Libya $50,000 without the option of appeal over the ill-treatment of Super Eagles players by Libyan authorities at the Al Abaq Airport in the North African country.
The African football governing body announced this in a statement on Saturday.
The statement read: “The CAF Disciplinary Board met to deliberate on the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 Qualifier that was scheduled between Libya and Nigeria.
“The Disciplinary Board decided as follows:
“Libya Football Federation was found to have breached Article 31 of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Regulations as well as Articles 82 and 151 of the CAF Disciplinary Code.
“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).
“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.”
Super Eagles captain William Troost-Ekong also spoke on the development via a post on his X account.
Troost-Ekong wrote: “JUSTICE: CAF awards three points and three goals to Nigeria. Libya fined $50,000.
“Plane was diverted 300km from scheduled airport even when the pilot told them he was low on fuel.
“One step closer to our target AFCON 2025 🇳🇬”
CAF had earlier said its Disciplinary Board for Investigation had commenced an investigation into the incident, noting that appropriate action will be taken against violators of the Federation’s rules.
This was after the Super Eagles were held hostage by Libyan authorities at the Al Abaq Airport.
The Super Eagles players were left stranded overnight in the airport and forced to sleep on hard floors and plastic chairs without any access to food or water.
The team were billed to play Libya in the return leg of the 2025 AFCON qualifiers on October 15.
Nigeria had earlier defeated Libya 1-0 in the first leg in Akwa Ibom to maintain leadership of Group D.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, also said the Libyan authorities refused to grant the Nigerian government access to where Super Eagles were held.
