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Nigeria players will boycott their upcoming African Cup of Nations qualifier after claiming they were locked in an airport in Libya for 12 hours “without food or drink”.
The Super Eagles were due to face Libya in an Afcon qualifier on Tuesday evening but will now refuse to play the match after their flight into the country was diverted to a smaller airport, where they remained stuck for hours.
The Nigeria squad – including Premier League stars such as Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi, Nottingham Forest duo Ola Aina and Taiwo Awoniyi and Fulham’s Alex Iwobi and Calvin Bassey – were due to land in Benghazi but instead saw their plane sent to Al Albraq airport, about two hours away.
Players then posted on social media saying no transportation was provided by Libyan authorities, there was no food and drink available and the airport gate was locked, to leave them stranded.
The situation comes after Libyan players claimed their own players were treated badly in Nigeria ahead of the Super Eagles’s 1-0 win over the weekend – which was denied by the Nigeran Football Federation (NFF), who have since released a statement saying they will boycotting Tuesday’s match.
Video showing officials of the Super Eagles on Nigeria at Al Abaq airport. The team, en route for their AFCON 2025 qualifier, had their flight diverted just an hour before landing, forcing them to arrive at a city over two hours away from Benghazi, their original destination. pic.twitter.com/sLOPWqseHV
— SuperFM 96.3 (@Superfm963) October 14, 2024
The NFF statement said: “The delegation of Nigeria to Tuesday’s 2025 AFCON qualifier against Libya still remained at the Al Abraq Airport 12 hours after landing in Libya.
“The chartered ValueJet aircraft was, strangely and in a dangerous manner, diverted to the small airport away from Benghazi just as the pilot was completing his approach to the Benghazi Airport. We understand the Al Abraq International Airport is only used for hajj operations.
“Fatigued players and officials have remained nonplussed as the host Libyan Football Federation failed to send any reception team or even vehicles to take the delegation members from the airport to their hotel, said to be 3 hours away in Benghazi.
“The NFF made arrangements for separate vehicles for the team but the plan was unhinged by the diversion of the aircraft. Players have resolved not to play the match any longer as NFF officials are making plans to fly the team back home.”
Nigeria captain William Troost-Ekong articulated the issues faced by the squad in a series of posts on Twitter/X.
— William Troost-Ekong (M.O.N) (@WTroostEkong) October 14, 2024
Troost-Ekong wrote: “12+ hours in an abandoned airport in Lybia after our plane was diverted whilst descending. Lybian government rescinded our approved landing in Benghazi with no reason. They’ve locked the airport gates and left us without phone connection, food or drink. All to play mind games.
“I’ve experienced stuff before playing away in Africa but this is disgraceful behaviour. Even the Tunisian Pilot who thankfully managed to navigate the last minute change to an airport not fit for our plane to land had never seen something like this before.
“Upon arrival he tried to find a nearby airport to rest with his crew to be denied at every hotel again under Government instruction. He could sleep there but NO NIGERIAN crew members allowed. They have returned to now sleep on the plane which is parked up.
“At this point we have called for our Nigerian Government to intervene and rescue us. As the captain together with the team we have decided that we will NOT play this game. CAF should look at the report and what is happening here. Even if they decide to allow.
“This kind of behaviour, let them have the points. We will not accept to travel anywhere by road here even with security it’s not safe. We can only imagine what the hotel or food would be like given to us IF we continued. We respect ourselves and respect our opponents when they are our guests in Nigeria. Mistakes happen but these things on purpose have nothing to do with int. football.”
