Super Eagles Boycott AFCON Qualifier After Being Held Hostage For Over 13 Hours At Libyan Airport
The Nigerian senior male football players, the Super Eagles, have decided to boycott their scheduled match with the Mediterranean Knights of Libya after being led stranded at Albraq Airport for 12 hours.
The Super Eagles who beat Libya 1-0 on Saturday in Uyo in the first leg of the encounter, had departed Nigeria on Sunday afternoon.
However, for an unknown reasons, the aircraft in which the Super Eagles were flying , was diverted from landing at Benghazi which was their destination to Al Albraq. This happened one hour to their landing at Benghazi. But Benghazi is more than two hours away from Al Abraq by road.
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It was also gathered that the Libyan authorities failed to provide transportation for the Super Eagles to get to their destination.
The airport gate was also said to be locked against the Nigerian players.
But in a statement by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Monday morning, it was made known that the players had become fatigued by their long and indefinite stay at the airport.
The statement said: “Super Eagles still at Al Abraq Airport 12 hours after landing in Libya!
“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.”
Hafsoh Isiaq is a graduate of Linguistics. An avid writer committed to creative, high-quality research and news reportage. She has considerable experience in writing and reporting across a variety of platforms including print and online.
