CAF president warns African nations against poor treatment of visiting teams
The Confederation of African Football President Patrice Motsepe has cautioned African nations and clubs against subjecting visiting teams to inhuman treatment by failing to provide adequate transportation, accommodations, or training facilities.
Mr Motsepe made the remarks on Tuesday during a media briefing at the CAF 46th Ordinary General Assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
This is following the latest embarrassing incident, which occurred when three-time African champions, Nigeria, visited Benghazi for the AFCON 2025 qualifier second leg against the Mediterranean Knights of Libya.
The Super Eagles were forced to spend over 15 hours at the Al Abraq Airport without food or water in a hostage-like situation, which forced the game to be cancelled.
The CAF boss made his stand clear on the issue, warning that appropriate action would be taken against countries flouting the CAF rules.
He said, “I have heard too many stories of a football club or national team going to a country. You spend hours at the airport, and they ask you about documents. Apparently, during COVID, they would look at who the best players are from your team and say those 10 players have COVID-19. You tell them that you have just been tested, and they say no, you have COVID.
“But it’s this lack of sportsmanship that has existed, and we haven’t taken effective action. If there are violations of those regulations and rules, we will take action. So, I just want to repeat, we are proud of those nations that treat visiting teams and football clubs with the respect and dignity that they deserve. But also, who treats them in the same way that they want to be treated when they visit those clubs? We are reviewing those laws, and we want to emphasise sportsmanship.’’
Mr Motsepe explained that he could not comment directly on the Nigeria/Libya situation due to the ongoing investigation by CAF’s Disciplinary Board.
“But I want to emphasise that we will not tolerate it because this is something that has been ongoing for some time. Let me emphasise, forget about the Nigeria and Libya situation because that process is being properly investigated and appropriate action will be taken,” he said.
Both nations are expected to receive the verdict from the continent’s football apex body, the Disciplinary Committee, on Wednesday.
(NAN)
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