IN SHORT: A claim that the Confederation of African Football has issued a list of sanctions against Libya has gone viral on Facebook. But there is no evidence to support this claim.
A message circulating on Facebook in October 2024 claims that the Confederation of African Football, or CAF, has drawn up a list of sanctions against Libya.
CAF is the governing body of African football. Its founding members are Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia and South Africa. The secretariat is based in Egypt and it has 54 member associations.
The message begins: “BREAKING NEWS: CAF SANCTIONS LIBYA Over Maltreatment On Nigeria International Stars and Coaching Crew.”
In October 2024, Nigeria's Super Eagles pulled out of their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifier against Libya after an unpleasant experience at a Libyan airport.
The Nigerian national football team reported that they were left at the Libyan airport for hours without food or water.
The Libyan Football Federation has since criticised Nigeria's decision to pull out of the qualifiers and threatened legal action.
The incident sparked a diplomatic row between the two countries, and the 2025 Afcon qualifier between Libya and Nigeria remains in doubt.
Nigerian president Bola Tinubu has called for Libya to be sanctioned for “mistreating” the Super Eagles, and it's in this context that some users have claimed that CAF sanctioned Libya.
Other sanctions listed in the viral claim include a US$10 million fine for damages.
Similar posts can be found here and here. (Note: See more instances at the end of this report.)
But did CAF really impose sanctions on Libya? We checked.
No evidence
No credible media organisation has reported that Libya has been sanctioned. If the claim were true, it would have made headlines.
On 15 October, the CAF issued a statement on the controversy, stating that the match would not take place as planned and that it would be "referred to the competent CAF bodies".
Before postponing the match indefinitely, CAF announced that the matter had been referred to their disciplinary committee for investigation. It noted that appropriate action would be taken against those found to have violated CAF statutes and regulations.
If the disciplinary board had reached a decision, we would find a document on the matter in the CAF repository of disciplinary decisions. We did not.
We also reached out to CAF via email but are yet to receive a reply.
Ademola Olajire, director of communications at the Nigeria Football Federation, described the claim as “fake news” and told us to ignore it.
“The Disciplinary Committee is yet to even set a date for their meeting,” he said.
Similar posts can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.
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