LIBAYAN club Al Ittihad have declared themselves qualified for the group phase of the CAF Confederation Cup at the expense of Enyimba.
Although the Nigerian club won the first leg of the playoff tie 2-0 and the return leg is yet to be played, Al Ittihad insist they have advanced via a walkover.
The Deputy Secretary-General of the Libyan Football Federation, Mohamed Qremida, claimed over the weekend that Ittihad had officially qualified for the group stage of the Confederation Cup, declaring that Enyimba withdrew from the return match that was scheduled for Sunday at the Benina Martyrs Stadium in Benghazi.
According to the Libyan Observer, Qremida said that the Nigerian team had notified CAF that they would not be able to play Sunday’s match, and thus Ittihad will qualify directly for the group stage, whose draw will take place next week.
However, Enyimba and CAF have not made any statements on the matter after the Nigerian side requested a change of date from the governing body.CAF had on Thursday rejected Enyimba’s request to either cancel the match, play it on another ground other than Libya, or postpone it to a later date.
After CAF rejected their request, Enyimba sent another request to Ittihad to postpone the match to the 31st of December, saying that 48 hours was not enough to make travelling arrangements, including visas and airline tickets.
Ittihad also rejected the Nigerian club’s request and said there would be no postponement of the match.
The tie became complicated after Enyimba were unable to reach Tunisia in time for what was initially billed to be the first leg, as the Tunisian authorities did not allow them entry due to strict Covid-19 restrictions.
CAF then ordered that the original schedule for the second leg should be retained while a new date would be fixed for the return leg.
Enyimba won the first fixture 2-0 in Aba but claimed they were informed too late about the new date for the second game, now shifted to Benghazi.
