By Callum Paton.
Tripoli, 16 March 2014:
The Libya 2017 Committee has vehemently denied reports that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) is . . .[restrict]considering withdrawing the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations from Libya over security problems.
Member of the Libya 2017 Africa Cup of Nations Committee Mohammed Mensli dismissed as “baloney'” and “a load of absolute rubbish” reports on Al-Wasat news portal claiming that CAF was reconsidering whether Libya could host the competition.
“We had this last year when Algeria tried to undermine our bid,” he said. “We are in constant contact with CAF and have meetings planned in the short term.
“They [Al-Wasat] are playing the security card and we are miles away from this being an issue. There may have been some political manoeuvres recently but these do not impact on day-to-day security,” he added.
The Al-Wasat article, published yesterday, quotes unnamed sources as saying there were worries within CAF over Libya’s ability to secure famous and valuable African players attached to European clubs during the competition. Mensli told this paper he did not know the origin of these claims but doubted they came from outside Libya.
Libya had been scheduled to host the 2013 Nations Cup but the competition was transferred to South Africa, who had been down for the 2017 event, in the aftermath of the revolution.
The Libya 2017 Committee returned today from a series of meeting and talks in Europe where in the UK, officials met the management team for London’s Wembley Stadium and with organisers of the London 2012 Olympics. [/restrict]
