Africa’s football governing body, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), has approved the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Abuja, for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, according to dailypost.
According to the Nigeria news portal, the CAF has stated in a letter to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), “that the ground will be used for the 2023 AFCON qualifier between the Super Eagles and and Leone Stars of Sierra Leone next month”.
To recall, it was widely speculated that the facility will be barred from hosting international matches in the following the crowd disturbances that trailed the second leg of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifier against Ghana on March 29. It had not been clear what CAF would do concerning the incident as way of sanctions, but the current approval will now bring into finality any further doubts and speculations concerning the fate of the 60, 000 capacity Abuja based edifice.
However, it must be noted that FIFA, on Monday, May 2, announced that it has imposed sanctions on Nigeria and that the Nigeria vs Sierra Leone game will be played behind closed doors in addition to a fine of $150,000 on Nigeria for the disturbances after that World Cup qualifier.
Nigeria have been drawn into Group A of the AFCON 2023 qualifiers with Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau and Sao Tome and Principe.
