CAFCC: Enyimba stranded at Casablanca ahead Al Ittihad clash in Tunisia

Nigeria’s representative at the CAF Confederation Cup, Enyimba International FC, have been left stranded in Morocco’s Casablanca Airport since Thursday after the Tunisian immigration officers refused to allow them board Tunisia flight.

The Tunisian officials are demanding that they should produce their Covid-19 vaccination cards before they are granted passage, for their play-off match against Al Ittihad of Lybia on Sunday.

The team began the journey from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, in the early hours of Thursday and were to transit in Casablanca before arriving Tunis.

Upon arrival in Casablanca at around 9:30am, the team was informed that access to Tunisia would only be granted if every member of the delegation could provide proof of Covid-19 vaccination.

Efforts were made by the club and the Nigerian embassy in Tunisia to get special waivers but none proved fruitful.

The only other available option is to quarantine in Tunisia for 7 days, but with the match scheduled for Sunday, that is not even a possibility.

As a result, the team spent the whole of Thursday at the Muhammed V International Airport in Casablanca, without food and in the cold as their Moroccan transit visas would not let them go into the city.

To put things into perspective, neither CAF nor Al Ittihad informed Enyimba ahead of time that the game would be played in Tunisia, and neither responded to the club’s series of letters requesting the match venue.

According to report, as a result, Enyimba had already secured Libyan visas before later scooping that the game would be played in Tunisia. This information came just few days to the match.

With no clarity on the situation yet, the Enyimba team is still completely stranded in Casablanca.

However, Best Choice Sports understands that the Confederation of Africa Football, CAF confimed the new venue of the match on Sunday, November 21.

CAF in its website noted that “The First Leg of the Additional 2nd Preliminary Round of the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup 2021/22 will be played on Sunday 28 November 2021 across the continent.”

In the presser, CAF listed Al Masry vs Enyimba class to hold at the “Stade Mustapha Ben Jannet – Monastir (Tunisia)” by 6pm Tunisian time.