“The atmosphere is celebrating! “smiles Hani, a forty-something from Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city. After a long football embargo, the national team played, Thursday March 25, the first international match on its soil for seven years. “It gives us hope. We badly need these moments of joy ”, launches the supporter. After a long absence he is ” happy “ to see again the “Knights of the Mediterranean” (the nickname of the Libyan selection) once again treading a stadium in the country.
And regardless of the large defeat Thursday evening against the Tunisian neighbor (5-2), synonymous with non-qualification for the next African Cup of Nations (CAN), which will take place in Cameroon in January 2022. Tunisia had it , already validated his ticket before the meeting.
It is the Benghazi stadium (east), cradle of the 2011 revolution, which hosted this first meeting since the lifting of the embargo imposed by the African Football Confederation (CAF) for security reasons. Since the start of the second Libyan civil war in 2014, the country’s clubs as well as the selection have played their international matches abroad, mainly with their Tunisian and Egyptian neighbors.
The end of restrictions comes as Libya tries to turn the page on a decade of chaos. Stuck in divisions after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, the country has in fact just acquired, at the end of a process overseen by the UN, a unified government responsible for leading the transition to national elections at the end of December.
“We are tired of divisions”
It was in the wake of this political upturn that CAF announced at the end of February the lifting of restrictions. “It is up to us to continue to demonstrate that our stadiums are safe”, then reacted the new Prime Minister, Abdelhamid Dbeibah, responsible for leading the transition until national elections at the end of December. He himself had led the Tripolitan club of Al-Ittihad after the 2011 revolt.
Failing to find the stands – the meeting took place without an audience because of health restrictions linked to Covid-19 – many supporters took to the multiple cafes broadcasting the match, such as those located at the foot of an imposing Ottoman palace in downtown Benghazi. Watch the national team play on their soil “Makes us forget the wars and gives us a positive energy”, breaths a supporter at a table in one of his cafes. “This is good news for all of Libya. In addition the team played well “, interrupts his companion.
In Tripoli, the match was broadcast on a giant screen installed on the Place des Martyrs, a vast esplanade lined with palm trees and buildings with Italian architecture in the heart of the capital, formerly called “Place Verte”. Gaddafi liked to make speeches there. “We missed the international matches very much, smiles Hafed, a sexagenarian from Tripolitania. The word “national” takes on its full meaning today, because we are tired of divisions. ”
“It’s an important event, says Adel, also from Tripoli. Seeing selected players from different regions, cities and Libyan communities is proof of our cohesion. “