The South Sudan men’s football team, known as the Bright Stars, faced a distressing ordeal on Sunday when they were left stranded for three hours at Benina International Airport in Benghazi, Libya.
The incident, which left several players feeling ill, marks the second time in five months that a foreign football team has been abandoned at a Libyan airport, raising serious questions about coordination and treatment of visiting teams.
The South Sudan Football Association (SSFA) reported that the team had traveled from Egypt to Libya for the second leg of the FIFA 2026 World Cup Qualifiers against Sudan. Upon arrival on Sunday morning, the team expected to be greeted by a representative from the Sudanese side to facilitate their entry. However, the SSFA stated that the Sudanese coordinator failed to appear for hours, leaving the players in limbo.
The situation escalated when Libyan migration authorities seized the players’ passports, citing the absence of South Sudanese coordinators as justification. After three hours of uncertainty, the migration officers permitted the team to leave the airport, but retained their passports as a guarantee, according to the SSFA.
The SSFA said in a statement. “As a result of these unfortunate events at the hands of the Sudan Football Association, most of the players are currently sick, others exhausted, and others mentally affected.
“The SSFA condemned the treatment as “disrespectful and unacceptable” and urged FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to hold those responsible accountable. Later that day, the team managed to hold a training session at Benina Martyrs International Stadium, where Valentino Yuel Kuach, a player for Libya’s Murooj FC, joined the squad.
This incident echoes a similar ordeal faced by the Nigerian national football team in October 2024. The Super Eagles were stranded for 12 hours in a remote Libyan airport ahead of an Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier match. The CAF Disciplinary Board subsequently fined the Libyan Football Federation $50,000 and awarded Nigeria three points for the disrupted game.