Tripoli: World soccer's governing body FIFA has lifted a ban on Libya hosting soccer matches, the Libyan Football Federation said, despite the North African country still facing precarious security after the 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi.
FIFA did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The move comes after a decision last month by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to again allow continental club competition matches to be hosted in Libya.
"They (FIFA) only informed us yesterday that the ban on Libya stadiums was lifted," Anwar al-Tashani, president of the Libyan Football Federation, told Reuters on Thursday.
He said the first game would be played in Tripoli between Libya and Democratic Republic of Congo. Previously Libyan clubs used neutral venues to host their matches while the Libyan national side have played 'home' World Cup and African Nations Cup qualifiers in Mali, Egypt and Tunisia over the last 24 months.
Libyan club Al Nasr were allowed to host the April 5 African Confederation Cup tie against Morocco's Royal Armed Forces at home in Benghazi in the first competitive international match in the country for two years. This followed an inspection by a three-man CAF delegation in March.
Some 18 months after Gaddafi's ouster, Libya's new rulers are still struggling to impose their authority on a country awash with weapons and armed militias who often take the law into their own hands.
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