Rivers Utd, Celtic game likely to hold in Benin Republic

The second leg continental match between Nigerian representatives, Rivers United and Bloemfontein Celtic will now likely hold in Republic of Benin following the decision taken on Monday by the Confederation of African Football.

The match was initially scheduled to be take place on 6 January in Port Harcourt.

However, Celtic could not travel to Nigeria due to the strict Coronavirus regulations by the Nigerian Government which required the South African club to be quarantined for seven days upon arrival as South Africa is designated as one of the high risk countries.

The decision to reschedule the match comes after SAFA reached out to CAF to seek guidance on the matter after Celtic’s initial appeal to the Nigerian FA and Nigerian government was turned down.

The CAF Committee has now decided on the following:

“The match will be rescheduled for the weekend of the 22-24 January 2021 and it will be played in a neighbouring country to Nigeria with more lenient COVID-19 protocols regarding travellers coming from South Africa.”

Close watchers believe that Benin Republic is the likely host candidate.

“The Nigerian Football Federation is to decide and communicate the venue, date, kick-off time and the approval of the neutral host association by January 12th at the latest.

“The designation of the match officials are maintained.

“Rivers United will take charge of all organizational expenses in the neutral country as the host club and to ensure that the visiting team has the approval for entry in the neutral country.”