Bloemfontein Celtic were supposed to be in action in their CAF Confederation Cup first round second leg tie against Rivers United in Nigeria on Wednesday, but the match will not take place and the reason has since been revealed.
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A letter, which has been seen by the Siya crew, has been written by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) acting Secretary General Mohammed Sanusi to CAF requesting that the second leg tie, which was set to be staged in Nigeria on 6 January, be postponed and relocated to a neighbouring country with less stringent COVID-19 regulations.
"I kindly refer you to the subject matter and regrettably inform you that, our request for a waiver for the Bloemfontein Celtic FC contingent to Nigeria for the CAF CC Match #70 has been declined by the Authorities.
"We had high hopes of getting the waiver before the end of working day today, but unfortunately the request was not approved.
"This must be as a result of the alarming surge in rising numbers of GOVID-19 infections across the country and not targeted at any demographic group or country," the letter read in part.
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The reason for this request came after Nigerian authorities declined a waiver from the NFF to host the match in Nigeria, due to the country's alarming surge in COVID-19 cases.
Celtic have confirmed to the crew that they were set to travel to Nigeria, but were restricted from doing so by the Nigerian government. The club has also revealed that they are now awaiting a response from CAF regarding the postponement and relocation of the match.
Celtic currently trail Rivers United 2-0 on aggregate.
Click through the gallery above for all the action from the first leg fixture.
