The Confederation of Africa Football has called off Rivers United and Bloemfontein Celtic’s Confederation Cup tie slated for Wednesday (today) in Port Harcourt.
The continental body via its official Twitter handle on Tuesday approved the Nigeria Football Federation’s request to postpone the tie.
CAF tweeted: “Nigeria Football Federation last night stayed that the South African delegation cannot be exempted from the required quarantine.
“The match shall not take place as scheduled, Wednesday, January 6, 2021.
“The case will be submitted to the competent body within CAF to decide on the appropriate course of action to follow and decision shall be communicated in due time.”
The NFF said the request followed the refusal of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control to step down on some of the COVID-19 protocols such as the quarantine period for the South African contingent.
In its letter, the NFF asked for the “postponement of the game and a possible rescheduling of both the date and venue of the match, with the possibility of staging the match in any Nigeria neighbouring countries with a little less stringent Covid-19 protocols.”
South Africa is the source of a new variant of the coronavirus, which is far more transmissible than the original strain.
Rivers United won the first leg 2-0 in South Africa a fortnight ago.