Libya, championship playoff in Lombardy (but it’s a secret)

Meda is a country of about 23,000 inhabitants at the gates of Brianza. He is famous for his furniture. Igor Cassina, Olympian in gymnastics, Raffaella Masciadri, one of the best Italian basketball players ever, 203 appearances in the national team, and Massimo Crippa, championship with the Napoli of Maradona and former blue, gave the world of sport. From Friday he has an extra curiosity to be counted in his sports notebook: location (one of the three together with the civic arena of Milan and the Breda di Sesto San Giovanni) of the Finals 2025 of the Libyan Maximum Series Football Championship. A unique six -team group with 5 days and races that are played simultaneously, always at 7 pm. All wrapped in mystery. Yes, because despite the fact that it is already the second year that the final phase is held in Italy, finding information about it proves to be a company. The audience is in the dark, no posters that announce the event, no press release, media coverage equal to almost zero, matches behind closed doors.

rejected

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After becoming aware of the calendar thanks to a long research on the Twitter accounts of the teams involved, intrigued, we went to the Città di Meda stadium to attend the match between Alttihad and Akhdar. We are blocked at the first gate, that of the parking lot from a security officer. He explains that the match is behind closed doors and you have to be on the list to be able to enter, but ignor which game is scheduled. When we tell him that it is a race of the Libyan championship, it remains speechless: “Here in Meda? How come ???”. We explain that we are journalists and directs us towards the entry of the stadium, which normally hosts the matches of Renate, team of group A of Serie C. With great courtesy Valentina Battistini, president of the Lombard Regional Committee of the FIGC, to which we deliver an identity document, tries to intercede the competent authorities, or the representatives of the Libyan Federcalcio. The stewards with which we entertain ourselves, tell us that there are Digos men, a Libyan minister and also a group of fans (in fact, you feel the choirs at the entrance to the teams of the teams), probably arrived from Libya, relatives and friends, given that the entrances are armored. Despite Battistini’s good offices, we are not allowed to enter. We will try again with the contacts that are provided to us.

the secret

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The secret that secret is not but is kept hidden almost as if it were, only a few drafts here and there, it must still be revealed. Not that we need Sherlock Holmes to find that the final phase of the Libyan championship is held for the second year in a row in Italy. All this was born from a trip by the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Minister of Sport Andrea Abadi in Libya in May 2024. As part of the Mattei Plan for Africa, he was agreed with Tripoli to play the matches of the final phase of the Libyan Premier League in our country, in exchange for a more rigid regulation on illegal immigration. Initially, Florence, Pisa, Prato and Empoli were chosen as offices, but the Libyan Football Association did not agree in dividing the teams into several hotels between Pisa, Montecatini Terme and Campi Bisenzio. He then folded up on Avellino, L’Aquila and Teramo, certainly stadiums of lower “lineage” but which perhaps guaranteed even greater discretion, just like those chosen this year, also here after at first there was talk of Como and Monza, a voice later denied by the same companies. However, we remained in Lombardy. Moreover, political instability in Libya had forced the championship stop, taken only at the end of May, but without spectators for obvious security reasons, an extra push to “emigrate”.

The party in the parking lot

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A year ago things did not go very well … to General Saddam Haftar, leader of the forces that control the east of Libya and president of Al Nasr Benghazi, had been prevented from entering the field for the awarding of his team, as it was said to avoid representatives of the Italian government politically inappropriate photos. At this point, the son of the General who controls Cyrenaica had ordered his players to desert the award ceremony – who was held at the Marble Stadium in Rome – with the Foreign Minister Tajani forced to deliver medals and cup to a warehouse worker who in turn had then brought everything to the parking lot of the structure, where Haftar and his had celebrated the victory of the championship. Why embarrassment? In Libya there are two governments, which control different parts of the territory: both define themselves as the only legitimate government of the country. Italy recognizes as legitimate only that of Tripoli, which controls the western half of Libya. So not the one in which Haftar is part.

Italia-liberal relations

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Libya is a fundamental economic partner for our country, the first oil supplier with Algeria. In fact, Tripoli covers 21.5% of the national imports of crude oil. The maintenance of good relations with the North Africans is therefore fundamental. The diplomatic problem could recur, however, this year too. In fact, as “the sheet” has written a short time ago, many clubs are owned by militia leaders who suck Libya. For example, Al Ahli Tripoli belonged to Abdel Ghani to Kikli, one of the strongest militias in the capital, killed in May in an ambush. The general manager of the club is Osama Tlesh, who took his place in the west of Libya, a strong man in the feud that has recently reopened for the control of Tripoli.

suspended match

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The curiosity for a certainly exotic football remains, not only for a country like Meda or a suburbs as Sesto San Giovanni, but also for Milan. If it was possible to open the games to the public, certainly more than some enthusiast would have witnessed some of these challenges. For the record, that of Meda was won 2-1 by the Akhdar on the Als Ittihad, to Breda 2-2 between the Swehly and the Hilal, While the highlight, that of the Arena, was suspended in the 45th minute for “indiscipline from benches”. For the referee Sozza there were no conditions to continue in serenity. Al Ahli Tripoli was in the lead 2-0 on the Ahly Benghazi. On June 19, the Tripoli derby between Ahli and Al ittihad had in turn been stopped in the 45th minute after the invasion of the field by a group of ultras, the injury of the referee, two cars and a flame bus in the clashes outside the stadium that continued until late at night. Also for the record, the same teams will meet in front of August 2 at the Breda stadium.