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This is an archive article published on October 20, 1999

Maradona to help Libya

TRIPOLI, OCT 19: Argentine football legend Diego Maradona is due here tomorrow to give a boost to Libyan football after the isolation of ...

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TRIPOLI, OCT 19: Argentine football legend Diego Maradona is due here tomorrow to give a boost to Libyan football after the isolation of seven years of UN sanctions, newspapers here reported.

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi’s son Saadi, who heads the National Football Federation, invited the help of the player notorious for his `hand of god’ and his cocaine habit in a bid to “develop Libyan football,” the newspapers said today.

Libyan football has not made an entirely happy return to the world stage since UN sanctions were suspended in April.

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More than 30 people, including nine policemen, were injured when violent clashes broke out between Libyan fans and security forces during Libya’s Arab Games clash with Iraq in Amman in August.

Libya went out of the games after play was suspended for a second time during the match. And in July, a friendly match between the National team and Italian club side Perugia had to be abandoned after 17 minutes because of a riot among players and officials.

The UnitedNations lifted an air and arms embargo against Libya after two suspects in the 1988 bombing of a US airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, were handed over for trial before a Scottish court in The Netherlands.

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