BEIRUT: Lebanon’s forthcoming friendly match with Ivory Coast has been cancelled due to travel reasons although the Cedars are still set to meet Iraq in two weeks time.

The friendly, which was scheduled as a warm-up both for the Ivory Coast’s preparations for the African Nations Cup and Lebanon’s final Asian World Cup qualifier with the UAE, was supposed to be played on Jan. 17.

Lebanon will still meet Iraq on Jan. 22 at the Rafik Hariri Stadium in Sidon, instead of the Tripoli Municipality stadium where the game was initially scheduled.

The Lebanese Football Association general secretary Rahif Alameh confirmed to The Daily Star that the friendly had been cancelled because of Ivory Coast’s insistence on playing the game in the UAE where they are currently based in a training camp preparing for the African Nations Cup.

The Lebanon national team are basing their preparations in Tripoli and preferred to play the game on home soil to avoid travel costs and lost training time.

The forthcoming friendly match with Iraq will be played in Sidon due to the lack of floodlights at the Tripoli Municipality stadium and logistical reasons surrounding television coverage.

Lebanon will play Qatar in Doha in February as part of further preparation for their crunch tie with the UAE on Feb. 29.