Libya U23

The under-23 side answers to the Libyan Football Federation, formed in 1962 and brought into FIFA and CAF two years later. Its earliest recorded outings go back to 2008, when the team finished second at the Indonesia Independence Cup after forfeiting the final to the hosts at half-time, and to March 2009, when a 2-1 loss to Syria opened Benina Martyrs Stadium.

Olympic qualifying has been a repeated dead end. South Africa eliminated Libya on aggregate in 2011, Mauritania advanced on a walkover in 2015, and Rwanda won 3-0 in the 2023 round. The closest the team came was in 2019, when it beat Nigeria 2-0 away in the first leg in Tunisia but did not lose the tie on aggregate after the return leg. That squad carried names such as Islam Yahya and Salah Fakrun, and by 2022 the pool had started drawing in professionals based abroad.

Games at home have been rare. The team plays its fixtures at the Tripoli International Stadium, a ground that staged the 1982 African Cup of Nations final and now holds up to 45,000 after renovations completed in 2024, but Libya's senior side did not play a home international there until September 2024, against Congo, having gone without one since 2013. The under-23s share the senior team's nickname, the Mediterranean Knights, along with its red, black and white colours.

No Olympic Games appearance and no Africa U23 Cup of Nations finals appearance sit on the record so far, with qualification for 2027 now underway against Togo.