In October 2026, Libya's Ministry of Sports established a committee to review and update sports-sector regulations under Sports Law No. 23 of 2023. Its priorities include rules governing federations and financial regulation.
The review covers federation rules and financial regulation, but it has not settled who represents billiards and snooker. Tareq Al-Arifi, head of the federation's founding committee, has taken the dispute directly to the sports minister. He says sidelining his body for what he calls an unlawful federation is damaging the sport.
Al-Arifi challenges the basis for the previous federation
Speaking to Al-Wasat, Al-Arifi said the grounds used to impose the previous federation were entirely invalid because billiards and snooker are not Olympic sports. He says his founding committee officially represents the international and African federations.
Those are Al-Arifi's claims. The supplied report includes no response from the previous federation and no independent ruling on which body is legitimate. Available independent results include no published court ruling or ministry order confirming the founding committee's exclusive authority. Nor is there a document from the international or African federations declaring the previous federation unlawful.
Appeal for ministerial intervention
At the committee's first meeting, Sports Minister Fouad Barghash said regulatory procedures should be completed and implementing provisions for the Sports Law prepared. The Libya News Agency report describes sector-wide rulemaking and does not announce a decision on the billiards and snooker federation.
A clear ministry decision would establish which body can represent the sport. Available reporting has not confirmed that Barghash issued a decision recognizing either competing body after Al-Arifi's appeal. The publicly documented action is the wider review of sports-sector rules.
