Football in Lebanon

DPHB at Beirut Municipal Stadium's inaugural match in 1935

Football in Lebanon was introduced by the educated class in Lebanon.[6] First played by foreign teachers at the American University of Beirut (AUB) in the late-1800s, football quickly grew in popularity with the immigration of Armenians to Lebanon during the French Mandate.[6] Football was seen as an elite activity, and was mainly played in Christian schools.[6]

In 1931 Khalil Hilmi, a member of Riyadi, attempted to form a Federation.[7] However, the proposal failed as Nahda opposed the formation.[7] On 22 March 1933, representatives of thirteen football clubs gathered in the Minet El Hosn district in Beirut to form the Lebanese Football Association (LFA).[8] Hussein Sejaan was the LFA's first president.[9] Lebanon was one of the first nations in the Middle East to establish an administrative body for association football.[lower-alpha 1][10] The Lebanese Premier League began in May 1934, with Nahda winning the first title.[11] The LFA joined FIFA in 1936.[12]

The first activity of the Lebanese national team began in 1935. Beirut XI, representing Lebanon, played against CA Timișoara (T.A.C.) of Romania:[13][14] the game was considered the national team's first.[15] The national team's first official FIFA game was a 5–1 loss to Mandatory Palestine on 27 April 1940,[16] with Camille Cordahi scoring Lebanon's first official international goal.[17]

Lineup of the Lebanon national team at the 1966 Arab Cup

Most clubs were born on the basis of sectarianism, such as Sagesse being Maronite Christian, Nahda a Greek Orthodox team, and Ansar having a predominantly Sunni Muslim fanbase.[6] A rivalry was established between Ansar and another Beirut club, Nejmeh: dubbed the Beirut derby, the match has been considered the biggest club football match in Lebanon.[18]

Between the 1940s and 1960s,[6] Armenian clubs, most notably Homenetmen and Homenmen, were the most prominent in the early Lebanese footballing scene.[19] The two clubs shared 11 league titles in 16 seasons between 1943 and 1969.[11] In 1964 the LFA joined the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).[12]

Between the 1960s and 1975 Lebanese football was at its peak, with Nejmeh even beating USSR champions Ararat Yerevan in 1974.[20] In 1975, one week before the Lebanese Civil War, Brazilian player Pelé played a friendly game for Nejmeh against a team of Lebanese Premier League stars.[21] On the day of the game, 40,000 spectators were at the stadium from early morning to watch the match.[21] From 1975 to 1990, the civil war made it impossible to practice football.[22]

Lebanon during the 2019 Asian Cup game against Saudi Arabia

Following the civil war, players from lower-income families began to join football clubs, specifically from impoverished Sunni and Shia areas.[18] Ansar set a Guinness World Record by winning 11 consecutive national titles between 1988 and 1999.[23]

Lebanon hosted the 2000 AFC Asian Cup, with the national team finishing last in the group with only two points.[24] In 2001, the LFA joined the West Asian Football Federation (WAFF) as one of its founding members.[25] From 2000, Nejmeh were the dominating force in Lebanon, winning five out of nine league titles until 2009. In 2005 they reached the final of the AFC Cup, becoming the first Lebanese side to do so.[26] However they lost to Al-Faisaly 4–2 on aggregate.[27] During the 2010s Ahed, who had only won one league title prior, won six league titles. In the 2010–11 season Ahed won the league, cup, Super Cup and Elite Cup, becoming the first team in Lebanon to accomplish both a treble and a quadruple.[28]

After winning the 2018–19 Lebanese Premier League Ahed became the three-time defending champions, a feat accomplished only one other time, by Ansar in 1992.[29] In 2018 the national team qualified for their first ever major tournament: the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. They won their first game in the tournament on 17 January 2019, against North Korea 4–1 in the group stage; however, they narrowly missed out on the knock-out stage on the fair play rule.[30] On 4 November 2019, Ahed became the first Lebanese side to win the AFC Cup after defeating April 25 in the 2019 final.[31] The 2019–20 season was cancelled due to financial reasons amid the then-impending coronavirus pandemic.[32][33]

The Lebanon national team played its first (unofficial) international game in 1935, against Romanian side CA Timișoara (TAC).[35] Their first FIFA-ratified game came in 1940, in a 5–1 defeat to Mandatory Palestine.[36]

Lebanon hosted the 2000 AFC Asian Cup and were eliminated from the group stage.[2] They participated in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, their first through regular qualification,[37] winning their first game in the competition against North Korea in the group stage. However, Lebanon narrowly missed out on the knock-out stages by the fair-play rule.[30]

At youth level, the U20 team took part in the AFC U-20 Asian Cup twice, reaching the quarter-finals in the 1973 edition.[38] The U18 team made history as the first Lebanon men's national team to play in a final, finishing as runners-up in the 2021 WAFF U-18 Championship after losing to hosts Iraq on penalty shoot-outs.[39] A year later, the U16 team reached the final of the 2022 WAFF U-16 Championship, where they lost to hosts Jordan 1–0.[40]