2018–19 Lebanese Premier League Explained

Competition:Lebanese Premier League
Season:2018–19
Winners:Ahed
7th title
Relegated:Bekaa
Racing Beirut
Continentalcup1:AFC Cup
Continentalcup1 Qualifiers:Ahed
Ansar
Matches:132
Total Goals:315
League Topscorer:El Hadji Malick Tall
(19 goals)
League Topscorer Section:Top goalscorers
Best Goalkeeper:Mehdi Khalil (16 clean sheets)
Biggest Home Win:Ahed 6–0 Safa
(23 September 2018)
Biggest Away Win:Akhaa Ahli 1–6 Ahed
(6 April 2019)
Highest Scoring:Salam Zgharta 2–6 Ansar
(7 December 2018)
Shabab Sahel 5–3 Bekaa
(13 April 2019)
Longest Wins:16 matches
Ahed
Longest Unbeaten:20 matches
Ahed
Longest Winless:12 matches
Bekaa
Longest Losses:7 matches
Bekaa
Prevseason:2017–18
Nextseason:2019–20

The 2018–19 Lebanese Premier League season began on 21 September 2018 and concluded on 21 April 2019. 2018–19 was the 58th season of the Lebanese Premier League, the top Lebanese professional league for association football clubs in the country, established in 1934.

Ahed were the defending champions. Shabab Sahel and Chabab Ghazieh joined as the promoted clubs from the 2017–18 Lebanese Second Division. They replaced Shabab Arabi and Islah who were relegated to the 2018–19 Lebanese Second Division. Ahed won their third consecutive Lebanese Premier League title, and seventh overall, with two games to spare.

Summary

Issues

The 2018–19 season was one of the worst for Lebanese football since the Lebanese Civil War for various issues.[1]

The first issue was the poor preparation and management of most clubs. Nejmeh had changed their head coach twice and bought five of ten summer signings only in the last week of the transfer window. Ansar changed their coach a week before the season began and signed two players in the last days of the transfer window. The league's smaller clubs had other problems. Tadamon Sour found themselves without a head coach or president at the start of the season. Tripoli also began the season without a head coach, as well as having not signed any new players. Nabi Chit SC changed their name to Bekaa SC in a failed attempt to attract more investors. Overall, only five of twelve teams kept their manager from the previous season, and most summer acquisitions were concluded in the final days of the signing window.

The second issue concerned the tensions between the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) and the clubs, with the referees' performances being the hot topic. Clubs like Ansar and Nejmeh protested to the Federation, threatening to leave the league if no improvements were to be made. These tensions culminated with the resignation of Semaan Douaihy, a member of the Executive Committee of the LFA. Salam Zgharta FC and Racing Beirut announcing their withdrawal from all LFA-managed competitions.

The final issue the league faced was the re-emergence of match-fixing. While the LFA proved its existence, it made no effort to punish the parties involved or to cancel the results of the implicated teams.

League summary

Al Ahed FC won their third consecutive title with a ten-point margin. The battle for second place went down to the wire, with Ansar claiming an AFC Cup spot from Nejmeh in the last matchday of the league. The relegation battle was also determined on the last matchday, with eight of the 12 teams all candidates for relegation. The Beirut Municipal Stadium and the Fouad Chehab Stadium returned to host Lebanese Premier League matches.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Prior to the start of each season, every team chooses two stadiums as their home venues. In case both stadiums are unavailable for a certain matchday, another venue is used.

TeamHome cityStadiumCapacity2017–18 season
AhedBeirutVarious1st in the Lebanese Premier League
Akhaa AhliAleyAmin AbdelNour Stadium5th in the Lebanese Premier League
AnsarBeirutVarious4th in the Lebanese Premier League
BekaaAl-Nabi ShaythNabi Chit Stadium10th in the Lebanese Premier League
Chabab GhaziehGhaziehKfarjoz Stadium2nd in the Lebanese Second Division
NejmehBeirutVarious2nd in the Lebanese Premier League
Racing BeirutBeirutFouad Chehab Stadium9th in the Lebanese Premier League
SafaBeirutVarious3rd in the Lebanese Premier League
Salam ZghartaZghartaZgharta Stadium6th in the Lebanese Premier League
Shabab SahelBeirutVarious1st in the Lebanese Second Division
Tadamon SourTyreSour Stadium7th in the Lebanese Premier League
TripoliTripoliTripoli Municipal Stadium8th in the Lebanese Premier League

League table

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

!Rank!Player!Club!Goals[2] [3] !Appearances
1align=left El Hadji Malick Tallalign=left Ansar1920
2align=left Ahmad Hijazialign=left Akhaa Ahli1119
3align=left Martin Toshevalign=left Ahed1014
4align=left Ali Alaaeddinealign=left Nejmeh919
align=left Abdou Aziz Ndiayealign=left Shabab Sahel919
6align=left Hassan Maatoukalign=left Nejmeh719
align=left Stephen Kwadwo Sarfoalign=left Tadamon Sour720
align=left Jean Christian Kekealign=left Chabab Ghazieh721
align=left Carlos Albertoalign=left Akhaa Ahli722
align=left Monialign=left Ansar722

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Poor preparations, match-fixing and tensions between clubs and the FA result in worst domestic season in recent years. Afiouni. Nadim. 2019-06-01. FA Lebanon. en-US. 2020-01-18.
  2. Web site: Lebanese League 2018/2019 Scorers. www.goalzz.com. 6 October 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20181006235750/http://www.goalzz.com/main.aspx?c=15940&scorers=true. 6 October 2018. live.
  3. LebanonFG