June 25, 2026
Although the 2026 World Cup Finals are currently being played, with up to 6 matches a day at the moment, football continues to be played around the globe, particularly in countries which failed to qualify for the finals in Canada, Mexico and the USA. Today was an opportunity to add Lebanon to the list of countries covered in these diaries.
Lebanon National Side
The national side are currently 115th in the FIFA rankings, having been as high as 77th in 2018. However, their cause has not been helped by the recent conflicts with Israel resulting in not being able to play a home match since a 1-0 home win over Jordan in a friendly in December 2023.
Lebanon have never qualified for the World Cup Finals but have reached the AFC Asian Cup finals on three occasions. The first time was in 2000 when they were the hosts but a 0-4 loss to Iran and draws with Iraq ( 2-2 ) and Thailand ( 1-1 ) saw them fail to get out of their group.
In the 2019 tournament held in the UAE, Lebanon actually won a game, a 4-1 victory over North Korea, but earlier defeats to Qatar ( 0-2 ) and Saudi Arabia ( 0-2 ) saw The Cedars exit the competition.
The 2023 tournament was held in Qatar, and Lebanon finished bottom of their group, having only managed to draw 0-0 with China but lost 0-3 to Qatar and 1-2 to Tajikistan.
In the qualifiers for the 2027 finals, Lebanon finished in second place behind Yemen despite a 4-1-1 record. Victories registered over Brunei ( 5-0 & 3-0 ) and Bhutan ( 2-0 & 4-0 ) were insufficient as after a 0-0 draw with Yemen, a 0-2 loss at “home” in a game played in Qatar saw Lebanon eliminated. Preparations for that crucial game had been hindered by the domestic league having been temporarily being suspended following the latest conflicts with Israel.
Lebanon failed to qualify for the 2026 World Cup finals, after a 1-3-2 record which saw them finish third in their group, but they had to play two of their home games in Qatar and the other in Australia. As a result, the two games played in Australia were lost ( 0-2 and 0-5 ), games against Palestine on neutral territory were drawn ( 0-0 ) and ( 1-1 ), whilst matches against Bangladesh saw a 1-1 away draw before a 4-0 victory in the final game of the campaign.
Very few Lebanese footballers have played in England, although ex-Worthing, Forest Green Rovers, Bromley and Sutton United striker Omar Bugiel ( 25 caps ) was currently with AFC Wimbledon, and Aldershot forward Hady Ghandour had one cap.
Lebanon Premier League
The league has been played for since 1934 but has regularly been interrupted over the years due to political instability and conflict. The Champions qualify for the third tier AFC Challenge League whilst the bottom two sides are relegated to the Second Division. The winners of the Lebanon Cup also qualify for the AFC Challenge League.
The record title holders are Beirut side Al Ansar with 15 titles, followed by two more Beirut sides, Al-Ahed and Nejmeh SC with 9 titles each.
Al Ansar were the current champions and reached the quarter finals of this year’s AFC Challenge League before being eliminated by Kyrgyz side Muras United 0-3 in Bishkek.
In 2024/25, Nejmeh failed to get out of their group after a final game 2-3 defeat to Indian side East Bengal, after having beaten Bangladeshi side Bashundhara Kings 1-0 and Bhutan side Paro 2-1.
Lebanon’s best club performance in AFC competitions came in 2023/24 when Al-Ahed reached the final of the AFC Cup, but lost 0-1 to Australian side Central Coast Mariners.
2025/26 Season
The Lebanon Premier League should consist of 12 sides but is currently being played with 11 teams after Bortj withdrew due to financial difficulties after 11 games played in the current campaign. Eight of the sides play in Beirut, with Tadamon Sour, Riyadi Abbasiyah and Jwayya located in the south of the country.
The Eleven remaining teams will now play each other twice for a 20-game season, after which the league will split into two groups, comprising the top 4 and the bottom 4, where each team will play the other teams in their group twice. Teams will carry over half their point tally from the first phase into the second phase.
The season was suspended on March 18 due to the latest conflict between Hezbollah and Israel, but following a ceasefire the league resumed on June 12th.
The Premier League has now reached round 20 with champions Al Answar holding a 7-point lead over Nejmeh with two games of the regular season to be played. Newly promoted Jwayya were a point behind Nejmeh, whilst Al Ahed were a further two points back. Fifth placed Safa would need to bridge a 2 point deficit to reach the Top 4 play-offs.
At the bottom, Racing Beirut had picked up only one point from their 19 matches played so far, and had only scored 4 goals.
Sides are allowed to nominate 4 foreign players in their match-day squads, plus an unlimited number of Palestinians, although 6 foreigners can be fielded in AFC competition matches.
Nejmeh Sport Club
Nejmeh Sport Club were founded in 1945, with the name translating as Star from Arabic. The club are primarily supported by members of the Sunni community, with a minority support from the Druze population, with the five-pointed star in their emblem being a Druze religious symbol. The club’s board are reported to be affiliated to the Future Movement Political Party, which are opposed to Hezbollah.
Home is the 5,000 capacity Rafic Hariri Stadium in the Manara suburb of Beirut, and is named after the leader of the Future Movement Party.
Nejmeh’s first choice colours are all red but their nickname is The Burgundy Castle. There is no connection between the club and the ex-Barcelona and Paris St-Germain forward currently playing a bit-part for Brazil in the World Cup…………
Nejmeh have reached the final of this season’s Lebanese Cup, where they will play fellow Beirut based side Sagesse.
Kenyan forward Juma Masud ( 27 caps ), who has played in South Africa, UAE, Libya, Algeria, Morocco, Saudi Arabia and Iran was their top scorer with 8 goals, followed by Ali Kassas ( 10 caps ) with 6 goals.
Nejmeh’s other foreign players include Colombian winger Juan Lucumi, who was previously with Peruvian side Ayacucho, Sierra Leone midfielder Rodney Michael ( 8 caps ), who had played in Montenegro and Cyprus, plus two more Kenyans, defender Teddy Akumu ( 55 caps ) who had experience in Sudan, Zambia, South Africa, Japan and Iran, and midfielder Austin Odihambo ( 17 caps ). Striker Alexander Succar had 3 caps for Peru.
Lebanon internationals in their squad included defender Hussein Zein ( 49 caps ), centre-back and captain Kassem El Zein ( 56 caps ), keeper Mostafa Matar ( 43 caps ), centre-back Khalil Khamis ( 21 caps ), winger Ali Al-Hajj ( 15 caps ), midfielder Ali El-Fadel ( 1 cap ), defender Mohamad Safwan ( 12 caps ), forward Mohamad Omar Sadek ( 5 caps ), and keeper Antoine Al Douaihy ( 1 cap ).
Swedish born midfielder Felix Michel Melki had ( 33 caps ) had previously played for AIK Stockholm and Norwegian side Sarpsborg 08.
Tunisian coach Lassad Dridi has been in the hot-seat just over one month.
Nejmeh won their previous match 5-0 at home against Al-Mabarra, with two goals from Lucumi, with Masud, Sadek and Melki also on target.
Tadamon SC Sour
Tademon Sport Club Sour are located in the ancient city of Tyre, which is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, having been a major city in the Phoenician empire and was the birth place of Dido, one of the founders of Carthage, not the singer of White Flag and Thank You !
The estimated 200,000 population of Tyre is predominately Shia Muslim, but with a sizeable Christian minority. It is also home to a significant number of Palestinian refugees plus diaspora from West African countries such as Senegal, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
The club were founded in 1946 and home is the 6,500 capacity Sour Municipal Stadium, which has a grass pitch.
Tadamon translates as solidarity and the side’s nickname is The Ambassadors Of The South. Their one honour was winning the Lebanese FA Cup in 2000/01.
Tadamon came into today’s game in 10th place with a 3-8-7 record, behind Riyadi Abbasiyah on their head-to-head record.
Tadamon had one international in their ranks, forward Gildo Vilanculos had 30 caps for Mozambique and had played for several clubs in Portugal including Maritimo. Midfielders Mohamad Ghamloush and Hassan Fouani were current Lebanon Under 23 internationals.
The other overseas players in their squad were Malian centre-back Ichaka Diarra, Venezuelan right-back Karin Saab, centre-forward Bachir Toure was from Senegal, and striker Geraldo Selorm was from Ghana, although none of them were involved today. Winger Zaher Samahe was from Palestine.
In their most recent outing, Tadamon beat back-markers Racing Beirut 1-0, with attacking midfielder Ali Ezzeddine scoring the only goal of the game in the 70th minute.
When these two sides met in Tyre back in December, it finished as a 0-0 but only after Tadamon were reduced to 10 players after 20 minutes when Hadi Madi was shown a red card following a VAR review for a denial of a goal scoring opportunity, and Nejmeh missed a penalty in the last 10 minutes when midfielder Hassan Kourani put his spot-kick wide.
Matchday Information
MTV Lebanon broadcast three matches live per round on their YouTube channel, with the others being streamed on FIFA+/DAZN. This match was available from both sources with a commentary in Arabic.
The weather at the 15.30 local kick-off time ( 13.30 UK ) was sunny and 27 degrees, cooler than the temperatures in the South of England today !
Bet365.com made Nejmeh SC 1/6 favourites, with Tadamon Sour at 12/1 with the draw at 5/1.
Nejmeh were unchanged from the side that thrashed Al-Mabarra.
Nejmeh were in all red, whilst Tadamon in a change kit of mostly white shirts with green shoulders and other green blobs and green numbers, with white shorts and green socks.
The match was being played at the Fouad Chehab Stadium in the Jounieh suburb of Beirut, which is normally home to Sagesse, but has hosted several of the matches in Beirut since the season restarted. The ground had a running track around the artificial surface, Brechin style hedges on far side with a concrete wall behind, separating the ground from a busy main road and a residential area. Behind one of the goals were more bushes, with a large office block in the corner, whilst there was just a wall behind the other goal behind, which was slip-road rising like a ramp to join the busy main road.
The one main stand was where the cameras were situated so it was difficult to see how many spectators were in the ground, although a rare clip showed about 30 people sitting close together, but there could have been a few more dotted around in the rest of the stand out of view.
Match Report
Nejmeh started on the front foot and with just two minutes played Al Fadel tried his luck from 25 yards but the shot bounced through to Tadamon keeper Mohammad Bshara for an easy save. A minute later Masud’s shot was deflected for a corner, from which the ball struck Melki as he was falling and drifted harmlessly wide. Melki may have been illegally impeded but the referee didn’t see anything untoward.
At the other end Ezzeddine saw his shot blocked then loop up for easy catch for keeper Matar, who was then required to make a much harder save, tipping a vicious 20 yarder from Semahi over the bar.
The only goal of the game came a little out of the blue. Al Hajj sent a cross towards the near post where Kourani got ahead of the dozing Madi to volley past Bshara. VAR showed Al Hajj was onside when receiving the ball on the right wing so it was 1-0 after 9 minutes.
Tadamon were nearly back on level terms six minutes later as Karim Kassem ran clear onto a long ball, but his shot from just inside the area bobbled just wide of far post with the keeper an interested spectator.
Then in the 19th minute, Semahi sent a cross bouncing across the Nejmeh goalmouth but Ali Horani’s shot on the run was wild and went back across goal, and 20 yards wide. It was a great chance but an abysmal finish !
Shortly after, both sides were forced to make early changes with Semahi having to leave the field for Tadamon, and Melki hobbled off for Nejmeh. A water break was taken on 29 minutes but there was no booing from the crowd.
Nejmeh won a corner in the 32nd minute, which Lucumi played short and then sent a cross to beyond the far post, but substitute Akumu could only head high and wide. Minutes later, Lucumi’s ball across the Tadamon area reached Al Fadel, who was forced wide by Jawad Kwatharani, so could only shoot high and wide.
The first controversial moment of the game occurred in the 37th minute when Kassem made a strong run down the left wing and into the Nejmeh area, and appeared to be dragged to the ground by Zein. However, the referee allowed play to continue and there was no intervention by VAR despite the pleas from the Tadamon players. The word stonewall came to mind……….
With half-time approaching, a nice dummy by Al Fadel allowed Al Hajj to run into space on left, but his low cross was put out for a corner.
Five added minutes were signalled and Lucumi’s snap-shot went well wide.
The second moment controversy came moments later. The didn’t seem to be any danger as Akumu played a back pass to keeper Matar inside his area. The keeper then wandered out of his penalty box with the ball, but when put under pressure by Kassem the keeper retreated back into in his area and picked up the ball. It should clearly have been an indirect free-kick to Tadamon for picking up a back pass, but again the referee ignored the appeals from the visitors.
Nejmeh held onto their one goal lead at the break, but Tadamon could have felt a little hard done by with two decisions not having gone their way, and despite their lowly position in the league table they hadn’t come to park the bus, and looked lively on the counter-attack. Furthermore, the keeper was wasting no time in restarting play rather than time wasting.
The third and final talking point came 4 minutes into the second period. Al Fadel’s dangerous cross from the left was cleared by Ali Fahes. When Nejmeh reworked possession, left-back Hassan Jaafar went down very easily when challenged by Ezzaddine and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. It looked shoulder to shoulder, and VAR eventually instructed the referee look at the pitch-side monitor, and the referee reversed his decision !
The first yellow card of the game was shown in the 54th minute, when Kawtharani brought down Al Fadel as the Nejmeh man looked to run into area. The free-kick was neatly put in to net at near post by Masud, but Al Zein was standing right in front of the Tadamon keeper in an off-side position, so the goal was chalked off.
After this, the game mostly fizzled out, and although Tadamon showed a lot of endeavour, the Nejmeh keeper was rarely troubled, and Nejmeh seemed content to rest on their one goal advantage.
Al Fadel sent a long range shot well over, and Masud volleyed over from close to the penalty spot after a right-wing cross from substitute Kassas. Masud’s diving header then produced a good save from Bshara, who dived to his left to push the ball around the post for a corner.
The visitors’ best response was for Horani to chip over the Nejmeh right-back for Ezzeddine to run into the left-hand channel, but good defending by Zein averted the danger at the expense of a corner, which came to nothing.
Masud continued to shoot on sight but a shot on the turn sailed a yard or two over the bar, and in the 71st minute Kassas sent a bouncing shot a few feet wide.
The second drinks break took place after 74 minutes, just before which it looked like Al Fadel was shown a yellow card for taking too long to leave the pitch after being substituted.
Nejmeh did get the ball into the back of the net for a second time, but Kourani was yards offside when he lashed a long ball into the roof of the net, and his effort was correctly ruled out. That was to be his last contribution as he was immediately substituted afterwards.
With the clock ticking down Fahes was robbed of possession in his own half by Masud, but the attempted pass across the face of the goal was well intercepted by Shadi Skaff, who sounds like some much needed neck-wear in hot conditions !
The final stages were more notable for yellow cards rather than action. Michael was punished for a bad foul on Fahes, and after the game moved into 6 added minutes, Akumu saw yellow for bringing down Kassem just outside the Nejmeh area. Tadamon had a chance to rescue a point but from a central position just inside the D, Horani shot into the defensive wall, and Skaff sent the rebound high, wide and handsome with his left foot.
Jaafar made a good run down the left wing for Nejmeh but then shot into the side netting, and the game finished with Fahes being shown a yellow card for persistent complaining to the referee after a foul had been awarded against him when he might had the chance to run clear.
At the final whistle, Nejmeh deservedly took the three points as they controlled most of the second half. Tadamon looked a neat and tidy side, but you could see why they had scored only 11 goals all season.
Nejmeh SC : Matar – Zein, Al Zein, Melki ( Akumu ), Jaafar – Michael, Kourani ( Sadek ), Al Fadel ( Daher ) - Al Hajj ( Siblini ), Masud, Lucumi ( Kassas )
Tadamon Sour : Bshara – Kawtharani, H Madi, Skaff, Fouani ( Kaawar )– Horani, Ghamloush ( Mansour ), Fares – Kassem, Ezzeddine ( A Madi ), Semahi ( Aabed )
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