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 Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

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 The Lebanese Second Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني - الدرجة الثانية) is the second division of Lebanese football. It is controlled by the Federation Libanaise de Football Association. The top two teams qualify for the L ...

. They replaced Shabab Arabi and

Islah Islah or Al-Islah (الإصلاح ,إصلاح, ') is an Arabic word, usually translated as "reform", in the sense of "to improve, to better, to put something into a better position, fundamentalism, correction, correcting something and removing v ...

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 The Lebanese Civil War ( ar, الحرب الأهلية اللبنانية, translit=Al-Ḥarb al-Ahliyyah al-Libnāniyyah) was a multifaceted armed conflict that took place from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 fatalities a ...

for various issues. The first issue was the poor preparation and management of most clubs.

Nejmeh Nejmeh Sporting Club ( ar, نادي النجمة الرياضي, lit=The Star Sporting Club) is a football club based in Manara, a district in Ras Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . The club was established in Beirut in 1945, and ...

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 Tadamon Sour Sporting Club ( ar, نادي التضامن الرياضي صور, lit=Solidarity Sporting Club Tyre), or simply Tadamon, is a football club based in Tyre, Lebanon, that competes in the . They play their home matches at the Tyre ...

found themselves without a head coach or president at the start of the season.

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

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 Shabab Baalbeck Sport Club () is a football club based in Baalbek, Lebanon, that competes in the . Founded in 1986 as Nabi Chit Sport Club (), the club was known as Bekaa Sport Club ( ar, نادي البقاع الرياضي, links=no) between ...

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 The Lebanese Football Association (LFA) ( ar, الاتحاد اللبناني لكرة القدم, Al-Ittiḥād Al-Lubnānī Likurat Al-Qadam; french: Fédération Libanaise de Football) is the governing body of association football in Lebanon. ...

(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 Salam Zgharta Football Club ( ar, نادي السلام الرياضي زغرتا, lit=Zgharta Peace Sporting Club), known as Salam Zgharta or simply Salam, is a football club based in Zgharta, Lebanon, that competes in the . Founded in 1933 ...

and

Racing Beirut Racing Club (), known as Racing Beirut or simply Racing, is a football club based in Achrafieh, a district in Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the . They play their home matches at the Fouad Chehab Stadium and are primarily supported by the ...

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 Al Ahed Football Club ( ar, نادي العهد الرياضي, lit=The Covenant Sporting Club) is a football club based in Ouzai, a district in Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the Lebanese Premier League, the top flight of Lebanese footba ...

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 The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying s ...

spot from

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 Beirut Municipal Stadium () is an 18,000 capacity multi-purpose stadium in Beirut, Lebanon. It is currently mostly used for football matches. History The stadium was built by the French colonials in 1935. DPHB played at the inaugural game of the ...

and the

Fouad Chehab Stadium Fouad Chehab Stadium ( ar, ملعب فؤاد شهاب), also known as Jounieh Municipal Stadium ( ar, ملعب جونية البلدي), is a multi-use stadium in Jounieh, Lebanon. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a f ...

returned to host Lebanese Premier League matches.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

League table

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

Top assists

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Lebanese Premier League 2018–19 Lebanese Premier League Lebanese Premier League seasons

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...