The 2019–20 Lebanese Premier League was intended to be the 59th season of the

Lebanese Premier League The Lebanese First Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الأولى), commonly known as the Lebanese Premier League (), is the top division of the Lebanese football league system. There are 12 teams competing in the 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, since its establishment in 1934. Ahed were the three-time defending champions. Bourj and Shabab Bourj joined as the promoted clubs from the

2018–19 Lebanese Premier League 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 ...

. They replaced

Bekaa The Beqaa Valley ( ar, links=no, وادي البقاع, ', Lebanese ), also transliterated as Bekaa, Biqâ, and Becaa and known in classical antiquity as Coele-Syria, is a fertile valley in eastern Lebanon. It is Lebanon's most important ...

and

Racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific goa ...

, who were relegated to the

2019–20 Lebanese Second Division The Lebanese Second Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني - الدرجة الثانية) is the second division of Lebanese football. It is controlled by the Lebanese Football Association. The top two teams qualify for the Lebanese Premier ...

. On 21 January 2020, the LFA decided to suspend all football leagues until further notice, and cancelled the three match days that were previously played (the last one being on 17 October 2019), due to the ongoing

economic crisis An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the p ...

and the impending arrival of the

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. The season was officially cancelled on 28 May 2020.

Summary

Starting from the 2019–20 season, all teams in the Lebanese Premier League and

Lebanese Second Division The Lebanese Second Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الثانية) is the second division of Lebanese football. Established in 1933, it is controlled by the Lebanese Football Association. The 12 teams that participate ...

had to involve a certain number of under-22 players in both the league and the

Lebanese FA Cup The Lebanon Cup (), commonly known as the Lebanese FA Cup, is a Lebanese football annual cup competition. The first edition, held in 1937, was won by Nahda. The most successful club in the competition is Ansar with 15 titles, followed by Nejmeh ...

, with a minimum of 1,000 minutes for one player, a minimum of 1,500 aggregate minutes for two players and a minimum of 2,000 aggregate minutes for three players. In case a club were to not meet the required number of minutes at the end of the season, they would have had three points deducted from their total in the league. On 30 July 2019, 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. ...

announced a three-year deal with German sportswear company

Jako Jako AG is a German sportswear company based in the Hollenbach district of Mulfingen, Baden-Württemberg. The company was founded by Rudi Sprügel in 1989 in Stachenhausen. Jako provides kits for teams playing association football, handball, ba ...

for €120,000, with the Jako Match 2.0 becoming the league's official match ball starting from the 2019–20 season. Due to political and financial issues in the country, the LFA decided to suspend all football leagues until further notice on 21 January 2020, and cancelled the three match days that were previously played (the last one being on 17 October 2019). With the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

also stopping sporting activities globally, the season was officially cancelled on 28 May 2020.

Teams

Twelve teams were due to compete in the league – the top ten teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

. The promoted teams were Bourj (returning to the top flight after a 16-year absence) and Shabab Bourj (promoted for the first time in their history). They replaced

and

, ending their top flight spells of five and eleven years respectively.

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. :''Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.''

Personnel and kits

Foreign players

Lebanese clubs are allowed to have three foreign players at their disposal at any time, as well as one extra

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

player born in Lebanon. Moreover, each club competing in an AFC competition is allowed to field one extra foreign player, to be only played in continental matches, as the AFC allows four foreign players to play in the starting eleven (one of whom from an AFC country). * Players in bold have been registered during the mid-season transfer window. * Players in ''italics'' have left the club during the mid-season transfer window,.

League table at abandonment

Notes

References

External links

Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:2019-20 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 ...