Women's football in

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 ...

officially began in 2005, with the creation of the Lebanese Women's Football (LWF). Despite the prejudice women have faced for playing football, the sport's popularity has risen since the late 2010s. Indeed, Lebanon has achieved significant success within the

West Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...

region. Founded in 2008, the

Lebanese Women's Football League The Lebanese Women's Football League ( ar, الدوري اللبناني لكرة القدم للسيدات) is the only league of women's football in Lebanon. It is run by the Lebanese Football Association and began in May 2008, with six teams ...

is the national club league; Sadaka won the league a record seven times. Internationally, Safa became the first Lebanese team to win the WAFF Women's Clubs Championship in

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. The senior national team finished runners-up in the

WAFF Women's Championship The West Asian Football Federation Women's Championship (), or simply WAFF Women's Championship, is an international women's association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the West Asian Footbal ...

, and in third place twice in

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and

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. The youth teams won the Arab U-17 Women's Cup in

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, the

WAFF U-18 Girls Championship The West Asian Football Federation Women's Championship (), or simply WAFF Women's Championship, is an international women's association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the West Asian Footba ...

and

, and the

WAFF U-16 Girls Championship The West Asian Football Federation Women's Championship (), or simply WAFF Women's Championship, is an international women's association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the West Asian Footba ...

and

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History

In 2005, the Lebanese Women's Football (LWF) committee was formed, affiliated to 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. ...

, to oversee the women's national teams. While not popular, the sport has mainly been played in affluent areas in Lebanon. One of the barriers of the growing sport has been the prejudice that many women have faced for playing it. From the late 2010s, however, football has become more widespread among the female population in Lebanon. With the

(LFA) investing more into the youth system, Lebanon has achieved considerable success within its region (

) both at the national team and club levels.

Clubs

The

was founded in

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, with Sadaka winning the first title. They went on to win seven league titles in a row, until they dissolved in 2014. From the 2014–15 season onwards,

Stars Association for Sports Stars Association for Sports ( ar, جمعية نجوم الرياضة), or simply SAS, is a women's football club section of the similarly-named sports academy, based in Aley, Lebanon. Founded in 2011 as Stars Academy for Sports, they have comp ...

(SAS) became the dominating force in Lebanon, winning six of the following eight league titles. There are two domestic women's cup competitions in Lebanon: the

Lebanese Women's FA Cup The Lebanon Women's Cup ( ar, كأس لبنان للسيدات, links=no), commonly known as the Lebanese Women's FA Cup, is the top cup competition for women's football clubs in Lebanon – designed as an equivalent to the Lebanese FA Cup. The ...

and the

Lebanese Women's Super Cup The Lebanese Women's Super Cup () is an annual match contested between the champions of the previous Lebanese Women's Football League season and the holders of the Lebanese Women's FA Cup – designed as an equivalent to the Lebanese Super Cup. ...

. In 2019,

(SAS) finished runners-up in the inaugural edition of the WAFF Women's Clubs Championship, a club competition for teams from West Asia. Safa became the first Lebanese team to win the competition, winning the final of the second edition in

National team

Founded in 2005 as one of the earliest women's national teams in West Asia, the senior national team made it debut at the 2006 Arab Women's Championship, where they finished in last place. They took part in their first official qualification tournament at the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers. Lebanon finished runners-up at the

, and in third place in

and in

. At the youth level, Lebanon won the Arab U-17 Women's Cup in

, while in 2019 they won both the WAFF U-15 Girls Championship and the

. In 2022, Lebanon won the

for the second time, defeating

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

5–1 in the final as hosts, and in 2023 they won their second

References

{{Women's football in Asia

History

Clubs

National team

See also

References