2023–24 Lebanese Premier League

The 2023–24 Lebanese Premier League was the 62nd season of the Lebanese Premier League, the top Lebanese league for football clubs since its establishment in 1934. The league started on 4 August 2023,^[1] and ended on 30 June 2024.

Lebanese Premier League

Season	2023–24
Dates	4 August 2023 – 30 June 2024
Champions	Nejmeh
Relegated	Tripoli Ahly Nabatieh
2024–25 AFC Challenge League	Nejmeh
Matches played	156
Goals scored	369 (2.37 per match)
Top goalscorer	Elhadji Malick Tall (20 goals)
Biggest win	Shabab Sahel 0–5 Ahed (6 August 2023) Ahed 5–0 Chabab Ghazieh (7 December 2023) Tadamon Sour 0–5 Chabab Ghazieh (3 May 2024) Shabab Sahel 5–0 Ahly Nabatieh (9 May 2024)
Highest scoring	Ahed 5–1 Racing Beirut (6 August 2023) Tripoli 2–4 Safa (1 October 2023) Nejmeh 1–5 Ansar (8 December 2023) Racing Beirut 1–5 Ahed (16 May 2024)
← 2022–23 2024–25 →

It was the fourth season to feature a "split" format, following its introduction in the 2020–21 season, in which the season is divided into two phases. Nejmeh won their ninth title after defeating Ansar in the last matchday.^[2] Tripoli and Ahly Nabatieh were relegated to the Lebanese Second Division.

Summary

Regulations

Each club had to involve one player under the age of 21 for at least 750 minutes, and two players for 1,000 combined minutes.^[3] In case a club were not able to 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.^[3]

Starting from this season, each club was able to have four foreign players under contract, an increase from the previous limit of three.^[4] Furthermore, video assistant referee (VAR) was introduced to the Lebanese Premier League in the second half of the 2023–24 season. It used technology and officials to assist the referee in making decisions on the pitch. The match between Ahed and Racing Beirut in the first matchday, on 6 August 2023, was the first to test the use of VAR.^[5]

Format

Following its introduction in the 2020–21 season, the 2023–24 season consisted of two phases: in the first phase, each team played against one another once.^[6] In the second phase, the 12 teams were divided into two groups based on their position in the first phase. As introduced in the 2022–23 season, teams only carried over half of their point tally from the first phase.^[7] After the first phase was completed, clubs could not move out of their own half in the league, even if they achieved more or fewer points than a higher or lower ranked team, respectively.^[8]

The top six teams played against each other three times, contrary to the previous two seasons where they played each other twice.^[6] Due to a restructuring of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) competitions,^[9] the champion automatically qualified to the newly introduced third-tier competition: the AFC Challenge League.^[10] The bottom six teams also played against each other three times, with the bottom two teams being relegated to the Lebanese Second Division.^[6]

Teams

See also: List of football clubs in Lebanon

Twelve teams competed in the league – the top ten teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the Lebanese Second Division. The promoted teams were Racing Beirut, who returned to the top flight after an absence of four years, and Ahly Nabatieh, who were playing their first season in the Lebanese Premier League. They replaced Akhaa Ahli Aley and Salam Zgharta, who were relegated to the Lebanese Second Division after respective spells of seven and one years in the top flight.

Stadiums and locations

Beirut

Ahly Nabatieh

Chabab Ghazieh

Tadamon Sour

Tripoli

Beirut teams:
Ahed
Ansar
Bourj
Nejmeh
Racing Beirut
Safa
Sagesse
Shabab Sahel

Locations of the 2023–24 Lebanese Premier League teams

2km
1.2miles

Shabab Sahel

Sagesse

Safa

Racing

Nejmeh

Bourj

Ansar

Ahed

   

Beirut Lebanese Premier League clubs

Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Ahed	Beirut (Ouzai)	Al Ahed Stadium[note 1]	2,000
Ahly Nabatieh	Nabatieh	Kfarjoz Municipal Stadium	2,000
Ansar	Beirut (Tariq El Jdideh)	Ansar Stadium[note 1]	—
Bourj	Beirut (Bourj el-Barajneh)	Bourj el-Barajneh Stadium[note 1]	1,500
Chabab Ghazieh	Ghazieh	Kfarjoz Municipal Stadium	2,000
Nejmeh	Beirut (Ras Beirut)	Rafic Hariri Stadium[note 1]	5,000
Racing Beirut	Beirut (Achrafieh)	Fouad Chehab Stadium	5,000
Safa	Beirut (Wata El Msaytbeh)	Safa Stadium	4,000
Sagesse	Beirut (Achrafieh)	Sin El Fil Stadium[note 1]	—
Shabab Sahel	Beirut (Haret Hreik)	Shabab Al Sahel Stadium[note 1]	—
Tadamon Sour	Tyre	Sour Municipal Stadium	6,500
Tripoli	Tripoli	Tripoli Municipal Stadium	10,000

Foreign players

Lebanese clubs were allowed to have four foreign players at their disposal at any time,^[4] as well as unlimited Palestinian players born in Lebanon in a given match sheet (of which only one allowed among the eleven players on the field).^[3] Moreover, each club competing in an AFC competition was allowed to field two extra foreign players, to be only played in continental matches, as the AFC allowed six foreign players to play in the starting eleven (one of whom from an AFC country).^[11]

• Players in bold were registered during the mid-season transfer window.
• Players in italics left the club during the mid-season transfer window.

Team	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Palestinian player(s)	AFC player(s)	Former players
Ahed	Mohammad Al Marmour	Lee Erwin	Mohammad Al Hallak	Diaa Al Mohammad			Mohammad Abu Hasheesh
Ahly Nabatieh	Godfred Yeboah	Ifeanyi Eze	Hamza Zaak	Raafat Mehtdi		—	Opaleye Brown Baye Daour Badji
Ansar	Elhadji Malick Tall	Ichaka Diarra	Abdallah Yaisien	Hichem Houssam Eddine	Mohamad Hebous Hamza Hussein	—	Yacouba Doumbia Foudil Bouchentouf Idriss Omar Zekri
Bourj	Ahmad Al Saleh	Houssem Louati	Prosper Donkor	Tidiane Camara		—
Chabab Ghazieh	Chris-Calvin Nawatta	Amissah Anfoh Assan	Yaw Dasi Obuoba	Abdulai Ibrahim	Ayman Abou Sahyoun	—	Ezra Amelinsa Joshua Abah
Nejmeh	Giorgi Kantaria	Vítor Barata	Artiom Litveacov	Everton	Zaher Al Samahi		Gilson Costa Omid Popalzay Dmytro Bilonoh José Embaló
Racing Beirut	Lazar Arsić	Brel Mohendiki	Roland Okouri	Yann Mokombo	Jehad Abou El Aynein	—	Shodai Tomemori
Safa	Johan Kappelhof	Arnold Suew	Sebastian Jakubiak	Danin Talović	Adnan Salloum	—	Jordy Bruijn Marco Reinhardt
Sagesse	Papa Sidibe	Vinícius Calamari	Boucounta Sarr	Papy Thiandoum		—	Adramé Diallo
Shabab Sahel	Richard Baffour	Andrew Ikefe	Emmanuel Obere	Samad Kadiri	Hadi Dakwar	—	Francis Nwankwo Fallou Galass Wade
Tadamon Sour	El Mehdi Boukassi	Madikaba Doumbia	Alex Ngonga	Kévin Koubemba	Mohammad Ismail Ghassan Sarriyeh Jihad Hallak	—	Osman Konate Ibrahim Sauma Oussai Oddo
Tripoli	James Innocent	Suleiman Abu Zam'a	Gerônimo	Thiago Amaral	Omar Kayed Ibrahim Abdelwahhab	—	Sharif Sibaii

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation[a]
1	Nejmeh (C)	26	19	3	4	44	20	+24	46	Qualification for the AFC Challenge League group stage
2	Ansar	26	16	7	3	55	24	+31	45
3	Ahed	26	15	5	6	54	22	+32	36
4	Safa	26	8	10	8	35	38	−3	26
5	Bourj	26	9	8	9	26	32	−6	25
6	Racing Beirut	26	3	10	13	29	50	−21	12
7	Shabab Sahel	26	10	9	7	30	23	+7	32
8	Tadamon Sour	26	7	7	12	16	28	−12	26
9	Sagesse	26	7	6	13	21	30	−9	24
10	Chabab Ghazieh	26	6	7	13	22	41	−19	23
11	Ahly Nabatieh (R)	26	5	10	11	16	32	−16	22	Relegation to Lebanese Second Division
12	Tripoli (R)	26	7	6	13	21	29	−8	21

Source: Global Sports Archive
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Disciplinary points.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Teams played each other once (11 matches), before the league was split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) where each team played the other teams in their group three times (15 matches). Teams carried over half their point tally from the first phase into the second phase.

Season statistics

Goalscorers

Rank	Player[12]	Club	Goals
1	Elhadji Malick Tall	Ansar	20
2	Karim Darwich	Ahed	12
3	Mohamad Kdouh	Safa	10
	Lee Erwin	Ahed	10
5	Hassan Maatouk	Ansar	8
	Mohammad Al Marmour	Ahed	8
	Samad Kadiri	Shabab Sahel	8

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Jordy Bruijn	Safa	Sagesse	3–1[13]	19 August 2023
Lee Erwin	Ahed	Shabab Sahel	5–0[14]	24 September 2023
Mohamad Kdouh	Safa	Tadamon Sour	4–1[15]	4 November 2023
Samad Kadiri	Shabab Sahel	Ahly Nabatieh	5–0[16]	9 May 2024

See also

• 2023–24 Lebanese FA Cup
• 2023 Lebanese Federation Cup
• 2023 Lebanese Super Cup

Notes

1. Only used as a training ground