Lebanese Second Division

The Lebanese Second Division (Arabic: الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الثانية) is the second division of Lebanese football. Established in 1933, it is controlled by the Lebanese Football Association.^[1] The 12 teams that participate in the league play each other twice, once at home and once away, with the champions and the second placed team qualifying to the Lebanese Premier League to replace the bottom two teams.

Lebanese Second Division

Organising body	Lebanese Football Association (LFA)
Founded	1933; 91 years ago (1933)
Country	Lebanon
Confederation	AFC
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	2
Promotion to	Lebanese Premier League
Relegation to	Lebanese Third Division
Domestic cup(s)	Lebanese FA Cup
Current champions	Riyadi Abbasiyah (2023–24)
TV partners	FIFA+
Website	the-lfa.com
Current: 2023–24 Lebanese Second Division

History

Salam Achrafieh won the inaugural edition of the Second Division, in 1933–34, after beating Ararad 2–0 in the final.^[2] There was no promotion or relegation system at the time, so Salam Achrafieh remained in the Second Division.^[2] In April 1935, Second Division clubs requested a promotion system to be implemented.^[3] It was proposed that, at the end of the season, every Second Division team that wanted to be promoted to the First Division had to play against three teams from the First Division, one match each, winning all three.^[3] The teams from the First Division had to have at least seven players from their previous season's squad.^[3]

Clubs

Champions

The following is a list of Lebanese Second Division champions.^[3][4]

No. Season Champion(s) 1 1933–34 Salam Achrafieh 2 1934–35 International 3 1935–36 International 4 1936–37 Salam Achrafieh 5 1937–38 Hilmi-Sport 6 1938–39 Racing Beirut 1939–40 Canceled 7 1940–41 Antranik B 8 1941–42 Shabiba Mazraa 9 1942–43 10 1943–44 Sagesse 11 1944–45 12 1945–46 Club de Gaulle 13 1946–47 Pagramian 14 1947–48 Sagesse 15 1948–49 1949–50 Canceled 16 1950–51 Nejmeh 1951 to 1953 Not in operation

No. Season Champion(s) 17 1953–54 18 1954–55 19 1955–56 Sagesse 20 1956–57 1957 to 1960 Not in operation 21 1959–60 Various^[a] 22 1960–61 Various^[b] 23 1961–62 24 1962–63 Various^[c] 25 1963–64 Various 26 1964–65 Homenetmen BH 27 1965–66 Istiklal 28 1966–67 Istiklal 1967–68 Not contested 29 1968–69 30 1969–70 1970 to 1972 Not in operation 31 1972–73 1973–74 Canceled

No. Season Champion(s) 32 1974–75 1975 to 1987 Not in operation 33 1987–88 Mabarra 1988 to 1990 Not in operation 34 1990–91 Bourj 35 1991–92 Egtmaaey 36 1992–93 Akhaa Ahli Aley 37 1993–94 Harakat Shabab 38 1994–95 Riada Wal Adab 39 1995–96 Shabiba Mazraa 40 1996–97 Ahli Saida 41 1997–98 Salam Zgharta 42 1998–99 Sagesse 43 1999–2000 Racing Beirut 44 2000–01 Bourj 45 2001–02 Olympic Beirut 46 2002–03 Homenetmen 47 2003–04 Akhaa Ahli Aley 48 2004–05 Salam Zgharta

No. Season Champion 49 2005–06 Shabab Sahel 50 2006–07 Racing Beirut 51 2007–08 Salam Zgharta 52 2008–09 Ahli Saida 53 2009–10 Salam Sour 54 2010–11 Tripoli 55 2011–12 Egtmaaey 56 2012–13 Various^[d] 57 2013–14 Various^[e] 58 2014–15 Egtmaaey 59 2015–16 Tadamon Sour 60 2016–17 Shabab Arabi 61 2017–18 Shabab Sahel 62 2018–19 Bourj 63 2019–20 Not awarded 64 2020–21 Sporting 65 2021–22 Chabab Ghazieh 66 2022–23 Racing Beirut 67 2023–24 Riyadi Abbasiyah

2023–24 season

The following 12 clubs will compete in the Lebanese Second Division during the 2023–24 season.^[5]

Team	Home city	Position in 2022–23
Akhaa Ahli Aley	Aley	12th in the Premier League
BFA Sporting	Beirut	4th
Bint Jbeil	Bint Jbeil	6th
Egtmaaey	Tripoli	9th
Irshad Chehim	Shheem	1st in the Third Division
Islah Borj Shmali	Tyre	3rd
Mabarra	Beirut	10th
Nahda Barelias	Bar Elias	8th
Riyadi Abbasiyah	Aabbassiyeh	7th
Salam Zgharta	Zgharta	11th in the Premier League
Shabab Baalbeck	Baalbek	5th
Wehda Saadnayel	Saadnayel	2nd in the Third Division

Media coverage

In 2019, Mycujoo stream a selection of Lebanese Second Division games weekly.^[6] In October 2022, the LFA and FIFA signed an agreement to broadcast all matches in the Lebanese Second Division, Lebanese Super Cup and Lebanese Women's Football League, and some Lebanese Premier League, games through the FIFA+ platform.^[7][8]

See also

• List of second division football clubs in AFC countries

Notes

1. Mount Lebanon: Nejmet Sahra
   Beirut: unknown
   South: unknown
   North: unknown
2. Mount Lebanon: Chark
   Beirut: Safa
   South: Tadamon Sour
   North: Amal
3. Mount Lebanon: Nejmet Sahra
   Beirut: unknown
   South: unknown
   North: unknown
4. Group A: Salam Zgharta
   Group B: Mabarra
5. Group A: Chabab Ghazieh
   Group B: Nabi Chit

References

1. Henshaw 1979, p. 420.
2. Sakr 1992, p. 21.
3. Sakr 1992, p. 25.
4. Nehme, Ale. "Lebanon – List of Second Level Champions". RSSSF. from the original on 30 July 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
5. "Lebanese Second Division 2021/2022 - Results, fixtures, tables and stats - Global Sports Archive". globalsportsarchive.com. from the original on 15 June 2022. Retrieved 15 June 2022.
6. "mycujoo live football streaming: Watch Football Online". mycujoo.tv. from the original on 14 March 2020. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
7. Khaled, Nasser (26 October 2022). اتفاقية تعاون بين الفيفا والاتحاد اللبناني [A cooperation agreement between FIFA and the Lebanese Football Association]. Kooora (in Arabic). from the original on 28 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
8. الاتحاد اللبناني لكرة القدم وFIFA+ يلتزمان بالنقل الحي للمباريات والمزيد من الفعاليات لجماهير كرة القدم حول العالم [The Lebanese Football Association and FIFA+ commit to live broadcasts of matches and more events for football fans around the world]. Lebanese Football Association (in Arabic). 29 October 2022. from the original on 29 October 2022. Retrieved 29 October 2022.

Bibliography

• Henshaw, Richard (1979). The Encyclopedia of World Soccer. Washington, D.C.: New Republic Books. ISBN 0915220342.
• Sakr, Ali Hamidi (1992). موسوعة كرة القدم اللبنانية 1991–1992 [1991–1992 Lebanese Football Encyclopedia] (PDF) (in Arabic). مؤسسة نوفل للتوزيع. ISBN 0000281247.

External links

• Lebanese Second Division at Goalzz.com