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 0–5Ahed (6 August 2023) Ahed 5–0Chabab Ghazieh (7 December 2023) Tadamon Sour 0–5Chabab Ghazieh (3 May 2024) Shabab Sahel 5–0Ahly Nabatieh (9 May 2024) |
Highest scoring | Ahed 5–1Racing Beirut (6 August 2023) Tripoli 2–4Safa (1 October 2023) Nejmeh 1–5Ansar (8 December 2023) Racing Beirut 1–5Ahed (16 May 2024) |
2024–25 → |
The2023–24 Lebanese Premier League was the 62nd season of theLebanese Premier League, the top Lebanese league forfootball clubs since its establishment in 1934. The league started on 4 August 2023,[1] and ended on 30 June 2024.
It was the fourth season to feature a "split" format, following its introduction in the2020–21 season, in which the season is divided into two phases.Nejmeh won their ninth title after defeatingAnsar in the last matchday.[2]Tripoli andAhly Nabatieh were relegated to theLebanese Second Division.
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 thereferee in making decisions on the pitch. The match betweenAhed andRacing Beirut in the first matchday, on 6 August 2023, was the first to test the use of VAR.[5]
Following its introduction in the2020–21 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 the2022–23 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 theAsian Football Confederation (AFC) competitions,[9] the champion automatically qualified to the newly introduced third-tier competition: theAFC Challenge League.[10] The bottom six teams also played against each other three times, with the bottom two teams being relegated to theLebanese Second Division.[6]
Twelve teams competed in the league – the top ten teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from theLebanese Second Division. The promoted teams wereRacing Beirut, who returned to the top flight after an absence of four years, andAhly Nabatieh, who were playing their first season in the Lebanese Premier League. They replacedAkhaa Ahli Aley andSalam Zgharta, who were relegated to theLebanese Second Division after respective spells of seven and one years in the top flight.
Lebanese clubs were allowed to have four foreign players at their disposal at any time,[4] as well as unlimitedPalestinian 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 anAFC 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]
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 theAFC 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 toLebanese Second Division |
12 | Tripoli(R) | 26 | 7 | 6 | 13 | 21 | 29 | −8 | 21 |
Rank | Player[12] | Club | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | Ansar | 20 |
2 | ![]() | Ahed | 12 |
3 | ![]() | Safa | 10 |
![]() | Ahed | 10 | |
5 | ![]() | Ansar | 8 |
![]() | Ahed | 8 | |
![]() | Shabab Sahel | 8 |
Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
![]() | Safa | Sagesse | 3–1[13] | 19 August 2023 |
![]() | Ahed | Shabab Sahel | 5–0[14] | 24 September 2023 |
![]() | Safa | Tadamon Sour | 4–1[15] | 4 November 2023 |
![]() | Shabab Sahel | Ahly Nabatieh | 5–0[16] | 9 May 2024 |