.jpg) Taha in 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jamal Khamis Taha[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1966-11-23)23 November 1966 (age 59) | ||
| Place of birth | Cairo, Egypt[1] | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1977–1986 | Ansar | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1986–2002 | Ansar | ||
| International career | |||
| 1993–2000 | Lebanon | 71 | (12) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2005–2006 | Ansar (assistant) | ||
| 2006–2008 | Ansar | ||
| 2011–2013 | Ansar | ||
| 2013–2015 | Shabab Sahel | ||
| 2015–2016 | Ansar | ||
| 2017–2018 | Tadamon Sour | ||
| 2019–2020 | Lebanon (assistant) | ||
| 2020–2021 | Lebanon | ||
| 2021–2022 | Lebanon U23 | ||
| 2022–2023 | Ansar | ||
| 2025– | Lebanon U23 | ||
| 2025– | Tadamon Sour | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Jamal Khamis Taha (Arabic:جمال خميس طه; born 23 November 1966) is afootball coach and former player who is the head coach of theLebanon national under-23 team andLebanese Premier League clubTadamon Sour. Born in Egypt, he played for theLebanon national team between 1993 and 2000, whom hecaptained at the2000 Asian Cup.
Jamal Taha was born inCairo, Egypt,[1] to an Egyptian father and a Lebanese mother; he obtainedLebanese citizenship throughnaturalization in 1992 via a presidential decree.[2] Taha joinedAnsar's youth team in 1977.[3]
Nicknamed "the Brown Gazelle" (Arabic:الغزال الأسمر),[4][5] Taha began his senior career withAnsar in 1986, where he ended his career in 2002.[3] He wore the number 6 on his jersey,[5] and was the club's captain from 1997 onwards.[3]
Taha was thenational team's captain during the2000 AFC Asian Cup in Lebanon.[6]
Taha started out asAdnan Hamad's assistant manager atAnsar during the2005–06 season; he helped his side win thedomestic double (Lebanese Premier League andLebanese FA Cup).[7] The following season, in2006–07, Taha was appointed the first manager of Ansar, winning Ansar's second consecutive domestic double.[7] He remained head coach until the end of the2007–08 season, where he lost the league title toAhed by one point.[7]
In July 2011, Taha was re-appointed manager of Ansar, staying there until the end of the2012–13 season.[8][9] He won the2011–12 Lebanese FA Cup, and the 2012Lebanese Super Cup.[10]
On 10 September 2013, he took charge ofShabab Sahel;[9] he won theLebanese Challenge Cup in 2014. After two seasons he returned to Ansar, managing them during the2015–16 season, before resigning after the first league game of thefollowing season in September 2016.[8] In January 2017, Taha became manager ofTadamon Sour until June 2018.[8]
On 3 June 2019, he was appointed assistant manager of theLebanon national team underLiviu Ciobotariu's tenure.[11] After one year, on 17 June 2020, theLebanese Football Association (LFA) decided not to extend Ciobotariu's contract, and appointed Taha as the national team's coach.[12] He became the first Lebanese coach of the national team in almost 12 years, since the appointment ofEmile Rustom in November 2008.[5][13]
Under Taha, Lebanon underperformed in their last three fixtures of thesecond round of2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, struggling to overcomeSri Lanka 3–2,[14] and losing againstTurkmenistan andSouth Korea;[15][16] Lebanon qualified Lebanon to thethird round as fifth-best runner-up by virtue of other results going in their favour.[17] Taha's tenure was not extended following the expiration of his one-year contract on 30 June 2021.[18]
On 27 September 2021, Taha was announced as head coach of theLebanon national under-23 team.[19]
On 26 June 2022, Taha returned as head coach of Ansar.[20]
In January 2025, Taha returned as head coach of the Lebanon national under-23 team.[21] He led the team to their firstAFC U-23 Asian Cup qualification for the2026 tournament.[22]
On 22 July 2025, Taha was re-appointed head coach of Tadamon Sour.[23]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lebanon | 1993 | 8 | 1 |
| 1994 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 1 | 1 | |
| 1996 | 7 | 3 | |
| 1997 | 9 | 1 | |
| 1998 | 7 | 4 | |
| 1999 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2000 | 9 | 1 | |
| Total | 43 | 11 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 May 1993 | Bourj Hammoud Stadium,Beirut, Lebanon |  India | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification | |
| 2 | 6 December 1995 | Bourj Hammoud Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon |  Slovakia XI | 1–1 | 2–1 | Friendly | |
| 3 | 12 May 1996 | Bourj Hammoud Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon |  Turkmenistan | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification | |
| 4 | 5 December 1996 | Beirut Municipal Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon |  Georgia | 3–2 | 4–2 | Friendly | |
| 5 | 8 December 1996 | Beirut Municipal Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon | Georgia | 2–1 | 3–2 | Friendly | |
| 6 | 2 February 1997 | Bourj Hammoud Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon |  Jordan | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly | |
| 7 | 19 October 1998 | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates |  Sudan | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1998 Friendship Tournament | |
| 8 | 30 November 1998 | Surat Thani Provincial Stadium,Surat Thani, Thailand |  China | 1–2 | 1–4 | 1998 Asian Games | |
| 9 | 4 December 1998 | Surat Thani Provincial Stadium, Surat Thani, Thailand |  Cambodia | 1–0 | 5–1 | 1998 Asian Games | |
| 10 | 4–1 | ||||||
| 11 | 13 May 2000 | Limassol, Cyprus | Jordan | – | 1–1 | Friendly |
| Team | From | To | Record | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| M | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Ansar | December 2006 | July 2008 | 50 | 34 | 11 | 5 | 068.0 | [7] |
| Ansar | July 2011 | June 2013 | 56 | 27 | 16 | 13 | 048.2 | [8][9] |
| Shabab Sahel | September 2013 | June 2015 | 57 | 19 | 17 | 21 | 033.3 | [8][9] |
| Ansar | July 2015 | September 2016 | 33 | 16 | 10 | 7 | 048.5 | [8] |
| Tadamon Sour | January 2017 | June 2018 | 40 | 15 | 10 | 15 | 037.5 | [8] |
| Lebanon | June 2020 | June 2021 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 028.6 | [12] |
| Total | 243 | 113 | 65 | 65 | 046.5 | |||
Ansar
Individual
Ansar
Shabab Sahel
