Lebanon national football team

1933–1944: The beginning

Portrait of Nassif Majdalani.

In 1933 Nassif Majdalani founded the very first sports federation in the country: the Lebanese Football Association; a year later the Lebanese national team played its first game against Romanian side Altak at the Municipal stadium in Beirut.

The first game with Syria was in 1939 at the Habib Abu Shala Stadium; the match ended 5-4 to Syria.

An unoffical Iraq national team (representing the ministry of Education) toured Lebanon and Syria playing several club sides, as well as the Syria and Lebanon national teams, in 1944. Not much is known about this tour, but Iraq, coached by Englishman George Raynor, beat Lebanon.^[3]

1971–2004: Early history

The first Asian Cup qualifying campaign for the Lebanese team was in the 1972 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, under their first qualifying manager Joseph Abou Murad. In their first respective group, they lost to the host Kuwait 0–1, but later, they defeated their traditional rival Syria 3–2 in a top hard match, qualifying to the next round. In a decisive semi-final match against Iraq, Lebanon lost 1–4, failing to qualify for its first AFC Asian Cup.

Despite the Lebanese civil war, Lebanon appeared in the 1980 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers, held in Abu Dhabi; however, by losing against its traditional rival Syria, Lebanon was out of the competition.

Camille Chamoun Stadium, destroyed due to the Lebanese Civil War in 1982.

Lebanon's first official World Cup campaign after the Lebanese civil war was in 1994 with Adnan Al-Shargi as their national team coach. After two wins, two losses and four draw Lebanon finished in 3rd place in its group and was eliminated.

Under the Welsh manager Terry Yorath, the first foreign manager to lead the team after the Lebanese civil war, Lebanon began its first official post-war Asian campaign to qualify for the 1996 AFC Asian Cup. Despite winning twice against Turkmenistan, Lebanon was eliminated from the competition with a one point difference to Kuwait, the group leaders.

Lebanon was drawn to the group that included Kuwait and Singapore in the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in the Asian zone. Led by Terry Yorath Lebanon was out with four points after the end of the qualification campaign.

The Lebanese national team made its debut in the 1998 Asian Games; coach Terry Yorath brought the under-23 team to the competition. Despite qualifying to the second round and beating the Central Asian side Kazakhstan 3–0, Lebanon finished last in their groupwith only 3 points.

Lebanon hosted the 2000 AFC Asian Cup. Under Croatian coach Josip Skoblar, Lebanon, captained by Jamal Taha, was drawn into Group A alongside Iran,Iraq and Thailand; they finished last in the group with only two points.

In 2001 the Asian qualifications for the 2002 World Cup took place: Lebanon, managed by the German coach Theo Bücker, was drawn with Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand in the first round of the qualifiers. The side, equipped with great attacking prowess in players such as Roda Antar, Haitham Zein, Wartan Ghazarian and Gilberto dos Santos, managed a second place finish in their group with 26 goals scored in 6 games, the most in their group.

Under the French coach Richard Tardy, Lebanon was drawn in Group D of the 2004 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. It was reported that prior to the Lebanon-North Korea fixture the Lebanese camp had been mistreated as hotel conditions were very poor and their training field contained goats and sheep.^[4] Lebanon finished in third place of its respective group having only claimed four points.

Drawn into the second round of the qualifiers for the 2006 World Cup, Lebanon were grouped with South Korea, Vietnam and Maldives. Coach Mahmoud Hamoud didn't however manage to qualify the Lebanese side to the World Cup, finishing second in their group.

2006–2011: Decline

Lebanon was drawn into Group D for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualifying campaign with Australia, Bahrain and Kuwait. The scheduled meeting of Australia and Lebanon made Buddy Farah, an Australian player of Lebanese descent, declare his return to the national side.^[5] Prior to Lebanon's fixture with Bahrain on 16 August 2006, it was announced on 1 August that the AFC had accepted a withdrawal request from the Lebanon Football Association due to the 2006 Lebanon War, which forced several players to leave their homes to evade the war.^[6][7][8]

Lebanese striker Mohamad Ghaddar.

In 2007 the Lebanese side was seeded into the first round of the qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup, where they faced India in a bid to qualify directly for the third round of the qualifiers. Lebanon would win 6–3 on aggregate against India and advance to the third round, with 2 goals coming from Mohammed Ghaddar in the second leg.^[9] The campaign saw the absence of defender Youssef Mohamad who reportedly had a disagreement with Lebanon's assistant coach Adnan Meckdache where he had intensely criticized the Lebanese Football Federation and the national team coach. He was suspended by the Football Federation and would be allowed to return on the condition that he would apologize to the Lebanese FA and its national team coach for the critical stance. Lebanon was then grouped with Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Uzbekistan, in which they finished last without any points.

In April 2008, Lebanon and Maldives, the two lowest ranked AFC teams, played home-and-away matches in the preliminary round of the 2011 Asian Cup, where the winner would proceed to the next round of the qualifiers. A 4–0 home win and a 2–1 in the return leg secured qualification to the qualifying round.^[10][11] Lebanon was then drawn into Group D of the qualifiers along with China, Syria and Vietnam in which they finished in last place.

Under coach Emile Rustom, who was re-appointed as head coach of the national team on 5 May 2011, Lebanon were drawn into the second round of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers where they faced Bangladesh. Lebanon defeated Bangladesh 4–0 in Beirut on 23 July, before losing 2–0 in Dhaka five days later.^[12][13] Lebanon advanced to the third round of qualifiers where they were grouped with South Korea, Kuwait and United Arab Emirates, just under one week later Emile Rustom resigned as head coach, citing obstacles such as internal administrative problems as the reason for his departure.^{[14][15][16][17]}

2011–2014: Stagnation

On 8 August 2011, it was reported that Theo Bücker was announced as Lebanon's new head coach. The former national team manager took over the reins nine years after leaving the position, bringing with him the intention of looking to "showcase Lebanese talent and give a good account of the game in the country."^[18][19] Four days later, Lebanon came back from a goal down to beat the United Arab Emirates 3–1 on 6 September. After UAE striker Mahmoud Khamees put the visitors in front after 15 minutes, Lebanon replied with goals from Mohammed Ghaddar, Akram Moghrabi and Roda Antar, who was awarded the man of the match.^{[20][21][22][23]}

Lebanon then hosted Kuwait in Beirut on 11 October in a game that ended 3–1 ;^[24][25][26] approximately 32,000 spectators were present at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium for the first time since 2005 when the Lebanese FA had barred fans from entering the stadiums due to bad behaviour. Bad behaviour from the fans, mostly related to playing with fireworks, was again the case against Kuwait as it forced Japanese referee Masaaki Toma into stopping the game on numerous occasions.^[27] On 11 November, Lebanon beat Kuwait 1–0 with a goal scored by Mahmoud El Ali at the 57 minutes mark at the Peace and Friendship Stadium in Kuwait City. It was shocked entire of Kuwait and Lebanon, marked for the first time ever Kuwait lost to Lebanon at home soil.

Roda Antar (right) captaining the Lebanese side against Iran in 2013.

On 15 November 2011 Lebanon hosted South Korea at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium in Beirut. Over 40,000 spectators were present to cheer for the Lebanese national team. After 4 minutes Lebanon took the lead by Ali Al Saadi, 11 minutes later Korea equalized the scoreline by a penalty kick. At the 30 minute of the match Lebanon was given a penalty kick after Mahmoud El Ali was tackled inside the penalty area. Lebanon then took the lead after Abbas Ali Atwi perfectly delivered the ball into the net from the penalty spot and giving Lebanon a 2–1 victory for the first time in history against South Korea. Thanks to this win, Lebanon made it for the first time in their history to the fourth and final qualifying round.

Lebanon was drawn in Group 1 of the Fourth Round along with: Korea Republic, Uzbekistan, Iran, and Qatar. Against Iran, a first-half Roda Antar goal gave Lebanon the lead in Beirut to keep The Cedars' faint hopes of scrapping through to Brazil in 2014. Antar rose above the Iranian defense to head home a free kick from Mohammad Haidar in the 28th minute, giving Lebanon its first ever goal against the Irananian national team. It proved to be the winner as Lebanon defended well for the rest of the game to deny the Iranians and claim all three points in the Asian Group A.

Ramez Dayoub (left) was involved in the 2013 Lebanese match fixing scandal.

On 26 February 2013, national team players Ramez Dayoub and Mahmoud El Ali were involved in the 2013 Lebanese match fixing scandal and had been accused of illegal betting on several national and continental matches concerning Lebanese teams and the national team and manipulating results. Both players received a fine of $15,000 and were banned for life from the Lebanese Football Association.^[28]

The Lebanese dream was nearly over after a dramatic loss to Uzbekistan 0–1 at road. The following match witnessed a possible comeback for the Lebanese side, as they hosted South Korea in Beirut and were leading 1–0 until a shocking equalizer from the visitors in the 97th minute marked the elimination of Lebanon.

Lebanon were drawn into group B with Iran, Thailand, and Kuwait for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualifications, during which the Italian coach Giannini replaced Theo Bucker as head coach. On the newly appointed manager's debut game, in Matchday 3, Mohammad Ghaddar scored the equalizer against Kuwait in Beirut to earn a point for Lebanon who are still fighting for a place in Australia. At the end of the qualifications, although Lebanon and China had the same points, China had a higher goal difference than Lebanon by one goal, meaning China would go to Australia as the best third placed team instead of Lebanon. Despite that, the Lebanese considered that campaign as one of their greatest results in Lebanon's history since 1996.

2014–present: Rise of a Generation

The Lebanese-Mexican player Miguel Layún. He played for the Mexican side in the 2018 World Cup.

Starting from 2014, because the failed attempt in qualifying to the 2015 AFC Asian Cup in Australia, the Lebanese Football Federation had decided to reform their national team by creating "a Belgian model" like the Belgium national football team had done before, especially during the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. By inviting new players from nations which had a large Lebanese community, such as from the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Australia and more, there was hope in a rebirth of Lebanese football. Thus, despite it being just the beginning, the presence of many players of Lebanese descent in other countries, such as Miguel Layún in Mexico and Ahmad Elrich in Australia, and of legendary players and managers, such as Pierre Issa, Mário Zagallo, Branco and Ze Elias, inspired the Lebanese people to believe in a brighter future for Lebanese football. The Lebanese government and Football Association believed that one day Lebanon would create a "Greek shock" just like Greece in UEFA Euro 2004. With this vision in mind, the Lebanese Federation hired Italy and Roma legend Giuseppe Giannini to coach the Lebanon team.

On 8 September 2014, Lebanon played an unofficial FIFA match against the Brazilian Olympic team in Doha for the first time which ended in a 2–2 draw after a Lebanese goal was wrongly canceled, which would have given Lebanon a 3–1 lead; this match drew great praise from all Lebanese people for their performance in the match. Unfortunately, after Lebanon's 0–5 loss to Qatar, Giannini was suspected as the main culprit.

Miodrag Radulović, current manager of the national team.

In 2015, Miodrag Radulovic was appointed as new coach of Lebanon following the departure of Giuseppe Giannini; he would lead Lebanon in the 2018 World Cup qualifications. The team was drawn into a group containing Asia's runners-up South Korea, Kuwait, Myanmar and Laos. It would be the second time that Lebanon has faced both South Korea and Kuwait in World Cup Qualifiers. Lebanon managed a second place finish in the group and, although they were eliminated from the World Cup qualifications, they would go on to play in the 2019 Asian Cup qualification third round.

The draw put Lebanon in Group B along with North Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia. With 5 wins and 1 draw, Lebanon topped the group unbeaten and managed to clinch qualification for the first time to the Asian Cup (after qualifying as a host in the year 2000, the only previous time Lebanon participated in the event).^[29] Hassan Maatouk, who took over captainship from Roda Antar in 2016,^[30] was key in qualifying Lebanon to the Asian Cup, as he scored 5 goals in 6 games during the qualifications.^[31]

Although under Radulovic Lebanon failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he successfully helped Lebanon to qualify for the first ever AFC Asian Cup in 2019 becoming the first Montenegrin manager to help a team qualify for a big tournament. Radulovic also managed to maintain a 16 game unbeaten streak spanning from 24 March 2016 to 11 September 2018,^[32] winning 8 and drawing 8, making Lebanon the second most unbeaten national team at that point after Spain. Also, in September 2018, Lebanon achieved their best ever FIFA ranking at 77th.^[33]

Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium

Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium (Arabic: ملعب مدينة كميل شمعون الرياضية) is a 47,700 m² with 48,837 seats^[34] capacity multi-purpose stadium in the Bir Hassan area of Beirut, Lebanon. It is Lebanon's largest stadium. The Sports City Stadium is currently used mostly for football matches and it also has athletics facilities. It was built in 1957 by the Lebanese Ministry of Youth & Fine Arts in the presidency of Camille Chamoun. It was reconstructed in 1997 in a way to hold against earthquakes. Four parking spaces are available for 2590 cars. National and international championships were held in this city. In 1998, it hosted the Pan Arab Games, and in 1999, the Arab Championship. It is the home of the Lebanon national football team. The stadium was the main venue for the 2000 AFC Asian Cup and the sixth edition of the Jeux de la Francophonie held in 2009.

Saida International Stadium

Saida International Stadium (Arabic: إستاد صيدا الدولي) is a 22,600 seats capacity multi-purpose stadium in Saida (Sidon, Zidon), Lebanon. The stadium was built on the expanded grounds of the old Saida Municipal Stadium, as one of the venues to host matches during the 2000 AFC Asian Cup that was held in Lebanon. It is currently mostly used for local and international football matches. The stadium also has athletics facilities. The stadium is located at the main northern entrance of the city. Saida International Stadium, built over the sea, is the closest stadium to the sea in the world.

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup										FIFA World Cup qualification
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1994	Did not qualify									8	2	4	2	8	9
1998										4	1	1	2	4	7
2002										6	4	1	1	26	5
2006										6	3	2	1	11	5
2010										8	1	1	6	9	17
2014										13	5	2	6	16	22
2018										8	3	2	3	12	6
2022	To be determined									To be determined
2026	To be determined									To be determined
Total	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	53	19	13	21	86	71

• From 1930 to 1938, Lebanon was a part of France and therefore did not take part in any of the qualification process. Lebanon did not participate in the qualifying campaign for the World Cup until 1994.

AFC Asian Cup

AFC Asian Cup										AFC Asian Cup qualification
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1972	Did not qualify									5	2	0	3	6	10
1976	Withdrew									–	–	–	–	–	–
1980	Did not qualify									3	1	1	1	2	1
1984	Withdrew									–	–	–	–	–	–
1988										–	–	–	–	–	–
1992										–	–	–	–	–	–
1996	Did not qualify									4	2	1	1	7	6
2000	Group stage	10	3	0	2	1	3	7		–	–	–	–	–	–
2004	Did not qualify									6	1	1	4	2	8
2007	Withdrew									–	–	–	–	–	–
2011	Did not qualify									8	2	1	5	8	14
2015										6	2	2	2	12	14
2019	Qualified	–	–	–	–	–	–	–		14	8	3	3	26	10
Total	Group stage	10	3	0	2	1	3	7		45	17	9	19	61	62

• From 1930 to 1938, Lebanon was a part of France and therefore did not take part in any of the qualification process. Lebanon did not participate in the qualifying campaign for the Asian Cup until 1972.

AFC Asian Cup history
Year	Round	Score	Result	Lebanon scorers
2000	Round 1	Lebanon 0 – 4  Iran	Loss
	Round 1	Lebanon 2 – 2  Iraq	Draw	Abbas Chahrour  28' Moussa Hojeij  76'
	Round 1	Lebanon 1 – 1  Thailand	Draw	Luís Fernandez  83'

WAFF Championship

West Asian Football Federation Championship
Year	Result	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2000	Group stage	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1
2002		2	0	0	2	0	3	−3
2004		2	0	0	2	1	7	−6
2007		2	0	0	2	0	4	−4
2008	Did not participate
2010
2012	Group stage	3	1	0	2	3	4	−1
2014		2	0	1	1	0	2	−2
2017	Did not participate
Total	Group stage	14	2	2	10	7	22	−15

Arab Nations Cup

Arab Nations Cup record
Year	Round	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1963	Third place	4	2	0	2	13	4
1964	Fourth place	4	1	1	2	4	5
1966	Fourth place	6	3	1	2	11	10
1982	Cancelled
1985	Did not participate
1988	Group stage	4	1	2	1	2	4
1992	Did not participate
1998	Group stage	2	0	1	1	1	4
2002		4	1	1	2	5	7
2009	Cancelled
2012	Group stage	3	0	1	2	1	4
Total	Third place	27	8	7	12	37	38

Pan Arab Games

Pan Arab Games record
Year	Round	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1953	Group stage	3	1	1	1	14	5
1957	Third place	5	2	2	1	10	6
1961	Fourth place	5	2	0	3	13	9
1965	Group stage	4	1	1	2	4	7
1976	Did not participate
1985
1997	Third place	5	2	2	1	9	7
1999	Group stage	5	2	1	2	6	9
2007	Did not participate
2011
Total	Third place	27	10	7	10	56	43

Asian Games

Football at the Asian Games has been an under-23 tournament since 2002.

Asian Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1951	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1954	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1958	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1962	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1966	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1970	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1974	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1978	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1982	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1986	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1990	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1994	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1998	Group stage	5	2	0	3	9	7
2002–present	See Lebanon national under-23 football team
Total	Group stage	5	2	0	3	9	7

Mediterranean Games record

Football at the Mediterranean Games
Year	Rank	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1951	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1955	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1959	3rd	4	0	0	4	1	12
1963	7th	4	1	0	3	2	7
1967	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1971	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1975	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1979	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1983	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1987	6th	3	0	1	2	1	7
1991 – present	See Lebanon national under-20 team
Total	3rd	11	1	1	9	4	26

Other Tournaments

Tournament	Result
1989 Peace and Friendship Cup	Group stage
2009 King's Cup	3rd place
2009 Nehru Cup	Group stage

2017

Singapore  v  Lebanon

9 November 2017 Friendly	Singapore	0–1	Lebanon	Kallang, Singapore
19:30 UTC+08:00		Report	Ali Hamam  18'	Stadium: Singapore National Stadium Attendance: 2,000

Hong Kong  v  Lebanon

14 November 2017 2019 ACQ	Hong Kong	0–1	Lebanon	So Kon Po, Hong Kong
20:00 UTC+08:00		Report	Maatouk  43' (pen.)	Stadium: Hong Kong Stadium Attendance: 10,109 Referee: Khamis Al-Marri (Qatar)

2018

Lebanon  v  Malaysia

27 March 2018 2019 ACQ	Lebanon	2–1	Malaysia	Beirut, Lebanon
18:00 UTC+03:00	Maatouk  18' (pen.) El-Helwe  90+4'	Report	Syafiq  72'	Stadium: Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium Attendance: 3,500 Referee: Valentin Kovalenko (Uzbekistan)

Jordan  v  Lebanon

6 September 2018 Friendly	Jordan	0–1	Lebanon	Amman, Jordan
19:00 UTC+03:00		Report	Bugiel  77'	Stadium: King Abdullah II Stadium

Lebanon  v  Oman

9 September 2018 Friendly	Lebanon	0–0	Oman	Amman, Jordan
19:00 UTC+03:00				Stadium: King Abdullah II Stadium

Kuwait  v  Lebanon

11 October 2018 Friendly	Kuwait	1–0	Lebanon	Kuwait City, Kuwait
19:00 UTC+03:00	Zayid  81'	Report		Stadium: Kuwait Club Stadium Referee: Salman Ahmad Flahi (Qatar)

Uzbekistan  v  Lebanon

15 November 2018 Friendly

Uzbekistan

v

Lebanon

TBD, Australia

Australia  v  Lebanon

20 November 2018 Friendly	Australia	v	Lebanon	Sydney, Australia
19:30 UTC+11:00		Source		Stadium: Stadium Australia

2019

Qatar  v  Lebanon

9 January 2019 Asian Cup GS	Qatar	v	Lebanon	Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
20:00 UTC+4				Stadium: Hazza bin Zayed Stadium

Lebanon  v  Saudi Arabia

12 January 2019 Asian Cup GS	Lebanon	v	Saudi Arabia	Dubai, United Arab Emirates
20:00 UTC+4				Stadium: Al-Maktoum Stadium

Lebanon  v  North Korea

17 January 2019 Asian Cup GS	Lebanon	v	North Korea	Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
20:00 UTC+4				Stadium: Sharjah Stadium

Current squad

The following players were called up for the friendly match against Kuwait on 11 October 2018.
Caps and goals correct as of: 9 September 2018, after the match against Oman.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Mahdi Khalil	(1991-09-19) 19 September 1991	27	0	Ahed
21	1GK	Mostafa Matar	(1995-09-10) 10 September 1995	0	0	Salam Zgharta
23	1GK	Abbas Hassan	(1985-05-10) 10 May 1985	24	0	Nejmeh
2	2DF	Kassem El Zein	(1990-12-02) 2 December 1990	8	0	Nejmeh
3	2DF	Mootaz Jounaidi	(1986-01-20) 20 January 1986	39	0	Ansar
5	2DF	Nassar Nassar	(1992-01-01) 1 January 1992	8	0	Ansar
6	2DF	Hassan Bitar	(1992-05-18) 18 May 1992	0	0	Ansar
16	2DF	Hassan "Shibrico" Chaito	(1991-09-16) 16 September 1991	0	0	Ansar
17	2DF	Zein Tahan	(1988-04-02) 2 April 1988	29	1	Safa
18	2DF	Walid Ismail	(1984-11-11) 11 November 1984	61	1	Salam Zgharta
19	2DF	Ali Hamam	(1986-08-25) 25 August 1986	49	3	Nejmeh
10	3MF	Mohamad Haidar	(1989-11-08) 8 November 1989	51	4	Ahed
12	3MF	Adnan Haidar	(1989-08-03) 3 August 1989	27	1	Ansar
13	3MF	Bilal Najdi	(1993-11-26) 26 November 1993	1	0	Ansar
14	3MF	Nader Matar	(1992-05-12) 12 May 1992	23	0	Nejmeh
15	3MF	Haitham Faour	(1990-02-27) 27 February 1990	55	0	Ahed
8	4FW	Hassan "Moni" Chaito	(1989-03-20) 20 March 1989	46	5	Ansar
9	4FW	Hilal El-Helwe	(1994-11-24) 24 November 1994	16	3	Apollon Smyrnis
11	4FW	Soony Saad	(1992-08-17) 17 August 1992	10	3	Indy Eleven
20	4FW	Rabih Ataya	(1989-07-16) 16 July 1989	21	4	Ansar
22	4FW	Edmond Chehadé	(1993-09-30) 30 September 1993	1	0	Salam Zgharta

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the Lebanon squad in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Mohamad Taha	(1998-04-25) 25 April 1998	0	0	Safa	v.  Jordan, 9 September 2018
DF	Nour Mansour	(1991-06-14) 14 June 1991	42	2	Ahed	v.  Jordan, 9 September 2018
DF	Joan Oumari	(1988-08-19) 19 August 1988	17	2	Sagan Tosu	v.  Jordan, 9 September 2018
DF	Jad Noureddine	(1992-02-27) 27 February 1992	3	0	Perak TBG	v.  Malaysia, 27 March 2018
DF	Maher Sabra	(1992-01-14) 14 January 1992	3	0	Nejmeh	v.  Malaysia, 27 March 2018
MF	Samir Ayass	(1990-12-24) 24 December 1990	7	1	Ahed	v.  Malaysia, 27 March 2018
MF	Ahmad Jalloul	(1992-01-23) 23 January 1992	12	0	Nejmeh	v.  Singapore, 9 November 2017
FW	Hassan Maatouk	(1987-10-08) 8 October 1987	70	19	Nejmeh	v.  Jordan, 9 September 2018
FW	Omar Bugiel	(1994-01-03) 3 January 1994	3	1	Bromley	v.  Jordan, 9 September 2018
FW	Abou Bakr Al-Mel	(1992-11-15) 15 November 1992	3	0	PSIS Semarang	v.  Singapore, 9 November 2017

Previous squads

AFC Asian Cup

• 2000 AFC Asian Cup squad

Most capped players

Youssef Mohamad is the third most capped player in the history of Lebanon with 66 caps.

As of 9 September 2018, the players with the most appearances for Lebanon are:^[35]

Players in bold are still active in the national football team.

Top goalscorers

Roda Antar, former captain of the national team, is the top scorer in the history of Lebanon with 20 goals.

As of 9 September 2018, the players with the most goals for Lebanon are:^[35]

Players in bold are still active in the national football team.

Captains

a.^ The Lebanese goalkeeper can clearly be seen wearing the captain’s armband throughout the video.

Head to head records

For head to head records against other countries, see Lebanon national football team all-time record.