# 2020–21 Lebanese Premier League

The 2020–21 Lebanese Premier League was the 59th season of the Lebanese Premier League, the top Lebanese professional league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1934. The league was initially scheduled to start on 18 September, before being postponed to 3 October as part of preventive measures by the state towards the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was the first season to feature a "split" format, in which the season was divided into two phases. In the first phase, each club played against each other once, for a total of 11 matchdays. In the second phase, the league was split into two halves – the "top six" and the "bottom six". Points were carried over from the first phase, and each club played five games within its own half. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all games in the season were played behind closed doors.
Since the 2019–20 season was cancelled, Ahed were the three-time defending champions, having won their 7th title in the 2018–19 season. Ansar won their 14th Lebanese Premier League title, their first since 2007, beating Nejmeh in the Beirut derby 2–1 in the final matchday.

## Summary
### Regulations

On 24 June 2020, a player quota for the season was announced. Each club had to involve one player under the age of 22 for at least 600 minutes, two players for at least 800 combined minutes, and three players for at least 1,200 combined minutes. Also, each club was allowed a maximum of eight players over the age of 30, with only five being able to be fielded in a game. In case a club were to not 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. Due to the economic situation in Lebanon, other regulations were introduced, namely the abolition of foreign players in the league.

### Format

The 2020–21 season consisted of two phases: in the first phase, each team played against one another once. In the second phase, the 12 teams were divided into two groups based on their position in the first phase; the teams carried over their point tally from the first phase. 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.
The top six teams played against each other once, with the champion automatically qualifying to the 2022 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs—assuming they met the criteria set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The runners-up instead directly qualified to the 2022 AFC Cup group stage—as long as the champions met the AFC criteria for the AFC Champions League. The bottom six teams also played against each other once, with the bottom two teams being relegated to the Lebanese Second Division.

## Teams

Twelve teams competed in the league – the top ten teams from the 2018–19 Lebanese Premier League season and the two teams promoted from the Second Division. Due to the 2019–20 season being cancelled, the same 12 teams participated in the 2020–21 season.

### Stadiums and locations

    Note: Table lists in alphabetical order.
| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity |
| Ahed | Beirut (Ouzai) | Ahed Stadium | 2,000 |
| Akhaa Ahli Aley | Aley | Amin AbdelNour Stadium | 3,500 |
| Ansar | Beirut (Tariq El Jdideh) | Ansar Stadium | — |
| Bourj | Beirut (Bourj el-Barajneh) | Bourj el-Barajneh Stadium | 1,500 |
| Chabab Ghazieh | Ghazieh | Kfarjoz Stadium | 2,000 |
| Nejmeh | Beirut (Ras Beirut) | Rafic Hariri Stadium | 5,000 |
| Safa | Beirut (Wata El-Museitbeh) | Safa Stadium | 4,000 |
| Salam Zgharta | Zgharta | Zgharta Sports Complex | 5,000 |
| Shabab Bourj | Beirut (Bourj el-Barajneh) | Bourj el-Barajneh Stadium | 1,500 |
| Shabab Sahel | Beirut (Haret Hreik) | Shabab Al Sahel Stadium | — |
| Tadamon Sour | Tyre | Sour Municipal Stadium | 6,500 |
| Tripoli | Tripoli | Tripoli Municipal Stadium | 22,000 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Ansar (C) | 16 | 13 | 1 | 2 | 37 | 8 | +29 | 40 | Qualification for AFC Cup group stage |
| 2 | Nejmeh | 16 | 10 | 5 | 1 | 31 | 10 | +21 | 35 | Qualification for AFC Cup group stage |
| 3 | Shabab Sahel | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 15 | 11 | +4 | 27 | |
| 4 | Ahed | 16 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 20 | 16 | +4 | 24 | |
| 5 | Safa | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 24 | |
| 6 | Akhaa Ahli Aley | 16 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 12 | −4 | 20 | |
| 7 | Bourj | 16 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 18 | 13 | +5 | 23 | |
| 8 | Shabab Bourj | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 22 | 14 | +8 | 23 | |
| 9 | Tripoli | 16 | 5 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 15 | −4 | 19 | |
| 10 | Tadamon Sour | 16 | 3 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 12 | −5 | 16 | |
| 11 | Chabab Ghazieh (R) | 16 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 12 | 26 | −14 | 11 | Relegation to Lebanese Second Division |
| 12 | Salam Zgharta (R) | 16 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 6 | 50 | −44 | 1 | Relegation to Lebanese Second Division |
* ↑ Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Lebanon, all games were played behind closed doors.
* ↑ Teams played each other once (11 matches), before the league was split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) where they played each team in their group once (5 matches).
* 1 2 Head-to-head results: Ahed 2–1 Safa, Safa 3–3 Ahed.
* 1 2 Head-to-head results: Shabab Bourj 0–1 Bourj, Bourj 1–1 Shabab Bourj.

## Results
### Matches 1–11

Teams play each other once.
| Home \ Away | AHE | ANS | AKH | BRJ | GHA | NEJ | SAF | SAL | SHB | SAH | TAD | TRI |
| Ahed | — | 1–3 | 0–1 | 3–2 | — | 2–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | — | 0–0 | — | 0–0 |
| Ansar | — | — | — | — | 3–0 | 1–2 | 6–1 | 6–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | — | — |
| Akhaa Ahli Aley | — | 0–2 | — | — | 1–0 | — | — | — | — | 1–1 | 1–0 | — |
| Bourj | — | 0–3 | 0–0 | — | 3–0 | — | — | — | — | 0–0 | 0–0 | — |
| Chabab Ghazieh | 0–1 | — | — | — | — | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 | — | 0–2 | 1–0 | — |
| Nejmeh | — | — | 1–1 | 2–0 | — | — | — | 4–0 | — | — | 2–0 | — |
| Safa | — | — | 0–2 | 1–4 | — | 1–1 | — | 5–0 | — | 0–1 | — | — |
| Salam Zgharta | — | — | 0–1 | 2–2 | — | — | — | — | — | — | 0–2 | 0–3 |
| Shabab Bourj | 1–1 | — | 2–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–0 | — | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 |
| Shabab Sahel | — | — | — | — | — | 1–2 | — | 4–0 | — | — | — | 1–0 |
| Tadamon Sour | 0–0 | 0–1 | — | — | — | — | 0–3 | — | — | 0–1 | — | — |
| Tripoli | — | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–3 | — | — | — | 0–0 | — |

### Matches 12–16

After 11 matches, the league splits into two sections of six teams i.e. the top six and the bottom six, with the teams playing every other team in their section once.

## Season statistics
### Scoring
#### Top goalscorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Hassan Maatouk | Ansar | 14 |
| 2 | Adnan Melhem | Shabab Bourj | 10 |
| 3 | Mohamad Kdouh | Ahed | 7 |
| 3 | Akram Moghrabi | Tripoli | 7 |
| 5 | Hassan "Moni" Chaito | Ansar | 6 |
| 5 | Mahmoud Siblini | Nejmeh | 6 |
| 7 | Ahmad Hijazi | Ansar | 5 |
| 7 | Fadel Antar | Bourj | 5 |
| 7 | Ali Hammoud | Ansar | 5 |

#### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Mohamad Kdouh | Ahed | Bourj | 3–2 | 4 October 2020 |
| Hassan Maatouk | Ansar | Bourj | 3–0 | 26 December 2020 |
| Haidar Awada | Shabab Sahel | Salam Zgharta | 4–0 | 27 December 2020 |
| Akram Moghrabi | Safa | Salam Zgharta | 5–0 | 3 January 2021 |

### Clean sheets

| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| 1 | Ali Daher | Shabab Sahel | 10 |
| 2 | Abedelkarim Saleh | Bourj | 9 |
| 3 | Nazih Assad | Ansar | 8 |
| 3 | Shaker Wehbe | Akhaa Ahli Aley | 8 |
| 5 | Mohamad Santina | Tadamon Sour | 7 |
| 6 | Ali Sabeh | Nejmeh | 6 |
| 7 | Mostafa Matar | Tripoli | 5 |
| 8 | Talal Dandashli | Safa | 4 |
| 8 | Mehdi Khalil | Ahed | 4 |

### Discipline
#### Player

* Most yellow cards: 8
** Jihad Ayoub (Ansar)
** Zouhair Abdallah (Shabab Sahel)
* Most red cards: 1
** Yasser Achour (Shabab Bourj)
** Ali Rmeity (Shabab Bourj)
** Hussein Sayed (Chabab Ghazieh)
** Kazzem Attieh (Tadamon Sour)
** Ali Abdallah Bitar (Tadamon Sour)
** Hussein Zein (Ahed)
** Ahmad Khatib (Bourj)