Libyan Premier League

The Libyan Premier League is the highest division of Libyan football championship, organised by Libyan Football Federation. The players that play in this league are mainly professional. The league's system has changed many times over the last few years, although as of the 2009–10 season, a simple round-robin has been operated. 
The league operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Libyan Second Division. The league is currently sponsored by the Libyan telephone company Libyana, and so is officially known as the Libyana Premier League. Matches are usually played over a three or four day period, starting on Thursday and ending on Saturday or Sunday.
The league has been ranked by the IFFHS as the 56th best in the world for 2009, making it the 5th best ranked league in the Arab world, after the Saudi Professional League, the Egyptian Premier League, the Algerian Championnat National, & the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1 IFFHS
The league's television rights are owned by Libya Sports. They also show a highlights program, called 90 Minutes, which broadcasts every week.
The league is dominated by two clubs: Al Ittihad and Al Ahly (Tripoli). 40 of the 41 titles have been won by clubs from the two biggest cities: Benghazi & Tripoli.
==History==
The Libyan Premier League was founded in 1963. Prior to that, there were three Provincial Championships, one each for the Eastern , Western and Southern provinces. The first league season at national level was the 1963-64 season, in which participated the Western Province champion Al Ahly (Tripoli), the Eastern Province champion Al Ahly (Benghazi) and the Southern Province champion Hilal Sabha. After the withdrawal of Hilal Sabha due to lack of resources, the league was limited to just two teams. Al Ahly (Tripoli) defeated Al Ahly (Benghazi) 2-0 over two matches (1-0 home and away) to become the first Libyan Premier League champions.
== The Competition ==
As of 2009–10, there will be 14 teams competing in the league. During the course of a season, from October to June, each club plays each of the other teams twice; once at home and once away, totaling 26 games for each team by the end of the season. Therefore, in Libyan football a true round-robin format is used. In the first half of the season, called the ذهاب - Dhahaab, each team plays exactly one time against each league opponent, for a total of 13 games. In the second half of the season, called the إياب - Iyaab, the teams play in exactly the same order that they did in the first half of the season, the only difference being that home and away situations are switched. Since the 1992–93 season, teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw, and no points for a loss.
If two or more teams are tied for a particular position, the tie-breaker is as follows:
*I) Head-to-Head record between the team(s) in question:
**i) Total number of goals scored in meetings between team(s) in question
**ii) Total number of away goals scored in meetings between team(s) in question
*II) Goal difference
*III) Total number of goals scored
*IV) Play-off match at neutral venue.
=== African Qualification ===
Based on CAF's current 5 Year Ranking, only one representative will be proposed to compete in each of the CAF Confederation Cup and the CAF Champions League. These teams are the league champions and the domestic cup winners.
Due to Al Ittihad's success in the 2007 CAF Champions League, where they reached the Semi Final, the Libyan Premier League earned three points, meaning it could propose a further representative for each of the four following editions. In 2008, where Libya shared the 12th place ranking with Angola and Senegal, and was therefore allowed to propose a further representative to each competition. These two teams were Al Ahly (Tripoli) (runners-up), who qualified for the 2009 CAF Champions League and Al Ahly (Benghazi) (3rd place), who qualified for the 2009CAF Confederation Cup.
== Winners ==
Al Ittihad are the most successful Libyan club, having won 16 titles, including 6 straight titles (from 2004–05 to 2009–10. Their arch rivals Al Ahly (Tripoli) have won it 10 times, but have not won the title since the 1999–2000 season.
The last team to win the title from outside the capital was Al Olympique, who won the league in the 2003–04 season. The Big Two (Al Ahly (Tripoli) & Al Ittihad) have won 29 of the 42 titles that have been contested since 1964.
===Champions by season===
Winners are: 
:* 1963–64 - Al Ahly (Tripoli)
:* 1964–65 - Al Ittihad
:* 1965–66 - Al Ittihad
:* 1966–68 - Al Tahaddi
:* 1968–69 - Al Ittihad
:* 1969–70 - Al Ahly (Benghazi)
:* 1970–71 - Al Ahly (Tripoli)
:* 1971–72 - Al Ahly (Benghazi)
:* 1972–73 - Al Ahly (Tripoli)
:* 1973–74 - Al Ahly (Tripoli)
:* 1974–75 - Al Ahly (Benghazi)
:* 1975–76 - Al Madina
:* 1976–77 - Al Tahaddi
:* 1977–78 - Al Ahly (Tripoli)
:* 1978–79 - Championship not finished 
:* 1979–82 - No championship		
:* 1982–83 - Al Madina
:* 1983–84 - Al Ahly (Tripoli)
:* 1984–85 - Al Dhahra 
:* 1985–86 - Al Ittihad
:* 1987 - Al Nasr
:* 1987–88 - Al Ittihad
:* 1988–89 - Al Ittihad
:* 1989–90 - Al Ittihad
:* 1990–91 - Al Ittihad
:* 1991–92 - Al Ittihad
:* 1992–93 - Al Ahly (Benghazi)
:* 1993–94 - Al Ahly (Tripoli)
:* 1994–95 - Al Ahly (Tripoli)
:* 1995–96 - Al Shat
:* 1996–97 - Al Tahaddi
:* 1997–98 - Al Mahala		
:* 1998–99 - Al Mahala
:* 2000 - Al Ahly (Tripoli)
:* 2000–01 - Al Madina
:* 2001–02 - Al Ittihad
:* 2002–03 - Al Ittihad
:* 2003–04 - Al Olympique
:* 2004–05 - Al Ittihad
:* 2005–06 - Al Ittihad
:* 2006–07 - Al Ittihad
:* 2007–08 - Al Ittihad
:* 2008–09 - Al Ittihad
:* 2009–10 - Al Ittihad
:* 2010–11 - Suspended due to the 2011 Libyan civil war
===Performance by club===
Club 	Winners	Runners-up	Winning Years
Al Ittihad (Tripoli) 	16 	6 	1964–65, 1965–66, 1968–69, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09 2009–10,
Al Ahly (Tripoli) 	10 	9 	1963–64, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1977–78, 1983–84, 1993–94, 1994–95, 2000
Al Ahly (Benghazi) 	4 	7 	1969–70, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1992–93
Al Madina (Tripoli) 	3 	2 	1975–76, 1982–83, 2000–01
Al Tahaddi (Benghazi)	3 	1 	1966–68, 1976–77, 1996–97
Al Mahala (Tripoli) 	2 	1 	1997–98, 1998–99
Nasr (Benghazi) 	1 	4 	1987
Al Dhahra 	1 	0 	1984–85
Al Shat 	1 	0 	1995–96
Al Olympique 	1 	0 	2003–04
===Titles by city===
City 	Titles	Winning Clubs
Tripoli 	31 	Al Ittihad (15), Al Ahly (10), Al Madina (3), Al Mahala (2), Al Dhahra (1), Al Shat (1)
Benghazi	8 	Al Ahly (4), Al Tahaddi (3), Al Nasr (1)
Zawiya 	1 	Al Olympique (1)
== 2010–11 Clubs ==
Team 	Location	Sha'biyah 	Stadium 	Capacity
Al Ahly 	Benghazi	Benghazi 	Martyrs of February Stadium	10,550
Al Akhdar 	Bayda 	Jabal al Akhdar	Owol September Stadium 	10,000
Al Hilal 	Benghazi	Benghazi 	Martyrs of February Stadium	10,550
Al Ittihad 	Tripoli 	Tripoli 	11 June Stadium 	65,000
Al Madina 	Tripoli 	Tripoli 	11 June Stadium 	65,000
Al Nasr 	Benghazi	Benghazi 	Martyrs of February Stadium	10,550
Al Olympique 	Zawiya 	Zawiya 	Zaawia Stadium 	6,000
Al Shat 	Tripoli 	Tripoli 	GMR Stadium 	20,000
Al Swihli 	Misrata 	Misrata 	9 July Stadium 	10,000
Al Tirsana 	Tripoli 	Tripoli 	GMR Stadium 	20,000
Darnes 	Derna 	Bayda 	Al Bayda Stadium 	10,000
Khaleej Sirte	Sirte 	Sirte 	2 March Stadium 	2,000
==Top scorers by season==
Top scorers are:
Season 	Player 	Club 	Goals
1963-64 	Ahmed Ben Sawed 	Al Ahly (Benghazi) 	19
1964-65 	Ahmed Ben Sawed 	Al Ahly (Benghazi) 	18
1965-66 	Ahmed Al Ahwal 	Al Ittihad 	14
1966-67 	Hassan Snousi 	Al Ahly (Tripoli) 	12
1968-69 	Mohamed Boughalia 	Al Ahly (Tripoli) 	16
1970-71 	Yousef Sidqi 	Al Nasr 	15
1971-72 	Yousef Sidqi 	Al Nasr 	12
1972-73 	Nouri Alsirri 	Al Madina 	17
1973-74 	Nouri Alsirri 	Al Madina 	13
1974-75 	Nouri Alsirri 	Al Madina 	17
1975-76 	Mustafa Belhaaj 	Al Madina 	19
1976-77 	Abubakr Douzan 	Al Madina 	15
1977-78 	Fahim Raqs 	Al Ahly (Tripoli) 	8
1982-83 	Nouri Alsirri 	Al Madina 	17
1983-84 	Abdulraouf Ferjany 	Al Dhahra 	11
1984-85 	Ramadan Barnaoui 	Al Ahly (Benghazi) 	9
1985-86 	Salim Bou Jarrad 	Al Ittihad 	11
1986-87 	Faraj Bar'asi 	Al Nasr 	12
1987-88 	Salim Bou Jarrad 	Al Ittihad 	11
1988-89 	Faraj Meeloud 	Al Tahaddi 	6
1989-90 	Ali Bashary Nasr Badr 	Al Ahly (Benghazi) Afriqi 	11
1990-91 	Idris Mikraaz 	Darnes 	11
1991-92 	Abdelhakeem Suwayyah 	Al Tirsana 	12
1992-93 	Abdelhakeem Suwayyah 	Al Tirsana 	14
1993-94 	Idrees Mikraaz 	Al Ahly (Tripoli) 	19
1994-95 	Mohamed Milaad Hassan Othman 	Ittihad Gheryan Al Morooj 	6
1995-96 	Muammar Masoud 	Al Shat 	10
1996-97 	Khalifa Maqinny 	Al Hilal 	12
1997-98 	Khalifa Maqinny 	Al Hilal 	14
1998-99 	Mustafa Ramadan Abdelaaty Qubay	Al Ahly (Benghazi) Al Intilaaq	13
1999-00 	Ahmed Saad 	Benghazi Al Jadeeda 	8
2000-01 	Ashraf Muammar Ali Melyaan 	Al Tahaddi Al Madina 	14
2001-02 	Al-Saadi Qadhafi 	Al Ittihad 	19
2002-03 	Ahmed El Masli Khaled Shallabi 	Al Nasr Al Madina 	13
2003-04 	Ahmed Saad 	Al Nasr 	14
2004-05 	Sheikh Sedao 	Al Urouba 	12
2005-06 	Samir Al Wahaj 	Al Wahda 	18
2006-07 	Walid Shebli 	Al Madina 	13
2007-08 	Abdelhameed Zidane 	Al Akhdar 	21
2008–09	Samir Al Wahaj 	Al Tirsana 	19
2009–10	Rasheed al Deasy 	Al Shat 	15
== Regulations ==
The rules can be found on the official LFF website
== References ==
==External links==
*League at FIFA
Category:Leagues