Lebanese football league system
The Lebanese football league system (Arabic: نظام الدوري اللبناني لكرة القدم), also known as the Lebanese football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in Lebanon. The system has a hierarchical format with promotion and relegation between leagues at different levels, allowing even the smallest club the theoretical possibility of ultimately rising to the very top of the system. There are five individual leagues, containing more than 20 divisions.
The exact number of clubs varies from year to year as clubs join and leave leagues, fold or merge altogether, but an estimated average of 9 clubs per division implies that about 200 clubs are members of a league in the Lebanese men's football league system.
Structure
Men
The first tier of Lebanese football is the Lebanese Premier League, which is governed by the Lebanese Football Association and is made up of 12 teams.[1] Next is the Lebanese Second Division.[2] Both of these leagues cover the whole of Lebanon. The third tier is the Lebanese Third Division; it has four groups (of 6 clubs each) which are generally split on the basis of location.[3] The first three leagues participate in the Lebanese FA Cup, the national domestic cup competition.
At the fourth tier is the Lebanese Fourth Division, a league of five parallel divisions (in which the clubs are divided by geographical location).[4][5][6][7][8] Finally, at the end of the pyramid is the Lebanese Fifth Division, composed of three divisions also split on the basis of location.[9][10][11]
Level | Divisions | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lebanese Premier League (One national division, 12 clubs) | ||||||
2 | Lebanese Second Division (One national division, 12 clubs) | ||||||
3 | Lebanese Third Division (4 groups, 6 clubs per group) | ||||||
4 | Lebanese Fourth Division Beirut (1 group, 7 clubs) |
Lebanese Fourth Division North (3 groups, 8–9 clubs per group) |
Lebanese Fourth Division South (3 groups, 8–9 clubs per group) |
Lebanese Fourth Division Mount Lebanon (4 groups, 9 clubs per group) |
Lebanese Fourth Division Bekaa (2 groups, 8–9 clubs per group) | ||
5 | Lebanese Fifth Division Beirut (1 group, 6 clubs) |
Lebanese Fifth Division North (1 group, 5 clubs) |
Lebanese Fifth Division South (2 groups, 6 clubs per group) |
If teams are level on points, tie-breakers are applied in the following order:
- Head-to-head records (results and points)
- Goal difference of head-to-head games
- Goal difference overall
- Higher number of goals scored
- Draw
Women
The women's system is divided into only one level.[12][13]
Level | Divisions | ||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lebanese Women's Football League (2 groups, 8 clubs per group) |
See also
- League system, for a list of similar systems in other countries
- List of association football competitions
- Football in Lebanon
- List of football clubs in Lebanon
References
- "Lebanese League". www.goalzz.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- "Lebanese League Second Division". www.goalzz.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- "Lebanese League Third Division". www.goalzz.com. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
- "الدوري اللبناني - الدرجة الرابعة - بيروت". www.kooora.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- "الدوري اللبناني - الدرجة الرابعة - الشمال". www.kooora.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- "الدوري اللبناني - الدرجة الرابعة - الجنوب". www.kooora.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- "الدوري اللبناني - الدرجة الرابعة - البقاع". www.kooora.com. Retrieved 20 March 2019.
- "Lebanese league- 4'th division - mount lebanon". www.goalzz.com. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
- "Lebanese league- 5'th division - beirut". www.goalzz.com. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
- "Lebanese league- 5'th division - north lebanon". www.goalzz.com. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
- "Lebanese league- division 5 - south lebanon". www.goalzz.com. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
- "Lebanon - List of Women Champions". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
- "Lebanese league - women". www.goalzz.com. Retrieved 28 February 2019.