The 2024–25 Lebanese Premier League will be the 63rd season of the Lebanese Premier League, the top Lebanese league for football clubs since its establishment in 1934.
It will be the fifth season to feature a "split" format, following its introduction in the 2020–21 season, in which the season will be divided into two phases.
Each club has to involve one player under the age of 21 for at least 750 minutes, and two players for 1,000 combined minutes.[3] In case a club is not able to meet the required number of minutes at the end of the season, they would have three points deducted from their total in the league.[3]
Since the 2023–24 season, each club is able to have four foreign players under contract, an increase from the previous limit of three.[4] Furthermore, video assistant referee (VAR), was introduced to the Lebanese Premier League in the second half of the 2023–24 season. It uses technology and officials to assist the referee in making decisions on the pitch.[5]
Format
Following its introduction in the 2020–21 season, the 2024–25 season consists of two phases: in the first phase, each team plays against one another once.[6] In the second phase, the 12 teams are divided into two groups based on their position in the first phase. As introduced in the 2022–23 season, teams only carry over half of their point tally from the first phase.[7] After the first phase is completed, clubs can 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.[8]
The top six teams play against each other three times,[6] with the champion automatically qualifying to the AFC Challenge League.[9] The bottom six teams also play against each other three times, with the bottom two teams being relegated to the Lebanese Second Division.[6]
Twelve teams compete in the league – the top ten teams from the previous season and the two teams promoted from the Lebanese Second Division. The promoted teams are Riyadi Abbasiyah, who are playing their first season in the Lebanese Premier League, and Shabab Baalbeck, who returned to the top flight after an absence of five years. They replaced Tripoli and Ahly Nabatieh, who were relegated to the Lebanese Second Division after respective spells of 12 and one years in the top flight.
Lebanese clubs are allowed to have four foreign players at their disposal at any time,[4] as well as unlimited Palestinian players born in Lebanon in a given match sheet (of which only one allowed among the eleven players on the field).[3] Moreover, each club competing in an AFC competition is allowed to field two extra foreign players, to be only played in continental matches, as the AFC allows six foreign players to play in the starting eleven (one of whom from an AFC country).[10]
Players in bold were registered during the mid-season transfer window.
Players in italics left the club during the mid-season transfer window.
Updated to match(es) played on 22 September 2024. Source: [citation needed] Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Disciplinary points. Notes:
^Teams play each other once (11 matches), before the league is split into two groups (the top six and the bottom six) where they play each other three times (15 matches). Teams carry over half their point tally from the first phase into the second phase.
^Khaled, Nasser (26 July 2023). تقنية الفيديو حاضرة في لقاء العهد والراسينغ [Video technology will be present in the match between Ahed and Racing]. Kooora (in Arabic). Retrieved 27 July 2023.
