Bourj FC - Nejmeh 1-0 (0-0)
Abbas Chahine 82'.
Saturday, 29 March 2025, 3:45 pm local time (1:45 pm UTC), Fouad Chehab Stadium, Jounieh, Lebanon, 11th round of the Lebanese Premier League (last round of the regular season).
Bourj FC starting line-up.
Nejmeh starting line-up.
Bottom-placed Bourj FC made the surprise of the season on Saturday, by winning 1-0 over Nejmeh, one of the teams which traditionally fight for the title in Lebanon. Traditionally, but not this year though, as they are already far away from the top three (Ansar, Safa, and Al Ahed).
The match was played on a rather neutral ground, in Jounieh (which may be regarded as a home ground for Nejmeh, rather than Bourj), and was broadcasted by MTV Sports on their various channels (TV, YouTube, Facebook, etc) and by FIFA Plus.
Nejmeh dominated quite clearly the entire game, created many opportunities, but Bourj defense resisted throughout the game, with goalkeeper Ahmad Diab as the main hero, although many others played an excellent game.
Then came the surprise: on a Bourj counterattack, Hassan Mehanna from the left passed to sub Abbas Chahine (who had just came on the field), and he placed a perfect shot from outside the area to score the only goal of the game: 1-0 (82').
Abbas Chahine's shot went underneath the crossbar for the only goal of the game.
Abbas Chahine (in yellow and black, left) celebrated along with his teammates and those on the bench.
In the last minutes of the game, Nejmeh pressed hard for an equalizer, but again Bourj FC defended well, and goalkeeper Ahmad Diab made miracles, saving several difficult shots.
One needs to point out that Bourj FC changed the manager. Former manager Fouad Hijazi was sacked at the end of February, and Ahmad Atwi, who had been manager of Bourj FC in June and July 2024, came back as manager, in the first days of March, and then Ibrahim Khair El-Din was brought as assistant manager.
Ahmad Atwi (left) and Ibrahim Khair El-Din, manager and assistant manager of Bourj FC.
Since their arrival, Bourj results have improved. They lost 3-0 to Shabab Sahel, then drew 1-1 to Shabab Al-Ghazieh, now they won 1-0 over Nejmeh. There was a certain improvement from one game to another and now there is much hope that Bourj FC will manage to avoid relegation. They have just moved up two places with these three points, so at least technically they are (for the moment) out of the relegation zone.
Most important, and possibly the biggest (pleasant) surprise, was the fact that the (former?) president and owner Fadi Nasser came after the match and congratulated the players, and, according to some sources, even gave each of them an unexpected amount of money, which may be a sign that he might be (soon) back in his (former) position. So far, this season Bourj FC have struggled financially, and Fadi Nasser's support would be of utmost importance, now that the play-out is about to begin.
Bourj FC, once again a big and happy family.
Bourj starting line-up: Ahmad Diab - Ali Abboud, Ibrahim Abdulai, Hassan Hazime, Mohamad Hammoud - Haidar Khriess, Mohamad El Sibaii "Wartan", Abdoulaye Fall - Ali Rahal, Hassan Mehanna, Shadi Jouni. Manager: Ahmad Atwi.
Nejmeh: Mohamad Bechara - Ali Alrida Ismail, Kassem El Zein, Hussein Mortada, Maher Sabra - Ali Chaito, Bilal Al Sabbagh, Mohamad Safwan - Mohamad Sadek, Fadel Antar, Rabih Ataya. Manager: Mohamad Dakka.
Referee: Hadi Salame.
One may note that the entire line of midfielders and attackers in Nejmeh (except for Rabih Ataya) was made up by former Bourj FC players!
From now on, the Lebanese League will be split into play-off and play-out, with the top six teams in the play-off, and the last six in the play-out.