The 2024-2025 season of the Lebanese Premier League is approaching its end, but actually everything has been already decided. Ansar are the new Lebanese champions, after their 2-0 win over Tadamon Sour on Sunday, 13 July, which increased their gap over the second classified, Safa, to 5 points with only one round to go. The remaining match between Ansar and Safa will be no doubt interesting, because of the pride involved, but the final result will not change anything. Safa, as second classified, have also qualified to the group stage of the next year AFC Challenge Cup, and they proved themselves a strong contender for the title, above the likes of Al Ahed (third) and the defending champions Nejmeh (fourth).
The relegation group ended earlier, with the last round played on 5 July. However, things were also set some time ago, when Riyadi Al Abbasiyah won 4-1 over Racing, while Shabab Baalbek lost 3-0 to Bourj FC, so the gap increased to 8 points with one round to go. Shabab Al-Ghazieh, bottom of the table, were relegated even before that. So, Shabab Al-Ghazieh and Shabab Baalbek are the two teams that were relegated to the Second Division, and this was no surprise, given their poor performance throughout the season.
On the other hand, Bourj FC had a very good second half of the season, winning 11 matches (out of 15) and four out of the last five (with one draw) in the play-out and classifying on top of the relegation group, or seventh overall. This is an extraordinary achievement, taking into account that their results in the first half of the season (during the regular part of the season) were poor and relegation seemed difficult to avoid.
Bourj FC players and staff at the end of the 2024-2025 season. Photo source: Bourj FC Facebook page
An important contribution to these results had the return of the main financial support, in the person of president Fadi Nasser, to which one may add the return of the manager Ahmed Atwi and his team, and the successful addition of a number of essential players in the second half of the season.
Results, tables and fixtures:
Play-off
Round 14 (12-13 July 2025)
Hikma / Sagesse – Nejmeh 2-3
Al Ahed – Safa 1-1
Ansar – Tadamon Sour 2-0
Table
|
1 |
Ansar (C) |
14 |
10 |
2 |
2 |
57-13 |
48 |
(+) |
Qualified for AFC Challenge Cup |
|
2 |
Safa |
14 |
8 |
4 |
2 |
57-18 |
43 |
(+) |
Qualified for AFC Challenge Cup |
|
3 |
Al Ahed |
14 |
5 |
4 |
5 |
54-31 |
33 |
|
|
|
4 |
Nejmeh |
14 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
37-29 |
29 |
(+) |
|
|
5 |
Hikma / Sagesse |
14 |
3 |
2 |
9 |
25-36 |
19 |
|
|
|
6 |
Tadamon Sour |
14 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
22-48 |
13 |
|
|
(+) Points have been rounded up.
C – champions
Round 15 (16-19 July 2025)
Hikma / Sagesse – Al Ahed
Nejmeh – Tadamon Sour
Safa – Ansar
Play-out
Round 15 (5 July 2025)
Bourj – Racing 2-1
Shabab Al-Ghazieh – Riyadi Al Abbasiyah 1-4
Shabab Baalbek – Shabab Sahel 1-5
Final table
|
7 |
Bourj |
15 |
11 |
2 |
2 |
30-32 |
39 |
(+) |
|
8 |
Shabab Sahel |
15 |
8 |
2 |
5 |
44-41 |
33 |
(+) |
|
9 |
Riyadi Al Abbasiyah |
15 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
32-27 |
27 |
|
|
10 |
Racing |
15 |
7 |
1 |
7 |
24-39 |
27 |
(+) |
|
11 |
Shabab Baalbek (R) |
15 |
3 |
4 |
8 |
17-55 |
16 |
(+) |
|
12 |
Shabab Al-Ghazieh (R) |
15 |
1 |
4 |
10 |
19-49 |
10 |
|
(+) Points have been rounded up.
R – relegated
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