AC Tripoli

Tripoli
Full nameTripoli Sporting Club
Nickname(s)سفير الشمال (Ambassador of the North)[1]
FoundedUnknown, as Al Majd Sports Association
4 April 2001; 23 years ago (2001-04-04), as Olympic Beirut Sporting Club
24 November 2005; 19 years ago (2005-11-24), as Tripoli Sporting Club
GroundTripoli Municipal Stadium
Capacity22,000
ChairmanRaed Saddik
ManagerWissam Abdallah
LeagueLebanese Second Division
2023–24Lebanese Premier League, 12th of 12 (relegated)
Current season

Tripoli Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي طرابلس الرياضي), also known as AC Tripoli or simply Tripoli, is a football club based in Tripoli, Lebanon, that competes in the Lebanese Second Division,[2] and is primarily supported by the Sunni Muslim community.[3]

Founded as Al Majd Sports Association (Arabic: جمعية المجد الرياضي), the club was renamed Olympic Beirut Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي اولمبيك بيروت الرياضي) in 2001, winning the domestic double in the 2002–03 season. In 2005 they were re-established as AC Tripoli, and won a Lebanese FA Cup in 2014–15.

History

Olympic Beirut

Founded as Al Majd Sports Association (Arabic: جمعية المجد الرياضي), the club was renamed Olympic Beirut Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي اولمبيك بيروت الرياضي) on 4 April 2001,[4] by Taha Koleilat.[5] In 2001–02 the club won the Lebanese Second Division, and were promoted to the Lebanese Premier League.[5] Koleilat allocated a budget of US$7 million, with the goal of winning the league and building a competitive team for the AFC Cup.[5] Having strengthened the team with the signings of Pierre Issa, Edílson, Faisal Antar, Youssef Mohamad, and Abbas Ali Atwi, among others, Olympic Beirut won the domestic double in 2002–03, winning both the league and FA Cup.[5]

On 14 February 2003, Al Medina Bank [ar] – which funded the club's activities – declared bankruptcy.[5] The decline was felt the following season, in 2003–04, with Olympic Beirut being knocked out of the 2004 AFC Cup in the quarter-finals against Singaporean club Home United, and finishing the league in third place.[5] In 2004–05 Olympic Beirut finished in fourth place.[5]

AC Tripoli

Prior to the 2005–06 season, Koleilat sold the club's license to former national team player Walid Kamareddine for $400,000, with the club being relocated to Tripoli.[5] The club was first renamed Olympic, then Olympic Tripoli, and finally AC Tripoli (Arabic: نادي طرابلس الرياضي).[5] The Lebanese Football Association (LFA) approved of the move on 24 November 2005.[6]

In 2014–15 Tripoli won the Lebanese FA Cup, their first trophy under their new name.[7] They participated in the 2016 AFC Cup where, after beating Kyrgyz club Alay Osh in the qualifying play-offs on penalty shoot-outs, they qualified to the group stage.[8][9] Drawn in group B, Tripoli finished in third place out of four with two wins, a draw, and three defeats.[10]

Starting from the 2016–17 season, Tripoli found themselves in financial issues due to Najib Mikati, the club's main funder, deciding to cut the club's salary year by year, leaving the club to rely on social donations and TV sponsorship payments.[11] Tripoli were relegated to the Second Division in 2024, after finishing the 2023–24 Lebanese Premier League season in last place.[12]

Club rivalries

Tripoli plays the Tripoli derby with Egtmaaey, as they are both located in the same city.[13] The club also contests the North derby with Salam Zgharta, also on the basis of location.[14]

Players

Current squad

As of 31 August 2024[15]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Lebanon LBN Ahmad Korhani
2 DF State of Palestine PLE Omar Kayed
7 DF Lebanon LBN Saad Youssef
8 MF Lebanon LBN Ghazi El Hussein (captain)
9 FW Lebanon LBN Abdallah Ali
10 FW Lebanon LBN Fouad Eid
— DF Lebanon LBN Abdelrahman Abdelkhalek
19 DF Lebanon LBN Abdul Razzak Dakramanji
20 MF Lebanon LBN Bassam Zakaria
20 FW State of Palestine PLE Ibrahim Abdelwahhab
21 MF Lebanon LBN Adnan Kheir
No. Pos. Nation Player
22 MF Lebanon LBN Said Al Ali
66 MF Lebanon LBN Taha Al Hussein
70 MF Lebanon LBN Mohamad Daher
77 DF Lebanon LBN Mohamad Korhani
90 GK Lebanon LBN Bahaa Mohammad El Abdallah
— Lebanon LBN Mohammad Zahed
— MF Lebanon LBN Bilal Matar
— FW Lebanon LBN Abou Bakr Al-Mel

Honours

Performance in AFC competitions

2004: Quarter-finals
2016: Group stage

Managerial history

  • Lebanon Ihsan Sayeed (1999–2002)
  • Brazil Estevam Soares (2002)
  • Morocco Mohammed Sahel (2002–2004)
  • Lebanon Vardan Ghazaryan (2017)
  • Lebanon Fadi Ayad (2018–2019)
  • State of Palestine Ismael Kortam (2019)
  • Egypt Ahmad Hafez (2019–2020)
  • State of Palestine Ismael Kortam (2020)
  • Lebanon Salim Mikati (2018–2021)
  • Iraq Saad Jameel (2021–present)

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d As Olympic Beirut

References

  1. ^ "قمرالدين التقى نادي طرابلس الرياضي وتفقد محيط مركز عائشة في القبة | بلدية طرابلس". www.tripoli.gov.lb. Archived from the original on 10 May 2021. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  2. ^ Groll, Daniel. "AC Tripoli SC - Lebanon - نادي طرابلس الرياضي - Club Profile, Club History, Club Badge, Results, Fixtures, Historical Logos, Statistics". www.weltfussballarchiv.com. Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  3. ^ Maugendre, Axel (31 August 2018), "Ethnography of the Lebanese Football Clubs" (PDF), Athens Journal of Sports, 5 (3): 213–226, doi:10.30958/AJSPO.5-3-3, archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2019
  4. ^ "الجامعة اللبنانية | التشريعات | تعديل اسم جمعية المجد الرياضي ليصبح نادي اولمبيك بيروت الرياضي-قضاء بيروت-محاف- ظة بيروت". www.legallaw.ul.edu.lb. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "أولمبيك بيروت.. تعلموا كيف تصنع البطولات". كووورة. 28 March 2020. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  6. ^ "Lebanon 2005/06". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 27 November 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  7. ^ "Summary - Cup - Lebanon - Results, fixtures, tables and news - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Archived from the original on 23 May 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Ghanaian trio propel Lebanese side AC Tripoli to Asian Cup Group stage". Modern Ghana. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  9. ^ "AFC Cup Playoff: Tripoli Club 0-0 (aet 7-6 pens) FC Alay | Football | News | AFC Cup 2020". the-AFC. Archived from the original on 15 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  10. ^ "AFC Cup MD6 - Group B: FC Istiklol 1-3 Tripoli Club | Football | News | AFC Cup 2020". the-AFC. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
  11. ^ اللواء, جريدة. "ماذا يجري في طرابلس.. نداء الى الرئيس ميقاتي!". جريدة اللواء (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 5 August 2023. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  12. ^ "طرابلس يودع الدوري اللبناني بتعادل أبيض". كووورة. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 24 May 2024.
  13. ^ "ديربي الشمال ينتهي لصالح طرابلس على حساب الاجتماعي". Elsport News (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 22 June 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  14. ^ Lebanon, Football. "السلام زغرتا يحسم ديربي الشمال ويضمن البقاء في دوري الأضواء". football-lebanon.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
  15. ^ "Tripoli SC". Global Sports Archive. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
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