The Lebanon women's national under-20 football team (Arabic: منتخب لبنان لكرة القدم تحت 20 سنة للسيدات), colloquially known as "the Lady Cedars" (Arabic: صبايا الأرز),[1][2] represents Lebanon in international women's youth football. The team is controlled by the Lebanon Football Association (LFA), the governing body for football in Lebanon. The team also serves as the women's national under-19 and women's national under-18 football team of Lebanon.
The national team played their first competitive matches at the qualifiers for the 2015 AFC U-19 Women's Championship in November 2014.[3] Drawn with Jordan, Uzbekistan and India, Lebanon lost all three games,[4][5] finishing last in their qualifying group.[3] Following funding and initiatives by the Lebanese Football Association towards women's football,[6] and more specifically youth women's football, the women's national youth teams started to see success, especially in Western Asia.[7] As of 2020, there were separate club leagues for the U15s, U17s, U19s and seniors.[8]
In 2018 Lebanon hosted the inaugural WAFF U-18 Women's Championship between August and September, in preparation for the 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship qualification the following October.[8] After defeating Palestine 3–0 in the opening game, Lebanon lost 2–1 to Jordan in the effective final of the WAFF Championship and finished runners-up.[9] In October 2018, Lebanon hosted their group in the first round of Asian qualifiers, in which they were drawn with Australia, Mongolia and Hong Kong;[8] despite losing 2–0 to Australia, Lebanon won against the other two teams (thanks to four goals by Yara Bou Rada against Hong Kong and three goals by Samira Awad) and qualified to the second round.[10][11] They were the only Arab country to do so.[6]
During this period, most of the U19s players were also called up to the senior team. In January 2019, 17 of the 23 players called up to the 2019 WAFF Women's Championship in Bahrain came from the U19 team, bringing the average age of the squad to 18.9 years. Lebanon eventually finished third.[8] The players returned in April 2019 to compete in the second round of Asian U-19 qualifiers.[8] Needing a second-place finish in their group of four teams to reach the final tournament, Lebanon finished last after losing against South Korea, Vietnam and Iran.[12]
West Asian success (2019–present)
The team's first success came in 2019, in the second edition of the WAFF U-18 Championship in Bahrain. After winning all three games in the group stage, Lebanon advanced the semi-finals, where they defeated Palestine 4–2 to reach the final against hosts Bahrain. Lebanon won 3–0 and were crowned champions for the first time.[13] Three years later, in 2022, Lebanon won their second-consecutive WAFF Championship title on home soil after beating Syria 5–1 in the final.[14]
In March 2023, Lebanon took part in the first round of 2024 Asian Cup qualification,[15] which had been rebranded as an under-20 competition.[16] After defeating Bhutan (6–2) and Mongolia (7–0), Lebanon drew their decisive game against Jordan (0–0) and progressed to the second round for the second consecutive year.[17][18] Less than three months later, in June, Lebanon were drawn with Australia, Vietnam and Iran.[19] Similarly to 2019, Lebanon lost all three matches and finished last in their group.[20]
^Saqr, Hassan (24 October 2018). صبايا الأرز تهز شباك هونغ كونغ بسداسية نظيفة [The Lady Cedars score six past the Hong Kong goal]. Football Lebanon (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 12 January 2019. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
^Qteishat, Yahya (5 November 2014). منتخب الشابات يفوزعلى نظيره اللبناني بثلاثية ويتصدر [The women's youth national team beat its Lebanese counterpart 3–0]. alghad.com (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 3 November 2022. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
^Di Maggio, Roberto; Schaal, Markus (1 March 2023). "Women U-19/U-20 World Cup". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 4 June 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023. Source note: To view Lebanon's tournament-specific details in the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, click on the specific year under "Palmares", then "Asia" or "AFC" under "Overview qualifying tournaments".
^Di Maggio, Roberto (1 March 2023). "Asian Women U-19/U-20 Championship". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 28 October 2023. Source note: To view Lebanon's tournament-specific details in the AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup, click on the specific year under "Palmares".
