Lebanon women's national football team


The Lebanon women's national football team is the official women's national football team of the country of Lebanon. The team was established in 2005, and is controlled by the Lebanon Football Association, the governing body for football in Lebanon. Whilst the team has yet to qualify for the FIFA Women's World Cup, or the AFC Women's Asian Cup, they have finished in third place at the 2007 and 2019 editions of the WAFF Women's Championship.
Lebanon played their first match in 2006 against Algeria in a 12–0 defeat at the Arab Women's Championship. However, their first qualification campaign took place eight years later, on the occasion of the 2014 Women's Asian Cup. While Lebanon ultimately failed to qualify for the final tournament, they won 12–1 against Kuwait on 9 June 2013 in their biggest win to date.
Colloquially called "the Lady Cedars", their home kit is predominately red and their away kit white, in reference to their national flag. From 2006 Lebanon's FIFA ranking has been relatively steady, with their best ranking being 92th in December 2009 and their worst being 148th in September 2018.

History

Known as "the Lady Cedars", the Lebanon women's national team was formed in 2005. Along with Jordan, Iran, Palestine and Syria, they are one of the earliest women's national teams in the West Asian Football Federation. Their first match was a 12–0 defeat against Algeria at the 2006 Arab Women's Championship. They finished in last place after three games without having scored a single goal. Their first WAFF Women's Championship campaign was in 2007; after two 3–0 losses, first against Jordan and then against Iran, Lebanon beat Syria 7–0 finishing in third place in the tournament.
In their second WAFF Women's Championship in 2011 they were drawn with Iran, Syria and hosts the United Arab Emirates. After losing their first match on 4 October against Iran 8–1, Lebanon won 1–0 thanks to a Ghinwa Saleh goal against Syria. In their final match, against the UAE, Lebanon lost 5–0 and were knocked out of the competition.
Managed first by Vatche Sarkissian and then by Farid Nujaim, Lebanon took part in the qualification campaign for the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup. This would be their first official qualification tournament, eight years from their inception. They were drawn with Jordan, Uzbekistan and Kuwait in their group. In their first match, they lost 0–5 against Jordan before being defeated by Uzbekistan 0–4. Already eliminated, Lebanon beat Kuwait 12–1 in a consolatory victory, ending their qualifying campaign with three points.
third place award ceremony.
Coached by Wael Gharzeddine, Lebanon competed in the 2019 WAFF Women's Championship. They began their campaign on 7 January with a slim 3–2 defeat to hosts Bahrain; in the 57th minute Hanin Tamim gave Lebanon the lead, but the opposing team scored three goals in 12 minutes. Dima Al Kasti's late consolation goal was not enough for a comeback. In their second match, played two days later, Lebanon's late goals in each half, the first by Rana Mokdad, the second by Samira Awad, secured a 2–0 win over the UAE. On 11 January, Lebanon suffered a 3–1 defeat to Jordan; after conceding two goals in the first 12 minutes and a third in the 56th minute, Hanin Tamim scored a goal to end the match. After a four-day rest, Lebanon played their final match against Palestine. Three first-half goals, scored by Hanin Tamim, who grabbed her third goal of the tournament, Aya Jurdi and Samira Awad gave Lebanon all three points, finishing in third place.

Players

Current squad

The following 22 players were called up for the 2019 WAFF Women's Championship.
Caps, goals and player numbers are correct as of 2019 after the match against Palestine.

Competitive record

FIFA Women's World Cup

Summer Olympics

AFC Women's Asian Cup

WAFF Women's Championship

Other tournaments

Records and fixtures

As of 15 January 2019, the complete official match record of the Lebanese women's national team comprises 27 matches: seven wins and 20 losses. During these matches, the team scored 43 times and conceded 110 goals. Lebanon's highest winning margin is 11 goals, which has been achieved against Kuwait in 2013.

FIFA rankings

Below is a chart of Lebanon's FIFA ranking from 2006 to the present. Following a drastic increase of 52 positions, the country went through a steady decline.

Footnotes