2016–17 Lebanese Premier League
Football league season
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The 2016–17 Lebanese Premier League is the 56th season of top-tier football in Lebanon. A total of twelve teams are competing in the league, with Safa the defending champions. After 21 rounds, Al Ahed have won the league for the 5th time in its history. At the 21st round, Al Ahed needed a win against rivals Nejmeh SC to win the League but Nejmeh SC had forfeited and Al Ahed automatically won the match and became the champions of the Lebanese Premier League.
| Season | 2016–17 |
|---|---|
| Champions | Al Ahed |
| Relegated | Shabab Al-Sahel, Al Egtmaaey Tripoli |
| Matches | 131 |
| Goals | 365 (2.79 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Abou Bakr Al-Mel (16 goals) |
| Biggest home win | Al-Safa 6-0 Salam Zgharta |
| Biggest away win | Al-Akhaa Al-Ahli 1-6 Nejmeh SC |
| Highest scoring | Al Egtmaaey Tripoli 3-6 Tripoli SC |
← 2015–16 2017–18 → | |
Teams
Hekmeh FC and Shabab Al-Ghazieh were relegated to the second level of Lebanese football after ending the 2015–16 season in the bottom two places. They were replaced by Tadamon Sour and Al Akhaa Al Ahli who won promotion from the second tier.
Stadia and locations
| Club | Location | Stadium | Stadium capacity | Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Al Ahed | Beirut | Beirut Municipal Stadium | 22,500 |  Robert Jaspert[1] |
| Al Akhaa Al Ahli | Aley | Amin AbdelNour Stadium | 3,500 |  Hussein Afash[2] |
| Al Ansar | Beirut | Beirut Municipal Stadium | 22,500 |  Zoran Pešić[3] |
| Al Egtmaaey Tripoli | Tripoli | Tripoli Municipal Stadium | 22,000 | Iyad Abd Al Kareem[4] |
| Al Nejmeh | Beirut | Rafic El-Hariri Stadium | 5,000 |  Jamal Al Haj[5] |
| Al Nabi Sheet | Zahlé | Al-Nabi Shayth Stadium | 5,000 | Mahmoud Hammoud[6] |
| Racing Beirut | Beirut | Bourj Hammoud Stadium | 8,000 | Moussa Hojaij[7] |
| Safa | Beirut | Safa Stadium | 4,000 | Emile Rustom |
| Salam Zgharta | Zgharta | Zgharta Stadium | 5,000 |  Tareq Jaraya[8] |
| Shabab Al-Sahel | Beirut | Beirut Municipal Stadium | 22,500 | Samir Saad[9] |
| Tadamon Sour | Tyre | Sour Stadium | 6,500 | Mohammed Zouheir |
| Tripoli SC | Tripoli | Tripoli Municipal Stadium | 22,000 | Fadi Al Omari[10] |
Table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Al Ahed | 22 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 41 | 14 | +27 | 49 | Qualification to 2018 AFC Champions League preliminary round 1 |
| 2 | Salam Zgharta | 22 | 12 | 4 | 6 | 35 | 29 | +6 | 40 | Qualification to Arab Champions League 2018 |
| 3 | Al Nejmeh[a] | 22 | 11 | 6 | 5 | 36 | 22 | +14 | 33 | |
| 4 | Al Ansar | 22 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 35 | 40 | −5 | 32 | |
| 5 | Al Nabi Sheet | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 26 | 24 | +2 | 31 | |
| 6 | Tadamon Sour | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 25 | 25 | 0 | 30 | |
| 7 | Racing Beirut | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 26 | 30 | −4 | 30 | |
| 8 | Al-Akhaa Al-Ahli | 22 | 9 | 2 | 11 | 34 | 36 | −2 | 29 | |
| 9 | Tripoli SC | 22 | 8 | 4 | 10 | 34 | 31 | +3 | 28 | |
| 10 | Safa[b] | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 32 | 32 | 0 | 28 | |
| 11 | Shabab Al-Sahel | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 20 | 22 | −2 | 25 | Relegation to Lebanese Second Division |
| 12 | Al Egtmaaey Tripoli | 22 | 2 | 2 | 18 | 21 | 60 | −39 | 8 |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored
Notes:
Top goalscorers
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals | Games played |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Abou Bakr Al-Mel | Tripoli SC | 16 | 20 |
| 2 | Akram Moghrabi | Al Nejmeh | 12 | 21 |
| 3 |  Cofie Bekoe | Al Egtmaaey Tripoli | 11 | 20 |
 Élio Martins | Al-Akhaa Al-Ahli | |||
| 4 |  Ahmed Hegazy | Al-Akhaa Al-Ahli | 9 | 21 |
| 5 |  Mamadou Niass | Salam Zgharta | 8 | 21 |
| 6 | Mohamad Kdouh | Al Ahed | 7 | 17 |
| Mohammad Jaafar | Racing Beirut | 18 | ||
| Ali Al Saadi | Safa | 20 | ||
| Feiz Shamsin | Tripoli SC | 21 | ||
| 10 | Rabih Ataya | Al Ansar | 6 | 9 |
| Roda Antar | Tadamon Sour | 16 | ||
 Lamine Fané | Tadamon Sour | 17 | ||
| Abdelrazaq Al-Hussain | Al Nejmeh | 19 | ||
| Dominique Mendy | Safa | |||
| Michael Helegbe | Tadamon Sour | 20 | ||
| Mohammad Salem | Shabab Al-Sahel | 22 | ||