AC Tripoli

Tripoli

Full name	Tripoli Sporting Club
Nickname(s)	سفير الشمال (Ambassador of the North) [1]
Founded	Unknown, as Al Majd Sports Association 4 April 2001;21 years ago (2001-04-04), as Olympic Beirut Sporting Club 24 November 2005;16 years ago (2005-11-24), as Tripoli Sporting Club
Ground	Tripoli Municipal Stadium
Capacity	22,000
Chairman	Ghassan Yaken
Manager	Oussama Saqr
League	Lebanese Premier League
2021–22	Lebanese Premier League, 8th of 12
Home colours
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 Premier League. ^[2]

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, ^[3] by Taha Koleilat. ^[4] In 2001–02 the club won the Lebanese Second Division, and were promoted to the Lebanese Premier League. ^[4] Koleilat allocated a budget of USD$7 million, with the goal of winning the league and building a competitive team for the AFC Cup. ^[4] 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. ^[4]

On 14 February 2003, the Al Medina Bank  [ ar ], which funded the club's activities, declared bankruptcy. ^[4] 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. ^[4] In 2004–05 Olympic Beirut finished in fourth place. ^[4]

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. ^[4] The club was first renamed Olympic, then Olympic Tripoli, and finally AC Tripoli (Arabic: نادي طرابلس الرياضي). ^[4] The Lebanese Football Association (LFA) approved of the move on 24 November 2005. ^[5]

In 2014–15 Tripoli won the Lebanese FA Cup, their first trophy under their new name. ^[6] 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. ^{[7] [8]} Drawn in group B, Tripoli finished in third place out of four with two wins, a draw, and three defeats. ^[9]

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. ^[10]

Club rivalries

Tripoli plays the Tripoli derby with Egtmaaey, as they are both located in the same city. ^[11] The club also contests the North derby with Salam Zgharta, also on the basis of location. ^[12]

Players

Current squad

As of 15 March 2022 ^[13]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK   LBN Ahmad Korhani 3 DF   LBN Khaled Al Jasem 4 DF   LBN Obaida El Halabi 7 DF   LBN Mohammad El Samrout 8 MF   LBN Ghazi El Hussein 9 MF   LBN Mohammad Arja 9 FW   LBN Abdallah Ali 9 FW   LBN Samir Abdelrahman 10 FW   LBN Fouad Eid 10 FW   LBN Alaa Ezzo 10   PLE Yehya Ghafour 11 DF   LBN Abdelrahman Abdelkhalek 11 FW   LBN Ali Al Rachid 12 DF   PLE Omar Kayed 13 DF   LBN Abdul Razzak Dakramanji 14 MF   LBN Ahmad Moghrabi (captain)

No. Pos. Nation Player 15 FW   GHA Joseph Ansah 17 MF   LBN Bilal Matar 17 MF   LBN Said Al Ali 18   LBN Omran Mansour 19 FW   LBN Abdallah Moughrabi 20 MF   LBN Bassam Zakaria 21 MF   LBN Adnan Kheir 23 DF   PLE Ahmad Yassine 23 MF   LBN Oussama Hussein 55 GK   LBN Omar Sabra 70 MF   LBN Mohamad Korhani 81 GK   LBN Siraj El Samad 92 DF   LBN Alex Rattel 95 GK   LBN Mohamad Abdel Mawla 99 FW   LBN Jihad Eid

Honours

• Lebanese Premier League
  • Winners (1): 2002–03 ^{[lower-alpha 1]}
• Lebanese FA Cup
  • Winners (2): 2002–03, ^{[lower-alpha 1]} 2014–15
  • Runners-up (2): 2004–05, ^{[lower-alpha 1]} 2013–14
• Lebanese Second Division
  • Winners (2): 2001–02, ^{[lower-alpha 1]} 2010–11
• Lebanese Challenge Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2021
• Lebanese Super Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2015

Performance in AFC competitions

• AFC Cup: 2 appearances

2004: Quarter-finals

2016: Group stage

Managerial history

• Ihsan Sayeed (1999–2002)
• Estevam Soares (2002)
• Mohammed Sahel (2002–2004)
• Vardan Ghazaryan (2017)
• Fadi Ayad (2018–2019)
• Ismael Kortam (2019)
• Ahmad Hafez (2019–2020)
• Ismael Kortam (2020)
• Salim Mikati (2018–2021)
• Saad Jameel (2021–present)

See also

• List of football clubs in Lebanon

Notes

1. As Olympic Beirut

References

1. "قمرالدين التقى نادي طرابلس الرياضي وتفقد محيط مركز عائشة في القبة | بلدية طرابلس". www.tripoli.gov.lb. 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. "الجامعة اللبنانية | التشريعات | تعديل اسم جمعية المجد الرياضي ليصبح نادي اولمبيك بيروت الرياضي-قضاء بيروت-محاف- ظة بيروت". www.legallaw.ul.edu.lb. Retrieved 15 April 2021.
4. "أولمبيك بيروت.. تعلموا كيف تصنع البطولات". كووورة. 28 March 2020. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
5. "Lebanon 2005/06". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
6. "Summary - Cup - Lebanon - Results, fixtures, tables and news - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
7. "Ghanaian trio propel Lebanese side AC Tripoli to Asian Cup Group stage". Modern Ghana. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
8. "AFC Cup Playoff: Tripoli Club 0-0 (aet 7-6 pens) FC Alay | Football | News | AFC Cup 2020". the-AFC. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
9. "AFC Cup MD6 - Group B: FC Istiklol 1-3 Tripoli Club | Football | News | AFC Cup 2020". the-AFC. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
10. اللواء, جريدة. "ماذا يجري في طرابلس.. نداء الى الرئيس ميقاتي!". جريدة اللواء (in Arabic). Retrieved 17 July 2019.
11. "ديربي الشمال ينتهي لصالح طرابلس على حساب الاجتماعي". Elsport News (in Arabic). Retrieved 24 May 2019.
12. Lebanon, Football. "السلام زغرتا يحسم ديربي الشمال ويضمن البقاء في دوري الأضواء". football-lebanon.com. Retrieved 13 April 2019.
13. "Tripoli SC". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 15 March 2022.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AC Tripoli .

• AC Tripoli at the AFC
• AC Tripoli at LebanonFG