Tripoli Sporting Club (), also known as AC Tripoli or simply Tripoli, is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in Tripoli, Lebanon, that competes in the , and is primarily supported by the Sunni Muslim community. Founded as Al Majd Sports Association (), the club was renamed Olympic Beirut Sporting Club () 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 (), the club was renamed Olympic Beirut Sporting Club () on 4 April 2001, by Taha Koleilat. In 2001–02 the club won the Lebanese Second Division, and were promoted to the Lebanese Premier League. Koleilat allocated a budget of US$7 million, with the goal of winning the league and building a competitive team for the

AFC Cup The AFC Champions League Two (abbreviated as the ACL Two or ACL2) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation. It is the second-tier competition of Asian club football, ranked below the AFC C ...

. 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 The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

. On 14 February 2003, – which funded the club's activities – declared

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

. The decline was felt the following season, in 2003–04, with Olympic Beirut being knocked out of the

2004 AFC Cup The 2004 AFC Cup was the first edition of the AFC Cup, played by clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation. Qualification The 'developing' 14 nations in the Asian Football Confederation were invited to nominate one ...

in the quarter-finals against Singaporean club Home United, and finishing the league in third place. In 2004–05 Olympic Beirut finished in fourth place.

AC Tripoli

Prior to the 2005–06 season, Koleilat sold the club's license to former

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

player Walid Kamareddine for $400,000, with the club being relocated to Tripoli. The club was first renamed Olympic, then Olympic Tripoli, and finally AC Tripoli (). The

Lebanese Football Association The Lebanese Football Association (LFA; ; ) is the governing body of association football in Lebanon. Formed in 1933, it is a member of both FIFA and the Asian Football Confederation, AFC. It is also one of the founding members of the West Asian ...

(LFA) approved of the move on 24 November 2005. In 2014–15 Tripoli won the Lebanese FA Cup, their first trophy under their new name. They participated in the

2016 AFC Cup The 2016 AFC Cup was the 13th edition of the AFC Cup, Asia's secondary club association football, football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya from Iraq defeated India's Bengaluru FC in the 2016 AFC ...

where, after beating Kyrgyz club Alay Osh in the qualifying play-offs on penalty shoot-outs, they qualified to the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

. Drawn in group B, Tripoli finished in third place out of four with two wins, a draw, and three defeats. Starting from the 2016–17 season, Tripoli found themselves in financial issues due to

Najib Mikati Najib Azmi Mikati (born 24 November 1955) is a Lebanese politician and businessman who served as the 52nd prime minister of Lebanon from 2021 to 2025. He previously served in this post as the 48th and 45th prime minister from 2011 to 2014 and i ...

, 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. Tripoli were relegated to the Second Division in 2024, after finishing the 2023–24 Lebanese Premier League season in last place.

Club rivalries

Tripoli plays the Tripoli derby with Egtmaaey, as they are both located in the same city. The club also contests the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

derby with Salam Zgharta, also on the basis of location.

Players

Current squad

Honours

* Lebanese Premier League ** Winners (1): 2002–03 * Lebanese FA Cup ** Winners (2): 2002–03, 2014–15 ** ''Runners-up (2):'' 2004–05, 2013–14 * Lebanese Second Division ** Winners (2): 2001–02, 2010–11 * Lebanese Challenge Cup (''defunct'') ** ''Runners-up (1):''

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

* Lebanese Super Cup **''Runners-up (1):'' 2015

Performance in AFC competitions

: 2 appearances ::

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

: Quarter-finals ::

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

: Group stage

Managerial history

* Ihsan Sayeed (1999–2002) * Estevam Soares (2002) * Mohammed Sahel (2002–2004) *

Vardan Ghazaryan Vardan Martun Ghazaryan (; ; born 1 December 1969) is a football coach and former player. Born in Armenia, Ghazaryan moved to Lebanon and obtained citizenship through naturalisation in 1994. He played for Homenetmen and Sagesse as a striker ...

(2017) * Fadi Ayad (2018–2019) * Ismael Kortam (2019) * Ahmad Hafez (2019–2020) * Ismael Kortam (2020) * Salim Mikati (2018–2021) * Saad Jameel (2021–present)

Notes

References

External links

AC Tripoli
at the AFC
AC Tripoli
at LebanonFG {{DEFAULTSORT:Tripoli Football clubs in Lebanon 2001 establishments in Lebanon Association football clubs established in 2001 Association football clubs established in 2005 Sunni Islam in Lebanon