Safa Sporting Club () 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 Wata El Msaytbeh, a district of

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

, Lebanon. Competing in the , the club was founded in 1939 and have since won three league titles, three domestic cups, one

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

, and two Elite Cups. Safa also finished runners-up in the

2008 AFC Cup The 2008 AFC Cup was the fifth edition of the AFC Cup, played by clubs from nations who are members of the Asian Football Confederation. Qualified teams 20 Football team, clubs competed, including champions of the :National association football ...

. Safa is primarily supported by the Druze community, and maintains a strong fanbase throughout

Mount Lebanon Mount Lebanon (, ; , ; ) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It is about long and averages above in elevation, with its peak at . The range provides a typical alpine climate year-round. Mount Lebanon is well-known for its snow-covered mountains, ...

. As Akhaa Ahli Aley is also based in the Mount Lebanon region, specifically in Aley, matches between the two clubs are referred to as the "Mountain derby" due to their shared regional support.

History

Early history (1933–1961)

Founded in 1933 at an amateur level in the Wata El-Museitbeh of

, Safa Sporting Club was officially established in 1939 by seven people: Maher Wahab, Anis Naaim, Hasib Al-Jerdi, Amin Haidar, Chafik Nader, Toufik Al-Zouhairy and Adib Haidar. On 23 December 1948, Safa obtained the official membership and license from the government as a private association. In the same year, the club was affiliated to 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 ...

and was ranked within the Second Division. In 1961, Safa was promoted to the First Division.

Recent history (2021–present)

On 4 May 2012, after defeating Nejmeh, Safa were crowned Lebanese Premier League champions for the first time in 2011–12. They were crowned league champions for the second consecutive time in 2012–13, after defeating Ahed 3–1 on 19 May 2013. Safa also won the 2012–13 Lebanese FA Cup, following a 2–1 win against Shabab Sahel in the final, achieving a

domestic double The Double, in association football, is the achievement of winning a country's top tier division and its primary domestic cup competition in the same season. The lists in this article examine this definition of a double, while derivative sectio ...

for the first time. After finishing the

2021–22 Lebanese Premier League The 2021–22 Lebanese Premier League was the 60th season of the Lebanese Premier League, the top Lebanese league for association football clubs since its establishment in 1934. The league started on 11 September 2021 and ended on 4 June 2022. I ...

in 11th place, Safa were due to be relegated to the Second Division for the first time. However, following Shabab Bourj's withdrawal from the league, they were relegated in place of Safa. Safa also narrowly avoided relegation the following season, finishing 10th above

Salam Zgharta Salam Zgharta Football Club (), known as Salam Zgharta or simply Salam, is a football club based in Zgharta, Lebanon, that competes in the . Founded in 1933 as Salam Achrafieh, the club was renamed Salam Zgharta in 1971; their supporters are ...

on account of their positive head-to-head record.

Kit manufacturers

The following is a list of kit manufacturers worn by Safa.

Stadium

The

Safa Stadium The Safa Stadium () is a multi-use stadium in Beirut, Lebanon. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and serves as the home for Safa (football club), Safa SC Beirut. The stadium has a capacity of 4,000 people. Exter ...

opened in 1948, and has a capacity of 4,000 spectators. Located in the Wata El-Museitbeh district of

, the stadium is five minutes from the

Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport (, , previously known as Beirut International Airport) () is the only operational commercial airport in Lebanon. It is located in the Dahieh, Southern Suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon, from the Beirut Cen ...

. While the stadium is of Safa's property, the club plays in various other stadiums around the country.

Club rivalries

Safa has important rivalries with Ansar and Nejmeh, both being based in

. Safa also plays the Mountain derby with Akhaa Ahli, as Akhaa is based in Aley, a city in

, and Safa's support comes from the Druze community in Lebanon, who mainly live in Chouf and Aley districts.

Players

Current squad

Notable players

Honours

Domestic

Lebanese Premier League The Lebanese First Division (), commonly known as the Lebanese Premier League (), is the top division of the Lebanese football league system. Established in 1934 and organized by the Lebanese Football Association (LFA), the Lebanese Premier Leagu ...

** Winners (3): 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16 *

Lebanese FA Cup The Lebanon Cup (), commonly known as the Lebanese FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in domestic Lebanese football. In the first FA Cup final, held on 26 June 1938, Nahda beat Hilmi-Sport 3–2 in the replay (after drawing 1� ...

**Winners (3): 1964–65, 1986–87,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

**''Runners-up (8):'' 1970–71, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1994–95, 1999–2000, 2007–08,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2016–17 *

Lebanese Elite Cup The Lebanese Elite Cup () was a Lebanese football annual cup competition contested by the top six teams of the previous Lebanese Premier League season. Founded in 1996 as the Super League Cup, the first edition was played by the top five finisher ...

(''defunct'') **Winners (2):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

**''Runners-up (3):''

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Lebanese Super Cup The Lebanese Super Cup () is Lebanese football's annual match contested between the champions of the previous Lebanese Premier League season and the holders of the Lebanese FA Cup. If the Lebanese Premier League champions also won the Lebanese FA ...

**Winners (1): 2013 **''Runners-up (3):'' 2011, 2012, 2016 *

Lebanese Second Division The Lebanese Second Division () is the second division of Lebanese football. Established in 1933, it is controlled by the Lebanese Football Association. The 12 teams that participate in the league play each other twice, once at home and once awa ...

**Winners (1): 1960–61 (Beirut)

Continental

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 ...

** ''Runners-up (1):''

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Other achievements

Lebanese Challenge Cup The Lebanese Challenge Cup () was a Lebanese football annual cup competition contested by the teams placed between 7th and 10th in the previous season of the Lebanese Premier League and the two newly promoted teams from the Lebanese Second Divis ...

(''defunct'') **''Runners-up (1):''

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Performance in AFC competitions

: 5 appearances ::

: Final ::

: Round of 16 ::

: Group stage ::

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

: Group stage ::

: Round of 16 *

Asian Cup Winners' Cup The Asian Cup Winners' Cup was an Asian football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-Asian club competition organised by Asian Football Confedera ...

: 2 appearances :: 1992–93: Withdrew in first round :: 2000–01: Withdrew in first round

Managerial history

Walid Zeineddine Waleed () or al-Waleed (), also spelled al-Walid, Walid, Oualid, or Velid, is an Arabic-language masculine given name meaning ''newborn child.'' Given name Waleed * Waleed Ali (born 1980), Kuwaiti footballer *Waleed Aly (born 1978), Egyptian-orig ...

* Mahmoud Saad *

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* Ghassan Abou Diab * Samir Saad *

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(2013–2014) *

(2015–2018) *

(2018–2019) *

Tarek Jarraya Tariq () is an Arabic word and given name. Etymology The word is derived from the Arabic verb , ('), meaning "to strike", and into the agentive conjugated doer form , ('), meaning "striker". It became popular as a name after Tariq ibn Ziyad, a ...

(2019) *

Robert Jaspert Robert Niels Jaspert (born 26 February 1960) is a German professional Association football, football coach and former player. Playing career Jaspert represented SF Kladow, Hertha Zehlendorf, BFC Alemannia 90 Wacker, SC Wacker 04 Berlin, , SV N ...

(2019–2020) *

(2020) * Mohammad Dakka (2020–2021) * Fadi Oumari (2021–22) *

Malek Hassoun Malek Ibrahim Hassoun (; born 10 June 1975) is a Lebanese football manager and former player who is the head coach of club Ahly Nabatieh. As a player, he played as a midfielder for Chabab Ghazieh, Ansar, and the Lebanon national team. Cl ...

(2022) * Youssef Jawhari (2022–2023) *

Moussa Hojeij Moussa Ali Hojeij (; born 6 August 1974) is a Lebanese football manager and former player. Hojeij was the best player in the Al-Manar Football Festival several times, and was captain of the national team. He is also a match analyst for Lebanon ...

(2023) * Johnny Jansen (2023) *

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(2023) *

Bassem Marmar Bassem Ali Marmar (; born 28 March 1977) is a Lebanese football coach and former player who is head coach of club Safa. Starting his playing career at Ahed in 1996, Marmar helped Ahed win multiple titles, most notably the 2003–04 Lebanese ...

(2023–present)

Notes

References

External links

*
Safa SC
at the AFC
Safa SC
at FA Lebanon {{DEFAULTSORT:Safa Beirut Sc Football clubs in Lebanon Football clubs in Beirut 1939 establishments in Lebanon Association football clubs established in 1939 Druze in Lebanon