Al Nahda Sporting Club ( ar, نادي النهضة الرياضي), or Renaissance in French, was a football club based in the Mar Elias district of

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

, Lebanon. Supported by the Orthodox community, they were founded in 1926 as Lebanon's first football club. Nahda have won the inaugural

Lebanese Premier League The Lebanese First Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الأولى), commonly known as the Lebanese Premier League (), is the top division of the Lebanese football league system. There are 12 teams competing in the league, ...

in 1933–34, as well as of the first edition of the

Lebanese FA Cup The Lebanon Cup (), commonly known as the Lebanese FA Cup, is a Lebanese football annual cup competition. The first edition, held in 1937, was won by Nahda. The most successful club in the competition is Ansar with 15 titles, followed by Nejme ...

in 1937–38. They are also the first team to have won a domestic double (1946–47), and have won a total of five league titles and four FA Cups. In the 1990s the club faced bankruptcy, and were forced to fold.

History

Nahda was established on 3 February 1926, by Elias Nakhle Boutrous, Emile Raffoul Boutrous, and Elias Moubarak, as Lebanon's first ever football club. The club won the inaugural

in the 1933–34 season; their team consisted of: Elias Nakhle Boutrous, Edmond Rbeiz, Anis Al Lala, Emile Khoury, Georges Karam, Khalil Salmon, Georges Boukhazi, Gebran Boukhazi, Adel Sidani, Youssef Sidani, Jacques Chehab, Jimmy Chehab, Samir Sursuk, Avram Moussa, Elias Moubarak, Toufic Raffoul Boutrous, and Ibrahim Andraos. Nahda also won the first edition of the

in 1937–38. They are the first team to win a domestic double, in 1946–47. Between the 1930s and 1940s, Nahda was won five league titles, and four FA Cups. In 1956 Al Nahda were relegated to the

Lebanese Second Division The Lebanese Second Division ( ar, الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الثانية) is the second division of Lebanese football. Established in 1933, it is controlled by the Lebanese Football Association. The 12 teams that participate ...

after losing 10–0 on aggregate against Second Division winners Sagesse (9–0 and 0–1) in the play-off game held at the

Beirut Municipal Stadium Beirut Municipal Stadium () is an 18,000 capacity multi-purpose stadium in Beirut, Lebanon. It is currently mostly used for football matches. History The stadium was built by the French colonials in 1935. DPHB played at the inaugural game of t ...

. They failed to gain promotion back to the Premier League, staying in the Second Division until the 1990s, when Nahda faced bankruptcy and were forced to fold.

Stadium

Nahda established their stadium in 1927, in the Mar Elias district of

, Lebanon. In 1930, the club added wooden stands for 2,000 fans. On 22 December 1946, the club's president Ibrahim Saad put the first cornerstone for a new stadium at the Al Manara district of

Ras Beirut Ras Beirut ("Tip of Beirut") is an upscale residential neighborhood of Beirut. It has a mixed population of Christians, Muslims, Druze, and secular individuals. Ras Beirut is home to some of Beirut's historically prominent families, such as ...

, Beirut. The stadium cost £L300,000, or around £stg.34,000.

Chairmen history

Honours

Domestic

**Winners (5): 1933–34, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1946–47, 1948–49 *

**Winners (4): 1937–38, 1940–41, 1944–45, 1946–47 **''Runners-up (1):'' 1942–43

References

Bibliography

* Football clubs in Lebanon Defunct football clubs in Lebanon Association football clubs established in 1926 Association football clubs disestablished in the 1990s {{Lebanon-footyclub-stub