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; 23 years ago (2001-04-04), as Olympic Beirut Sporting Club 24 November 2005; 19 years ago (2005-11-24), as Tripoli Sporting Club
Ground	Tripoli Municipal Stadium
Capacity	22,000
Chairman	Raed Saddik
Manager	Wissam Abdallah
League	Lebanese Second Division
2023–24	Lebanese Premier League, 12th of 12 (relegated)
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 Second Division,^[2] and is primarily supported by the Sunni Muslim community.^[3]

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.

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,^[4] by Taha Koleilat.^[5] In 2001–02 the club won the Lebanese Second Division, and were promoted to the Lebanese Premier League.^[5] Koleilat allocated a budget of US$7 million, with the goal of winning the league and building a competitive team for the AFC Cup.^[5] 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.^[5]

On 14 February 2003, Al Medina Bank [ar] – which funded the club's activities – declared bankruptcy.^[5] 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.^[5] In 2004–05 Olympic Beirut finished in fourth place.^[5]

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.^[5] The club was first renamed Olympic, then Olympic Tripoli, and finally AC Tripoli (Arabic: نادي طرابلس الرياضي).^[5] The Lebanese Football Association (LFA) approved of the move on 24 November 2005.^[6]

In 2014–15 Tripoli won the Lebanese FA Cup, their first trophy under their new name.^[7] 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.^[8][9] Drawn in group B, Tripoli finished in third place out of four with two wins, a draw, and three defeats.^[10]

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.^[11] Tripoli were relegated to the Second Division in 2024, after finishing the 2023–24 Lebanese Premier League season in last place.^[12]

Tripoli plays the Tripoli derby with Egtmaaey, as they are both located in the same city.^[13] The club also contests the North derby with Salam Zgharta, also on the basis of location.^[14]

As of 31 August 2024^[15]

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 2 DF  PLE Omar Kayed 7 DF  LBN Saad Youssef 8 MF  LBN Ghazi El Hussein (captain) 9 FW  LBN Abdallah Ali 10 FW  LBN Fouad Eid — DF  LBN Abdelrahman Abdelkhalek 19 DF  LBN Abdul Razzak Dakramanji 20 MF  LBN Bassam Zakaria 20 FW  PLE Ibrahim Abdelwahhab 21 MF  LBN Adnan Kheir

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 MF  LBN Said Al Ali 66 MF  LBN Taha Al Hussein 70 MF  LBN Mohamad Daher 77 DF  LBN Mohamad Korhani 90 GK  LBN Bahaa Mohammad El Abdallah —  LBN Mohammad Zahed — MF  LBN Bilal Matar — FW  LBN Abou Bakr Al-Mel

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

• AFC Cup: 2 appearances

2004: Quarter-finals

2016: Group stage

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2019)

• 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)

• List of football clubs in Lebanon

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AC Tripoli.

• AC Tripoli at the AFC
• AC Tripoli at LebanonFG