Lebanon women's national football team

Known as "the Lady Cedars" (Arabic: صبايا الأرز),[2][3] the Lebanon women's national team was formed in 2005 as one of the earliest women's national teams in the West Asian Football Federation.[4] Their first match was a 12–0 defeat against Algeria at the 2006 Arab Women's Championship. They finished in last place after three games without having scored a single goal.[5]

Their first WAFF Women's Championship campaign was in 2007; after two 3–0 losses, first against Jordan and then against Iran, Lebanon beat Syria 7–0 thanks to an Iman Chaito hat-trick,[6] and finished in third place in the tournament.[7] In their second WAFF Women's Championship in 2011 they were drawn with Iran, Syria and hosts the United Arab Emirates (UAE).[8][9] After losing their first match against Iran 8–1, Lebanon won 1–0 against Syria. In their final match, against the UAE, Lebanon lost 5–0 and were knocked out of the competition.[9]

Managed by Farid Nujaim, Lebanon took part in the qualification campaign for the 2014 AFC Women's Asian Cup. This was their first official qualification tournament, eight years from their inception.[10] They were drawn with Jordan, Uzbekistan and Kuwait in their group.[11] In their first match, they lost 5–0 against Jordan before being defeated by Uzbekistan 4–0. Already eliminated, Lebanon beat Kuwait 12–1 in a consolatory victory,[12] ending their qualifying campaign with three points.[11]

Lebanon were drawn with Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Guam and Palestine in the 2018 Asian Cup qualification, to be played in the West Bank in Palestine.[13] However, Lebanon withdrew as they refused to play on the grounds that "it legitimises Israel's occupation of the territory".[13]

Lebanon during the 2019 WAFF Women's Championship third-place award ceremony

Coached by Wael Gharzeddine, Lebanon competed in the 2019 WAFF Women's Championship in January. They began their campaign with a slim 3–2 defeat to hosts Bahrain.[14] In their second match, Lebanon's late goals in each half secured a 2–0 win over the UAE.[15] They then suffered a 3–1 defeat to Jordan,[16] before beating Palestine 3–0, finishing in third place.[2]

In the 2021 Arab Women's Cup, played in August, Lebanon were drawn with Egypt, Tunisia and Sudan.[17] Following a 0–0 to Tunisia,[18] Lebanon's first-ever draw,[19] they lost 4–0 to hosts Egypt.[20] In their final group stage game, Lebanon beat Sudan 5–1, and finished third in their group with four points.[21]

The team began the qualifiers for the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup in October 2021, losing 4–0 to Myanmar;[22] a 1–0 win against the UAE,[23] and a 3–0 win against Guam were not enough to qualify them to their first-ever Asian Cup, as Lebanon finished in second place and were eliminated.[24]

Between August and September 2022, Lebanon took part in the 2022 WAFF Women's Championship in Jordan under coach Hagop Demirjian.[25] After winning 3–0 against Palestine, Lebanon lost to hosts Jordan 2–1 before winning the last game against Syria 5–2. They finished runners-up in the WAFF Championship for the first time, with Lebanon's Lili Iskandar being voted best player of the tournament.[26]

The following 23 players were called up for the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament.[27]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Racha Yaghi	(2002-06-10) 10 June 2002	16	0	Lakatamia
21	1GK	Lamitta El Dib	(2005-09-02) 2 September 2005	5	0	EFP
22	1GK	Sinal Breiche	(2003-03-03) 3 March 2003	8	0	BFA
2	2DF	Aya Al Jurdi	(1998-04-08) 8 April 1998	10+	1	SAS
3	2DF	Joya-Maria Azzi	(2000-09-23) 23 September 2000	12	1	Iowa Raptors FC
4	2DF	Amina Karime	(2005-12-20) 20 December 2005	7	0	BFA
5	2DF	Waed Raed	(2006-11-09) 9 November 2006	9	0	SAS
7	2DF	Julie Atallah	(2005-07-28) 28 July 2005	6	0	EFP
15	2DF	Nour Njeim	(2004-02-06) 6 February 2004	9	0	EFP
6	3MF	Sophie Fayad	(2004-12-08) 8 December 2004	6	1	EFP
11	3MF	Syntia Salha	(2003-01-12) 12 January 2003	14	4	BFA
13	3MF	Nathalie Matar (captain)	(1995-09-20) 20 September 1995	20	0	Stade Portelois
14	3MF	Zahwa Arabi	(2005-11-02) 2 November 2005	8	1	EFP
16	4FW	Rana Al Mokdad	(1998-11-18) 18 November 1998	17	1	SAS
19	3MF	Yara Bou Rada	(2000-08-07) 7 August 2000	18	1	EFP
20	3MF	Stephanie El Kazzi	(2004-09-29) 29 September 2004	8	0	EFP
8	4FW	Lili Iskandar	(2002-05-16) 16 May 2002	15	5	Etihad Club
9	4FW	Pilar Khoury	(1994-08-25) 25 August 1994	7	3	Nantes
10	4FW	Christy Maalouf	(2005-12-20) 20 December 2005	15	7	EFP
12	4FW	Farah El Tayar	(2003-12-10) 10 December 2003	4	1	FIU Panthers
17	4FW	Hiba Allouch	(2004-06-28) 28 June 2004	8	1	SAS
18	4FW	Hanin Tamim	(2000-04-05) 5 April 2000	16	5	Lander Bearcats

The following footballers were part of a national selection in the past 12 months, but are not part of the current squad.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Amal Salha	(2000-12-02) 2 December 2000	4	0	Safa	v.  Syria, 14 August 2022
DF	Raquelle Nasr	(1995-10-01) 1 October 1995	2	0	EFP	v.  Syria, 14 August 2022
DF	Celine Al Haddad	(2001-03-12) 12 March 2001	11	0	SAS	2022 WAFF Women's Championship
MF	Carla Abdel Khalek	(2001-05-14) 14 May 2001	5	0	BFA	v.  Syria, 14 August 2022
MF	Maria Mansour	(2003-06-23) 23 June 2003	2	0	EFP	v.  Syria, 14 August 2022
MF	Zahraa Assaf	(2004-01-05) 5 January 2004	3	0	SAS	2022 WAFF Women's Championship
MF	Evelina El Haddad	(2005-04-30) 30 April 2005	9	0	EFP	2022 WAFF Women's Championship
FW	Angie Saad	(2000-08-11) 11 August 2000	2	0	Safa	v.  Syria, 14 August 2022
FW	Ghiya Mtairek	(2000-01-09) 9 January 2000	3	0	Super Girls	v.  Syria, 12 August 2022
FW	Mone Linnette Makkawi	(1992-10-30) 30 October 1992	4	0	Super Girls	2022 WAFF Women's Championship
FW	Petra Khoury	(1995-07-13) 13 July 1995	1	0	Telge United	2022 WAFF Women's Championship
FW	Dima Al Kasti	(2001-12-13) 13 December 2001	11	3	Al Hilal	2022 WAFF Women's Championship

Nathalie Matar is Lebanon's third most-capped player with 20 appearances.

As of 8 April 2023.[29] Highlighted names denote a player named to the national team in the past year.

With seven goals, Christy Maalouf is Lebanon's joint all-time top goalscorer.

As of 8 April 2023.[29] Highlighted names denote a player named to the national team in the past year.

Below is a chart of Lebanon's FIFA ranking from 2006 to the present. Following a drastic increase of 52 positions (from 144th in 2007 to 92nd in 2009, their best ranking to date), the country went through a steady decline (from 92nd in 2009 to 142nd in 2022, with their lowest ranking at 148th in September 2018).[30]