👁 icon

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Salam Zgharta FC" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Salam Zgharta

👁 Image
Full name	Salam Zgharta Football Club
Short name	Salam
Founded	1933; 93 years ago (1933), as Salam Achrafieh SC 15 August 1971; 54 years ago (15 August 1971), as Salam Zgharta FC
Ground	Zgharta Sports Complex
Capacity	5,500
Chairman	Estephan Frangieh
Manager	Ricardo Cerqueira
League	Lebanese Second Division
2024–25	Lebanese Second Division, 6th of 12
Website	www.salamzgharta.com
👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image Home colours 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image 👁 Image Away colours
👁 Image Current season

Salam Zgharta Football Club (Arabic: نادي السلام الرياضي زغرتا, lit. 'Zgharta Peace Sporting Club'), known as Salam Zgharta or simply Salam, is a football club based in Zgharta, Lebanon, that competes in the Lebanese Second Division.

Founded in 1933 as Salam Achrafieh, the club was renamed Salam Zgharta in 1971; their supporters are primarily Maronites from the Zgharta region and other districts in North Lebanon.^[1] The club's traditional kit colours are red and black.^[2] In 2014, they won the Lebanese FA Cup, their only major trophy to date.^[3]

Salam Achrafieh was a club established in Ashrafieh, a district in the northern Beirut.^{[citation needed]}

In May 1933, Salam Achrafieh hosted a game against Arax and fielded a player called Spiro who wasn't living in Achrafieh.^{[citation needed]} This was considered illegal at the time and the LFA disqualified Salam from the match.^{[citation needed]} This decision was not welcomed by Slim, who was a well-known media personality, and tried to change the executive committee, but ended up failing as Al Nahda SC, the dominating team at the time, didn't approve of the change.^{[citation needed]}

Salam Achrafieh played in the first ever Lebanese Second Division season and ended up winning the trophy.^{[citation needed]} In 1937, Salam Achrafieh became the first two-times Second Division winners.^{[citation needed]}

Salam Zgharta was founded in 1971, after a group of football enthusiasts bought the licence of former club Salam Achrafieh (Arabic: نادي السلام الأشرفية), based in the Achrafieh district of Beirut.^[4]

The club remained in Achrafieh until 1974, when they moved to Zgharta, in North Lebanon.^{[citation needed]} They competed in the Lebanese Premier League, with Sassine Ghazale funding the club after the move.^{[citation needed]} During the 1974–75 season, Antoine "Al Shakra" Fenianos was the club's first manager.^{[citation needed]} Salam Zgharta's first game was at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium against Nejmeh, in which Salam Zgharta lost 5–2.^{[citation needed]} In their first season, the club got demoted to the second division with Riyada Wal Adab, after the early finish of the season due to start of the Lebanese Civil War.^[5]

While football in Lebanon was affected by the Lebanese Civil War, the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) split into two entities, with each organizing its own competitions in the latter stage of the war.^{[citation needed]} Salam Zgharta joined the Eastern Federation and won the Lebanese FA Cup on 12 April 1987.^{[citation needed]} However, following the war, the two federations re-merged and the FA Cup win was voided.^{[citation needed]}

Following the end of the Civil War, Salam Zgharta were one of the best teams in the league, with a core of players such as Fawzi Yammine and Elias Bou Nassif.^{[citation needed]} The start of the 1990s was positive for the Northern club, finishing third in the 1990–91 season with 35 points.^[6] Following the expansion of the Premier League to 20 teams divided into two groups, Salam Zgharta finished the 1991–92 season as second of their group and fourth in the league standing after securing 23 points in 20 games.^[6]

In 1992, Kabalan Yammine became Salam Zgharta's president.^{[citation needed]} The club was not able to replicate past success; they stayed the following two seasons in the top flight but then struggled to maintain its position in the Lebanese Premier League for financial reasons. Therefore, the club regularly played in the Lebanese Second Division.^{[citation needed]} In the 1999–2000 season, Salam Zgharta finished fifth in the Lebanese Premier League, their best result under the presidency of Kabalan Yammine.^{[citation needed]} In 1996, Youssef Jabbour got elected vice president.^[7] In the mid-2000s, Kabalan lost interest in the club; an election took place in October 2006, three games after the start of the 2006–07 season, and Estephan Frangieh became the president.^[4]

👁 Image

In the first season under Estephan Frangieh's presidency (2006–07), the club was relegated to the Second Division.^{[citation needed]} Following their relegation, Frangieh invested in the club and they were promoted back into the first division in the 2007–08 season.^{[citation needed]} Their stay in the first division only lasted one season as they were relegated again in the 2008–09 season.^{[citation needed]} In 2009, the Merdeshiyeh Stadium was renamed Zgharta Sports Complex.^{[citation needed]} The club eventually won the 2012–13 Lebanese Second Division after topping Group A, gaining promotion to the Premier League.^{[citation needed]}

In their return to the Premier League in the 2013–14 season, Salam Zgharta hired Peter Meindertsma as their head coach.^{[citation needed]} While the club struggled to avoid relegation in the league, they won the 2013–14 Lebanese FA Cup.^{[citation needed]} In 2015, Salam Zgharta participated for the first time in the AFC Cup after winning the one-legged qualifying play-off round match against Khayr Vahdat.^{[citation needed]} They went on to win one match in six games in the group stage.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2016–17 season, Salam Zgharta started the campaign with a 5–2 win at home against Ansar.^{[citation needed]} Salam finished runners-up, their best ever finish to date.^{[citation needed]} They qualified to the 2018–19 Arab Club Champions Cup for the first time, losing against Raja Casablanca in the round of 32.^{[citation needed]} In the 2020–21 seasons, after eight consecutive seasons in the top flight, Salam Zgharta were relegated to the Second Division.^[8] They were promoted in 2021–22, after finishing second in the Second Division,^[9] before being relegated back in 2022–23, finishing 11th in the Premier League.^[10]

Following the move from Achrafieh to Zgharta, Salam Zgharta was known for wearing blue at home and white away.^{[citation needed]} After the re-merging of the LFA in 1990, Salam Zgharta opted to change their home colours to red.^{[citation needed]}

The first ever logo of Salam Zgharta was designed in 1971.^{[citation needed]} It consisted of a circle with the words "Al Salam Zgharta" (Arabic: السلام زغرتا) written in a calligraphic form to take the shape of a pigeon.^{[citation needed]} The design was then changed in 2010, which conserved the round shape.^{[citation needed]}

Salam Zgharta owns the Zgharta Sports Complex.^{[citation needed]} The stadium is located in the Merdeshiyeh region in Zgharta and it can host almost 5,500 people.^{[citation needed]} The stadium was built by the Maronite endowment next to the Sarkis and Bakhos Church, and it was renovated in 2009.^{[citation needed]} The same year, the endowment gave the right of usage of the stadium to Salam Zgharta.^{[citation needed]}

The stadium faced a ban from the federation in 1999, which was lifted in 2009.^{[citation needed]}

Salam Zgharta supporters are mainly located in the Zgharta and nearby districts.^{[citation needed]} They were known to cause some troubles during matches in the 1990s and 2000s.^{[citation needed]}

Salam Zgharta plays the North derby with Tripoli, as they are both located in the same area.^[11] Other minor rivalries take place with clubs like Ansar Howara SC and Egtmaaey but Salam Zgharta don't face them much anymore as they are not regular visitors to the first division.^{[citation needed]} The first derby between Salam Zgharta and Tripoli was played on 18 December 2005, at the Rachid Karame Municipality Stadium.^[12] The home team, Salam Zgharta, won the game 1–0 after a goal from Wehbe Douaihy at the 58th minute.^[13]

In the 2014–15 season, Salam Zgharta's administration bought a Second Division club called "Al Oummal Tripoli".^{[citation needed]} The club was renamed Amal Al Salam Zgharta, and is used as a reserve team.^{[citation needed]}

As of 22 September 2024^[14]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK 👁 Image  LBN Youssed Mrad 2 DF 👁 Image  LBN Yehya Kahil 4 MF 👁 Image  PLE Ahmad Yassine 5 MF 👁 Image  LBN Amer Mahfoud (captain) 7 MF 👁 Image  LBN Mohammad Samrout 8 MF 👁 Image  LBN Ghazi Hussein 9 FW 👁 Image  LBN Haidar Awada 11 FW 👁 Image  LBN Jason Bayeh 12 DF 👁 Image  LBN Rawad Gitani 16 DF 👁 Image  LBN Patrick Mannah 17 MF 👁 Image  LBN Fouad Khawaja 19 FW 👁 Image  NGA Obulor Silas

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 DF 👁 Image  LBN Adel Khalil 25 DF 👁 Image  LBN Joe Khawaja 70 DF 👁 Image  NGA Emmanuel Obere 89 GK 👁 Image  LBN Joseph Bitar — FW 👁 Image  LBN Mohammad Chaaban — 👁 Image  LBN Issa Nadi Bazzi — DF 👁 Image  LBN Alex El Rattel — DF 👁 Image  LBN Mohamad Korhani — FW 👁 Image  LBN Mohamad Al-Zahed — 👁 Image  LBN Imad Al Azmeh — GK 👁 Image  LBN Elio Derjani — FW 👁 Image  LBN Elio Rostom — FW 👁 Image  LBN Anthony Azizi

Players in international competitions

Competition	Player	National team
2019 AFC Asian Cup	Walid Ismail	👁 Image  Lebanon
	Mostafa Matar	👁 Image  Lebanon

Name	Nationality	Years
Youssef Zaidan	👁 Lebanon	1971
Sessine Ghazele	👁 Lebanon
Kabalan Yammine	👁 Lebanon	1992–2006
Estephan Frangieh	👁 Lebanon	2006–present

Name	Nationality	Years
Antoine "Al Shakra" Fenianos	👁 Lebanon	1971–????
Thaer Ahmad	👁 Iraq	1996
Hussein Afeish	👁 Lebanon	2005
Assaf Khalife	👁 Syria	2005–????
Ghassan Khawaja[a]	👁 Lebanon	2009
Assaf Khalife	👁 Syria	2012–2013
Peter Meindertsma	👁 Netherlands	2013–2015
Louai Abou Karam	👁 Venezuela	2015
Anas Makhlouf	👁 Syria	2015–2016
Tarek Jaraya	👁 Tunisia	2016–2017
Maher Sdiri	👁 Tunisia	2017–2018
Tarek Thabet	👁 Tunisia	2018
Ghassan Khawaja	👁 Lebanon	2018–2019
Anis Boujelban[a]	👁 Tunisia	2019
Nouhad Souccar	👁 Jordan	2019
Ahmad Kadhem	👁 Iraq	2019
Ghassan Khawaja	👁 Lebanon	2020–2021
Vladimir Vujović	👁 Montenegro	2021–2022
Kazem El Khansa	👁 Lebanon	2022
Andrew Oakley	👁 Australia	2022
Ahmed Hafez	👁 Egypt	2022
Ricardo Cerqueira[15]	👁 Brazil	2023–present

• Lebanese FA Cup
  • Winners (1): 2013–14
• Lebanese Second Division
  • Winners (6): 1933–34,^[b] 1936–37,^[b] 1997–98, 2004–05, 2007–08, 2012–13 (group A)
• Lebanese Federation Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 1999
• Lebanese Super Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2014
• Lebanese Challenge Cup (defunct)
  • Runners-up (2): 2016, 2019

• AFC Cup: 1 appearance

2015: Group stage

• List of football clubs in Lebanon

• Official website
• Salam Zgharta FC at the AFC
• Salam Zgharta FC at FA Lebanon

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Salam_Zgharta_FC&oldid=1304780458"