Libyan Premier League

Countries	Libya
Confederation	CAF
Founded	1963
Number of teams	16
Relegation to	Libyan Second Division
Level on pyramid	Level 1
Domestic cup(s)	Al Fatih Cup Libyan Trophy
International cup(s)	Champions League Confederation Cup Arab Champions League
Current champions	Ittihad (2008-09)
Most championships	Ittihad (15)
TV partners	Libya Sports Jamahiriya TV
Website	LFF (Arabic)
Libyan Premier League 2009-10

The Libyan Premier League (Arabic: دوري الدرجة الأولى الليبي‎) is the highest division of Libyan football championship, organised by Libyan Football Federation. The players that play in this league are professional. The league's system has changed many times over the last few years, although as of the 2008-09 season, a simple round-robin has been operated. The league operates a system of promotion and relegation with the Libyan Second Division. The league is currently sponsored by the Libyan telephone company Libyana, and so is officially known as the Libyana Premier League. The league is ranked as the 28th best in the world, and the 4th best in the Arab world (as of July 2008).^[1]

The league's television rights are owned by Libya Sports, who show every single match. They also show a highlights program, called 90 Minutes, which broadcasts on Libya Sports every week.

The league is dominated by two clubs: Al Ittihad and Al Ahly Tripoli. 39 of the 40 titles have been won by clubs from the two biggest cities: Benghazi & Tripoli.

[edit] History

The Libyan Premier League was founded in 1963. Prior to that, there were three Provincial Championships, one each for the Eastern , Western and Southern provinces. The first league season at national level was the 1963-64 season, in which participated the Western Province champion Al Ahly Tripoli, the Eastern Province champion Al Ahly Benghazi and the Southern Province champion Al Hilal Sabha. After the withdrawal of Al Hilal Sabha due to lack of resources, the league was limited to just two teams. Al Ahly Tripoli defeated Al Ahly Benghazi 2-0 over two matches (1-0 home and away) to become the first Libyan Premier League champions.

[edit] The Competition

As of 2009-10, there will be 14 teams competing in the league. They play each other home and away, making 26 games in total. Teams receive three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a defeat. The team with the most points at the end of the season is crowned champion.

If two or more teams are tied for a particular position, the tie-breaker is as follows:
I) Head-to-Head record between the team(s) in question:
i) Total number of goals scored in meetings between team(s) in question
ii) Total number of away goals scored in meetings between team(s) in question
II) Goal difference
III) Total number of goals scored
IV) Play-off match at neutral venue.

[edit] African Qualification

Based on CAF's 5 Year Ranking, only one representative is normally proposed to compete in each of the CAF Confederation Cup and the CAF Champions League. These teams are normally the league champions and the domestic cup winners.

However, an exception to this occurred in 2008, where Libya shared the 12th place ranking with Angola and Senegal, and was therefore allowed to propose a further representative to each competition. These two teams were Ahly Tripoli (runners-up), who qualified for the 2009 CAF Champions League and Ahly Benghazi (3rd place), who qualified for the 2009CAF Confederation Cup.

[edit] Winners

Ittihad are the most successful Libyan club, having won 15 titles, including 4 straight titles (from 2004-05 to 2008-09. Their arch rivals Al Ahly Tripoli have won it 10 times, but have not won the title since the 1999-2000 season. Their closest attempt was last season, when they were top after 26 rounds, but lost the championship by 7 points.

The last team to win the title from outside the capital was Olomby, who won the league in the 2003-04 season. The Big Two (Ahly Tripoli & Ittihad) have won 29 of the 42 titles that have been contested since 1964

[edit] Champions by season

[edit] Performance by club

[edit] Titles by city

[edit] Top scorers by season

Season	Player	Club	Goals
1963-64	Ahmed Ben Sawed	Al Ahly Benghazi	19
1964-65	Ahmed Ben Sawed	Al Ahly Benghazi	18
1965-66	Ahmed Al Ahwal	Ittihad	14
1966-67	Hassan Snousi	Al Ahly Tripoli	12
1968-69	Mohamed Boughalia	Al Ahly Tripoli	16
1970-71	Yousef Sidqi	Nasr	15
1971-72	Yousef Sidqi	Nasr	12
1972-73	Nouri Alsirri	Madina	17
1973-74	Nouri Alsirri	Madina	13
1974-75	Nouri Alsirri	Madina	17
1975-76	Mustafa Belhaaj	Madina	19
1976-77	Abubakr Douzan	Madina	15
1977-78	Fahim Raqs	Al Ahly Tripoli	8
1982-83	Nouri Alsirri	Madina	17
1983-84	Abdulraouf Ferjany	Dhahra T.	11
1984-85	Ramadan Barnaoui	Al Ahly Benghazi	9
1985-86	Salim Bou Jarrad	Ittihad	11
1986-87	Faraj Bar'asi	Nasr	12
1987-88	Salim Bou Jarrad	Ittihad	11
1988-89	Faraj Meeloud	Tahaddy	6
1989-90	Ali Bashary , Nasr Badr	Al Ahly Benghazi , Afriqi	11
1990-91	Idris Mikraaz	Darnes	11
1991-92	Abdelhakeem Suwayyah	Tersana	12
1992-93	Abdelhakeem Suwayyah	Tersana	14
1993-94	Idrees Mikraaz	Al Ahly Tripoli	19
1994-95	Mohamed Milaad , Hassan Othman	Ittihad Gheryan , Al Morooj	6
1995-96	Muammar Masoud	Shat	10
1996-97	Khalifa Maqinny	Hilal	12
1997-98	Khalifa Maqinny	Hilal	14
1998-99	Mustafa Ramadan , Abdelaaty Qubay	Al Ahly Benghazi , Al Intilaaq	13
1999-2000	Ahmed Saad	Benghazi Al Jadeeda	8
2000-01	Ashraf Muammar , Ali Melyaan	Tahaddy , Madina	14
2001-02	Al-Saadi Qadhafi	Ittihad	19
2002-03	Ahmed El Masli , Khaled Shallabi	Nasr , Madina	13
2003-04	Ahmed Saad	Nasr	14
2004-05	Sheikh Sedao	Urouba	12
2005-06	Samir Al Wahaj	Wahda	18
2006-07	Walid Shebli	Madina	13
2007-08	Abdelhameed Zidane	Akhdar	21
2008–09	Samir Al Wahaj	Tersanah	19

[edit] Regulations

The rules can be found on the official LFF website^[2]

[edit] References

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