Racing Club Beirut

Racing Beirut
Full nameRacing Club
Nicknamesالقلعة البيضاء (The White Castle)[1]
سندباد الكرة اللبنانية (The Sinbad of Lebanese Football)[2]
Short nameRacing
Founded1934 (1934)
GroundSharek Stadium
ChairmanGeorges Hanna
ManagerJames Hemaid
LeagueLebanese Premier League
2024–25Lebanese Premier League, 10th of 12

Racing Club (Arabic: نادي الراسينغ), known as Racing Beirut or simply Racing, is a football club based in Achrafieh, a district in Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the Lebanese Premier League.[1] They are primarily supported by the Greek Orthodox Christian community.[3][4]

Racing Beirut won the Lebanese Premier League three times, the Lebanese Challenge Cup twice, and the Lebanese Second Division four times. They also finished runners-up in the Lebanese FA Cup twice.

History

Early history

The club was founded in 1934 by several locals from the Achrafieh and Gemmayzeh districts of Beirut, Lebanon.[5] The club's name is inspired from French football club Racing Paris, who the club's presidents supported.[5] Racing played five years in the Lebanese Second Division, and got its first promotion to the Lebanese Premier League in 1940.[5]

In 1953, Albert Kheir was elected as the club's president.[5] He sought to heighten the club's status in the country, by buying 20-year-old Joseph Abou Murad from Intissar Chayyah, Said Haidar from Al Nahda, and Yuguslavian coach Ljubiša Broćić.[5]

Racing Beirut played international friendly games against a variety of famous clubs and selections during the 1970s, including one against the Brazil national under-23 team.[6]

Recent history

The match between Ahed and Racing Beirut in the first matchday of the 2023–24 Lebanese Premier League, on 6 August 2023, was the first to test the use of video assistant referee (VAR).[7]

Club rivalries

Historically, during the 1960s and 1970s, Racing's main rivals were Nejmeh, also from Beirut.[5] Racing plays the Achrafieh derby with Sagesse.[8]

Players

Squad

As of 26 March, 2026[9]

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  LBN Hassan Moghnieh
2 DF  LBN Mohammad Ali Kammouni
4 DF  LBN Houssam Al-Kour
5 DF  LBN Charbel Hanna
7 FW  LBN Ali Markabawi
8 MF  LBN Adam Kobeissi
9 FW  LBN Ali Imad Moussawi
10 MF  LBN Joseph Aoun
11 FW  MTN Mamadou Niass
12 DF  LBN Ali Ayoub (captain)
13 MF  LBN Chris Mansour
14 DF  LBN Ali Tawbi
15 DF  SEN Tamsir Cissé
16 FW  LBN Eli Baradhi
17 MF  SEN Malick Dieng
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 MF  LBN Julien Jamous
19 DF  LBN Saad Chweiki
20 MF  LBN Sami Moanaki
21 MF  LBN Charbel Feghali
22 GK  LBN Omar Idlibi
23 MF  LBN Miguel Karam
25 GK  LBN Ali El-Akbar Dia
26 DF  NGA Abiodun Adebayo
30 DF  LBN Nicolas Berbari
35 FW  LBN Angelo El-Chidiac
43 FW  LBN Ali Haidar Ahmad
70 MF  LBN Samer El-Jawhari
77 MF  LBN Hamza Tarhini
88 FW  LBN Ali Chahla

Shirt manufacturers

Honours

League

Cup

  • Lebanese Challenge Cup (defunct)
    • Winners (2; joint record): 2016, 2017
  • Lebanese FA Cup
    • Runners-up (2): 1944–45, 1947–48

Managerial history

  • Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Ljubiša Broćić (1955)
  • Romania Ion Bogdan (1967–1970)
  • Romania Dorian Marin (2004–2005)
  • Czech Republic Libor Pala (2012–2015)
  • Romania Eugen Moldovan (2015–2016)
  • Lebanon Moussa Hojeij (2016–2017)
  • Lebanon Roda Antar (2017–2019)
  • Lebanon Jalal Radwan (2019–2020)
  • Lebanon Said Jraidini (2020–2021)
  • Palestine Ismail Kortam (2021–2023)
  • Montenegro Vladimir Vujović (2023–2024)
  • Sudan Osama Sakr (2025–2025)
  • Syria Hussein Afesh (2025-2026)
  • Switzerland James Hemaid (2026-)

See also

  • List of football clubs in Lebanon

References

  1. ^ a b "racing club beirut". abdogedeon.com. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
  2. ^ "الراسينغ "سندباد الكرة اللبنانية" - صورة من الماضي". نداء الوطن. 4 July 2019. Archived from the original on 4 February 2022. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
  3. ^ Maugendre, Axel (31 August 2018), "Ethnography of the Lebanese Football Clubs" (PDF), Athens Journal of Sports, 5 (3): 213–226, doi:10.30958/AJSPO.5-3-3, archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2019
  4. ^ Montague, James (24 October 2007). "In Lebanon, even soccer is tainted by sectarian strife". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 May 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "الراسينغ: نادي الأشرفية ومحيطها... يعاند التاريخ". asasmedia.com. Archived from the original on 2 September 2021. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  6. ^ "RACING CLUB BEIRUT". abdogedeon.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  7. ^ Khaled, Nasser (26 July 2023). تقنية الفيديو حاضرة في لقاء العهد والراسينغ [Video technology will be present in the match between Ahed and Racing]. Kooora (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 27 July 2023. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
  8. ^ "مبارتا دربي اﻷشرفية!". Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
  9. ^ "Racing Club Bayrūt". Global Sports Archive. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2022.


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