Nejmeh

Nejmeh Sporting Club (Arabic: نادي النجمة الرياضي‎, lit. 'The Star Sporting Club') is a football club based in Manara, a district in Ras Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, that competes in the Lebanese Premier League. The club was established in Beirut in 1945, and received its license in 1947. Nejmeh's board is affiliated with the Future Movement and the Hariri family.

Historically, the club is second only to their cross-city rivals Ansar in the Lebanese Premier League and the Lebanese FA Cup. Nejmeh however do lead in number of Lebanese Elite Cup titles. The rivalry between the two clubs has been dubbed the Beirut derby. In Asia, Nejmeh were runners-up in the 2005 AFC Cup, where they lost to Al-Faisaly of Jordan. Furthermore, they won the Al-Adha Cup – an Arab tournament – four times, last time being in 1991.

History

Nejmeh was founded in 1945 by the Druze and Sunni communities from Ras Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, as an association football club, with Anis Radwan as their first president. This committee applied for a license at the Lebanese Government on 4 March 1947, which was issued on 28 April. The choice of club's name is said to have came on 11 October 1945, when a meeting was held at Radwan's house at night to discuss the affairs of the team. Looking at the sky's stars, Radwan decided to call the team Nejmeh (The Star). The five-pointed star is the Druze's religious symbol.

On 25 July 1950, Nejmeh won the Lebanese Second Division, but were only officially promoted in 1951, during which Papken Poyajian was appointed president of the club. They first competed in the Lebanese Premier League during the 1953–54 season.

During the 1970s, Pele and Bebeto, played matches with Nejmeh as honorary guests.

Nejmeh won the FA Cup for the first time in its history on 31 October 1971, when they won 3–1 against Safa. Hani Abdelfattah scored the first goal for Safa at the 17th minute, and Jamal Al Khatib equalized for Nejmeh in the 25th minute. The second half saw Nejmeh score two goals: Hassan