The President of the Lebanese Football Federation and Vice President of the Asian Football Confederation, Engineer Hashim Haidar, confirmed that the responsibility for stadiums lies with the state and clubs, stating, "The problem cannot be solved." During the general assembly held at the Movenpick Hotel, he noted, “We gather today, as we do almost every year, hoping that conditions in Lebanon have improved. Unfortunately, the situation is worsening and declining, which reflects on all aspects of life, including football, which is gradually losing its resilience due to the lack of any support from the state.”
He pointed out that “the federation's income is almost limited to what FIFA and the Asian Federation provide us, and the Football Federation in Lebanon may be the only one in the world without a budget from its government.” He emphasized that “what we receive from the international and Asian federations is not a fixed amount that we decide how to spend. The funds we obtain come as part of programs from both federations with specific objectives and spending divisions for various purposes. They can only be received after meeting the conditions set for each goal. Therefore, we do everything necessary to meet the conditions to secure all available funds, thanks to the management in the federation that works professionally to allow us to benefit from all programs.”
Regarding the VAR technology, he explained, “We hope it will constitute a qualitative leap in officiating in the Lebanese league after obtaining the license from the international federation. Implementing it aims to keep up with development, in addition to the Lebanese federation’s keenness to achieve the highest levels of transparency and justice in league matches, ensuring fairness and protecting the interests of clubs by minimizing refereeing errors. This is to give every right holder their due as much as possible, even though refereeing mistakes are part of the game and cannot be entirely eliminated, even with VAR.”
He noted that such a project incurs significant costs for the federation; however, prioritizing club interests over any other interests was the decision of the executive committee to implement the project. He announced that the federation is about to launch a player registration platform called LFA Connect, which will allow all clubs at all categories and levels to register their players electronically, without the need for players to go to the main or branch federation offices.
