The Lebanese national futsal team departed this morning, Monday, to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to participate in the seventh edition of the Arab Futsal Cup 2023. The tournament is organized by the Arab Football Federation and hosted by the Saudi Football Federation from June 6 to June 16 of this year.
The delegation includes: George Solaj (Head of the Delegation), Hussein Deb (Team Manager), Joao Almeida (Coach), Pierre Saqr (Assistant Coach), Rabi Kaki (Goalkeeper Coach), Hadi Haidar (Physiotherapist), Samer Raslan (Equipment Manager), and Mustafa Taqi (Photographer), in addition to 16 players selected by the coach, including: Mohamed Qbisi and Ali Al-Akoumi (Army), Issa Mahrez, John Jabbour, and Johnny Farshakh (Jounieh), Hussein Hamieh (Shweifat), Serge Qiumjian and Karim Jweidi (Homenetmen Bourj Hammoud), Mohamed Zrayek (Al-Hurriya Sidon), Mustafa Rahim, Hussein Hamdani, Hassan Alama, Qasem Qossan, and Majd Hamoush (Taqwim), along with professionals Steve Kokzian and Giorgio Khoury.
The tournament draw has placed the Lebanese team in Group B alongside Morocco, Kuwait, and Comoros, while Group A includes Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Libya, and Tajikistan, and Group C features Egypt, Mauritania, Palestine, and Iraq.
Lebanon will kick off its first match in the Arab Cup against Kuwait on Wednesday, June 7, at 4:30 PM, followed by a match against Morocco on Friday, June 9, at 9:30 PM, and will conclude its group stage matches against the Comoros team on Sunday, June 11, at 4:30 PM.
Teams that finish in the top two positions in each group, as well as the best two teams in third place, will advance to the quarter-finals, which will take place on June 13, followed by the semi-finals on June 14, with the final scheduled for June 16.
Additionally, the organizing committee for the tournament is holding a preparatory meeting today in Jeddah to review all preparations and coordination, including a unified press conference for the teams in Group A, while the technical and coordination meeting for Groups B and C will take place tomorrow, followed by a unified press conference for the group coaches.
Competitions are set to be held at the Sports Ministry Hall in Jeddah at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium. This tournament is one of the competitions organized by the Arab Football Federation for the 2023 season. The first edition of the tournament was held in Cairo in 1998 with the participation of teams from Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Jordan, Algeria, Palestine, Sudan, and Somalia, with Egypt winning the title, followed by Morocco in second place and Libya in third.
In 2005, the second edition was also held in Cairo, participating teams included Egypt, Lebanon, Algeria, Libya, Iraq, Tunisia, Palestine, and Morocco, where Egypt retained the title, with Morocco as the runner-up and Lebanon in third place. Libya hosted the third edition in 2007 with teams from Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt, and Iraq, where Libya claimed the title.
The fourth edition returned to Egypt in 2008 with teams from Egypt, Jordan, Algeria, Iraq, Tunisia, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, and Libya, again yielding a title for Libya, with Egypt in second and Jordan in third. The tournament returned to Cairo for the fifth edition in 2021 with teams from Egypt, Mauritania, Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Comoros, with Morocco winning the title.
The sixth edition took place in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, featuring teams from Morocco, Kuwait, Mauritania, Somalia, Egypt, Iraq, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, and Libya, ending with Morocco crowned as champions, followed by Iraq in second place.
