The Lebanon women's national under-20 football team (Arabic: منتخب لبنان لكرة القدم تحت 20 سنة للسيدات), colloquially known as "the Lady Cedars" (Arabic: صبايا الأرز),[1][2] represents Lebanon in international women's youth football. The team is controlled by the Lebanon Football Association (LFA), the governing body for football in Lebanon. The team also serves as the women's national under-19 and women's national under-18 football team of Lebanon.
While the team has never participated in either the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup or the AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup, they have won two WAFF U-18 Girls Championship titles, in 2019 and 2022, and were runners-up in 2018.
History
Lebanon U18 at the 2022 WAFF U-18 Girls Championship
The national team played their first competitive matches at the qualifiers for the 2015 AFC U-19 Women's Championship in November 2014.[3] Drawn with Jordan, Uzbekistan and India, Lebanon lost all three games,[4][5] finishing last in their qualifying group.[3]
Following funding and initiatives by the Lebanese Football Association towards women's football,[6] and more specifically youth women's football, the women's national youth teams started to see success, especially in Western Asia.[7] As of 2020, there were separate club leagues for the U15s, U17s, U19s and senior.[8]
In 2018 Lebanon hosted the inaugural WAFF U-18 Women's Championship between August and September, in preparation for the 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship qualification the following October.[8] After defeating Palestine 3–0 in the opening game, Lebanon lost 2–1 to Jordan in the effective final of the WAFF Championship and finished runners-up.[9] In October 2018, Lebanon hosted their group in the first round of Asian qualifiers, in which they were drawn with Australia, Mongolia and Hong Kong;[8] despite losing 2–0 to Australia, Lebanon won against the other two teams (thanks to a four-goal haul by Yara Bou Rada against Hong Kong and three goals by Samira Awad) and qualified to the second round.[10] They were the only Arab country to do so.[11]
During this period, most of the players in the U19s were also called up to the senior team. In January 2019, 17 of the 23 players called up to the 2019 WAFF Women's Championship in Bahrain came from the U19 team, bringing the average age of the squad to 18.9 years. Lebanon eventually finished third.[8] The players then returned to the U19s in April 2019 for the second round of Asian qualifiers.[8] Needing a second-place finish in their group of four teams to reach the final tournament, Lebanon finished last after losing against South Korea, Vietnam and Iran.[12]
The U18/19s first success came in 2019, in the second edition of the WAFF Championship in Bahrain. After winning all three games in the group stage, Lebanon advanced the semi-finals, where they defeated Palestine 4–2 to reach the final against hosts Bahrain. Lebanon won 3–0 and were crowned champions for the first time.[13] Three years later, in 2022, Lebanon won their second-consecutive WAFF Championship title on home soil after beating Syria 5–1 in the final.[14]
Competitive record
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup record
Qualification record
Host nation(s) and year
Round
Pos
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
Squad
Outcome
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
2002
Did not enter
Did not enter
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
Did not qualify
The 2015 AFC U-19 Women's Championship served as the qualifying tournament
2018
Did not enter
Did not enter
2022
To be determined
The 2019 AFC U-19 Women's Championship served as the qualifying tournament
2024
To be determined
The 2024 AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup will serve as the qualifying tournament
Total
–
0/9
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
–
–
–
–
–
–
AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup
AFC U-20 Women's Asian Cup record
Qualification record
Host nation(s) and year
Round
Pos
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
Squad
Outcome
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
2002
Did not enter
Did not enter
2004
2006
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
Did not qualify
4th of 4
3
0
0
3
1
13
2017
Did not enter
Did not enter
2019
Did not qualify
2nd of 5, 4th of 4
6
2
0
4
12
20
2024
To be determined
To be determined
Total
–
0/10
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Total
9
2
0
7
13
33
WAFF U-18 Girls Championship
WAFF U-18 Girls Championship record
Host nation(s)
and year
Round
Pos
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
2018
Runners-up
2nd of 3
2
1
0
1
4
2
2019
Champions
1st of 7
5
5
0
0
17
3
2022
Champions
1st of 7
4
4
0
0
13
2
Total
Best: champions
3/3
11
10
0
1
34
7
Recent results and matches
2022
Lebanon A v Lebanon B
19October2022(2022-10-19) 2022 WAFF U-18 group stage
Qteishat, Yahya (5 November 2014). منتخب الشابات يفوزعلى نظيره اللبناني بثلاثية ويتصدر[The women's youth national team beat its Lebanese counterpart 3–0]. alghad.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 3 November 2022.
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