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The Lebanese First Division (Arabic: الدوري اللبناني الدرجة الأولى), commonly known as the Lebanese Premier League (Arabic: الدوري اللبناني الممتاز, romanized: ad-dawrī al-lubnānī al-mumtāz), is the top division of the Lebanese football league system. There are 12 teams competing in the league, which operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the Lebanese Second Division.

The league's first season began in May 1934, with Nahda winning the maiden title. Ansar is the most successful club in the league having won 14 titles; they also set a Guinness World Record by winning 11 consecutive league titles between 1988 and 1999. The league has featuted a "split" system since 2020, in which the season is divided in two phases.

History

A Beirut derby match between Nejmeh and Ansar during the 2019–20 season.

On 22 March 1933, representatives of 13 football clubs gathered in the Minet El Hosn district in Beirut to form the Lebanese Football Association (LFA). The Lebanese Premier League began in May 1934 as the Edmond Rubeiz Cup, in honour of Nahda player Edmon Rubeiz who died of typhoid the previous year. The competition was held in a knockout format, with Nahda beating DPHB 7–1 in the final to win the inaugural competition.

Nahda, AUB, and DPHB shared the titles during the first decade of the league. Between the 1940s and 1960s Armenian clubs, mainly Homenetmen and Homenmen, were the most prominent in the Lebanese footballing scene. The two clubs shared 11 titles in 16 seasons between 1943 and 1969. Following a 12-year interruption of the league due to the Lebanese Civil War, Ansar dominated the league winning 11 consecutive league titles between 1988 and 1999. They set a Guinness World Record for most consecutive league titles, which has been since broken by Skonto of Latvia in 2002.

From 2000, Nejmeh were the dominating force in Lebanon, winning five out of nine league titles until 2009. In 2008, Ahed won their first league title; they have won the league nine times since. After winning the league in 2018–19, Ahed became the three-time defending champions, a feat accomplished only one other time, by Ansar in 1992.[] Due to financial and political issues in the country, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic, the LFA decided to cancel the ongoing 2019–20 season.