Which country came up with the idea of organizing the Arab Football Cup?
The idea of organizing the Arab Cup and separating it from the football competition in Arab sports tournaments was launched in 1957 from Lebanon by journalist Nassif Majdalani and Secretary General of the Football Association Izzat al-Turk.
The Lebanese Federation called for a meeting held in Beirut in September 1962, in the presence of the representatives of the Arab local federations, and decided to launch the Arab Cup for national teams, with the Lebanese capital hosting the first session the following year.
Many Arab federations welcomed the idea until it was decided to launch it from Beirut, where the tournament was born between March 31 and April 7, 1963, with the participation of 5 teams, namely Tunisia, Syria, Kuwait, Jordan and host Lebanon.
Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium hosted the matches, and many Lebanese names were distinguished during the tournament, such as goalkeeper Samih Shatila, Mohieldin Itani "Tabilo", Joseph Abu Murad, Samir Al-Adaw, Levon Altonian, Mardec Chaparian and Adnan Al-Sharqi (the first goal in the history of the tournament against Kuwait goal).
He also participated with the host team, Mahmoud Berjawi, who told AFP: "The Arab Championship was an occasion to meet the most prominent stars in the Arab world, and we were very happy when we faced great teams and distinguished players in that era."
Berjawi recalled the first match of the Lebanese national team, in which it swept its Kuwaiti counterpart with a clean six, adding, "We achieved a broad victory and we were looking for the championship title, but we faced the strong Tunisian team at the time, which managed to beat us and win the title."
The Tunisian team crowned the title at the time, after achieving 4 victories, ahead of Syria, while Lebanon came third in its best result in the tournament.
The "Rice of the Cedars" will participate in the next Qatar edition for the eighth time, as he kept going fourth in the second edition in 1964 in Kuwait, and in the third in Baghdad in 1966.
After a long hiatus and the "Palestine Cup" in its place after the 1967 war, Lebanon was absent From participating until it was decided to host the 1982 edition, but it was postponed again due to the civil war and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon when the Sports City was destroyed.
The Arab Men's Cup re-emerged and its fourth edition was held in 1985 in the Saudi city of Taif, in the absence of Lebanon.
He participated in the 1988 edition of Jordan, where he played in the first group and tied with Iraq and Tunisia 1-1, and lost from Egypt 0-3 and achieved a single victory at the expense of Saudi Arabia with a single goal scored by Mahmoud Hammoud with his head.
war and celebrations
Hammoud told AFP about this era, saying, "The Lebanese national team assembled just two weeks before the tournament, as we faced many difficulties in conducting exercises due to the intensity of the battles in and around Beirut."
He continued, "Everyone expected that the confrontation with us would be easy. In the first match, we tied with Iraq with the presence of Raad Hammoudi, Adnan Darjal and Ahmed Radi. Then the match was against Saudi Arabia, the Asian champion. At that time, we achieved victory with a goal that I scored with my head."
And he added, "Professor Raheef Alama (former Secretary-General of the Lebanese Federation) conveyed to us the atmosphere in Beirut that the Lebanese public marched in the capital and some cities to celebrate the victory, and that this joy brought the Lebanese together at the height of the civil war."
Lebanon again missed the sixth edition in Syria 1992, and was eliminated from the first round in the seventh in Doha 1998, the eighth in Kuwait 2002 and the ninth in Saudi Arabia 2012.
Lebanon played 27 matches in the Arab Cup, winning 8 matches, drawing 7 matches and losing 12 times.
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