Lebanon at the Rugby League World Cup

About Lebanon in rugby league

Nicknamed the Cedars after the country's national tree, Lebanon's national side was established in 1997 by Lebanese-Australian organisers and has been governed by the Lebanese Rugby League Federation since 2002. The Cedars made their World Cup debut in 2000 with a squad drawn almost entirely from Australians of Lebanese descent, having impressed in qualifying with wins over Italy (36-16) and Morocco — a 104-0 rout in which captain Hazem El Masri scored 48 points individually, at the time the most ever recorded by one player in an international rugby league match. Lebanon's best World Cup campaign came in 2017 under coach Brad Fittler and captain Robbie Farah, when the Cedars beat France 29-18, held Australia scoreless until the 50th minute of a 34-0 loss, and pushed Tonga to within one score for most of a 24-22 quarter-final defeat. Michael Cheika, the former Wallabies rugby union coach, took charge of Lebanon in October 2020, and the team has built a strong historical head-to-head against France, winning roughly four in five meetings between the two sides. Away from the diaspora-heavy national team, a genuine domestic competition has also taken root inside Lebanon itself: a league launched in 2002 with four university-based teams had grown to eight clubs competing in the Bank of Beirut Lebanon Championship, backed by coverage across the country's major newspapers, radio stations and television networks, and a 2011 pledge of increased government funding for the sport — a rare case among the World Cup's diaspora-built nations of the domestic game inside the country itself growing alongside the more visible Australian-based national team.

Sources

• Lebanon national rugby league team — Wikipedia