Jamal Taha

In this Lebanese name, the father's name is Khamis and the family name is Taha.

Jamal Khamis Taha (Arabic: جَمَال خَمِيس طٰهٰ; born 23 November 1966) is a football manager of the Lebanon national under-23 team.

Jamal Taha

Taha in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Jamal Khamis Taha[1]
Date of birth	(1966-11-23) 23 November 1966 (age 58)
Place of birth	Cairo, Egypt[1]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1977–1986	Ansar
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986–2002	Ansar
International career
1993–2000	Lebanon	71	(12)
Managerial career
2005–2006	Ansar (assistant)
2006–2008	Ansar
2011–2013	Ansar
2013–2015	Shabab Sahel
2015–2016	Ansar
2017–2018	Tadamon Sour
2019–2020	Lebanon (assistant)
2020–2021	Lebanon
2021–2022	Lebanon U23
2022–2023	Ansar
2025–	Lebanon U23
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nicknamed "the Brown Gazelle" (Arabic: الغزال الأسمر), Taha was born in Egypt to an Egyptian father and a Lebanese mother. He obtained Lebanese citizenship and played for the Lebanon national team between 1993 and 2000, whom he captained at the 2000 AFC Asian Cup.

Early life

Jamal Taha was born in Cairo, Egypt,^[1] to an Egyptian father and a Lebanese mother; he obtained Lebanese citizenship through naturalization in 1992 via a presidential decree.^[2] Taha joined Ansar's youth team in 1977.^[3]

Club career

Nicknamed "the Brown Gazelle" (Arabic: الغزال الأسمر),^[4][5] Taha began his senior career with Ansar in 1986, where he ended his career in 2002.^[3] He wore the number 6 on his jersey,^[5] and was the club's captain from 1997 onwards.^[3]

International career

Taha was the national team's captain during the 2000 AFC Asian Cup in Lebanon.^[6]

Managerial career

Ansar

Taha started out as Adnan Hamad's assistant manager at Ansar during the 2005–06 season; he helped his side win the domestic double (Lebanese Premier League and Lebanese FA Cup).^[7] The following season, in 2006–07, Taha was appointed the first manager of Ansar, winning Ansar's second consecutive domestic double.^[7] He remained head coach until the end of the 2007–08 season, where he lost the league title to Ahed by one point.^[7]

In July 2011, Taha was re-appointed manager of Ansar, staying there until the end of the 2012–13 season.^[8][9] He won the 2011–12 Lebanese FA Cup, and the 2012 Lebanese Super Cup.^[10]

Shabab Sahel and Tadamon Sour

On 10 September 2013, he took charge of Shabab Sahel;^[9] he won the Lebanese Challenge Cup in 2014. After two seasons he returned to Ansar, managing them during the 2015–16 season, before resigning after the first league game of the following season in September 2016.^[8] In January 2017, Taha became manager of Tadamon Sour until June 2018.^[8]

Lebanon

On 3 June 2019, he was appointed assistant manager of the Lebanon national team under Liviu Ciobotariu's tenure.^[11] After one year, on 17 June 2020, the Lebanese Football Association (LFA) decided not to extend Ciobotariu's contract, and appointed Taha as the national team's coach.^[12] He became the first Lebanese coach of the national team in almost 12 years, since the appointment of Emile Rustom in November 2008.^[5][13]

Under Taha, Lebanon underperformed in their last three fixtures of the second round of 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, struggling to overcome Sri Lanka 3–2,^[14] and losing against Turkmenistan and South Korea;^[15][16] Lebanon qualified Lebanon to the third round as fifth-best runner-up by virtue of other results going in their favour.^[17] Taha's tenure wasn't extended following the expiration of his one-year contract on 30 June 2021.^[18]

Lebanon U23

On 27 September 2021, Taha was announced as head coach of the Lebanon national under-23 team.^[19]

Return to Ansar

On 26 June 2022, Taha returned as head coach of Ansar.^[20]

Return to Lebanon U23

In January 2025, Taha returned as head coach of the Lebanon national under-23 team.^{[citation needed]}

Career statistics

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Lebanon	1993	8	1
	1994	0	0
	1995	1	1
	1996	7	3
	1997	9	1
	1998	7	4
	1999	2	0
	2000	9	1
Total		43	11

Scores and results list Lebanon's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Taha goal.

List of international goals scored by Jamal Taha

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	7 May 1993	Bourj Hammoud Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon	India	2–0	2–2	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	6 December 1995	Bourj Hammoud Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon	Slovakia XI	1–1	2–1	Friendly
3	12 May 1996	Bourj Hammoud Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon	Turkmenistan	2–1	3–1	1996 AFC Asian Cup qualification
4	5 December 1996	Beirut Municipal Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon	Georgia	3–2	4–2	Friendly
5	8 December 1996	Beirut Municipal Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon	Georgia	2–1	3–2	Friendly
6	2 February 1997	Bourj Hammoud Stadium, Beirut, Lebanon	Jordan	1–0	1–0	Friendly
7	19 October 1998	Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates	Sudan	1–0	1–1	1998 Friendship Tournament
8	30 November 1998	Surat Thani Provincial Stadium, Surat Thani, Thailand	China	1–2	1–4	1998 Asian Games
9	4 December 1998	Surat Thani Provincial Stadium, Surat Thani, Thailand	Cambodia	1–0	5–1	1998 Asian Games
10				4–1
11	13 May 2000	Limassol, Cyprus	Jordan	–	1–1	Friendly

Managerial

As of 23 June 2021

Managerial record by club and tenure

Team	From	To	Record					Ref.
			M	W	D	L	Win %
Ansar	December 2006	July 2008	50	34	11	5	068.0	[7]
Ansar	July 2011	June 2013	56	27	16	13	048.2	[8][9]
Shabab Sahel	September 2013	June 2015	57	19	17	21	033.3	[8][9]
Ansar	July 2015	September 2016	33	16	10	7	048.5	[8]
Tadamon Sour	January 2017	June 2018	40	15	10	15	037.5	[8]
Lebanon	June 2020	June 2021	7	2	1	4	028.6	[12]
Total			243	113	65	65	046.5

Honours

Player

Ansar

• Lebanese Premier League: 1987–88, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99
• Lebanese FA Cup: 1987–88, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2001–02
• Lebanese Elite Cup: 1997, 2000
• Lebanese Federation Cup: 1999, 2000
• Lebanese Super Cup: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999

Individual

• Lebanese Premier League Team of the Season: 1996–97,^[21] 1998–99^[22]

Manager

Ansar

• Lebanese Premier League: 2006–07
• Lebanese FA Cup: 2006–07, 2011–12
• Lebanese Super Cup: 2012

Shabab Sahel

• Lebanese Challenge Cup: 2014

See also

• List of Lebanon international footballers
• List of Lebanon international footballers born outside Lebanon

References

1. "Jamal Taha". Global Sports Archive. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
2. "جمال طه مدربا لمنتخب الأرز". Lebanese Forces Official Website. 17 June 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2022.
3. "JAMAL TAHA". abdogedeon.com. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
4. "جمال طه مدرباً لمنتخب لبنان..وحيدر: سنساعد الاندية!". arabia.eurosport.com. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
5. "العودة إلى المدرّب الوطنيّ: جمال طه الخيار المنطقيّ!". الأخبار (in Arabic). Retrieved 23 June 2020.
6. "'Focus on the future' Maatouk tells team". Arab News. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2018.
7. Mezher, Rawad (18 June 2020). "جمال طه" (in Arabic). Retrieved 18 June 2020 – via Facebook.
8. "Lebanon – Jamal Taha – Profile with news, career statistics and history – Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
9. "جمال طه مدرباً لشباب الساحل". An-Nahar. 10 September 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
10. "Lebanon – List of Cup Winners". RSSSF. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
11. Abou Diab, Rami (4 June 2019). "Liviu Ciobotariu has been appointed as the new Lebanon head coach". FA Lebanon. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 7 June 2020.
12. Mahfoud, Maroun (17 June 2020). "Official: Jamal Taha is the new coach for the Lebanese national team". FA Lebanon. Retrieved 17 June 2020.
13. "الاتحاد اللبناني يعين أميل رستم مديرا فنيا لمنتخب كرة القدم | Radiosawa". radiosawa.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 11 June 2020.
14. "Asian Qualifiers – Group H: Lebanon beat Sri Lanka to boost hopes | Football | News | Asian Qualifiers 2022". the-AFC. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
15. "Asian Qualifiers – Group H: Turkmenistan dent Lebanon's hopes with late win | Football | News | Asian Qualifiers 2022". the-AFC. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
16. 유지호 (13 June 2021). "S. Korea beat Lebanon to wrap up undefeated run in 2nd round in World Cup qualifying". Yonhap News Agency. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
17. "السعودية إلى النهائيات القارية والدور الحاسم من تصفيات المونديال". صحيفة الخليج (in Arabic). Retrieved 22 July 2021.
18. "هاسيك يخلف جمال طه". نداء الوطن. 16 July 2021. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
19. "الاتحاد اللبناني يعتمد مدربي المنتخبات ومسؤولي اللجان". كووورة. 27 September 2021. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
20. "رسميًا.. جمال طه مدربًا للأنصار". كووورة. 26 June 2022. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
21. مهرجان كرة المنار. Shoot (in Arabic) (166 ed.). 31 March 1997. p. 3.
22. مهرجان كرة المنار. Shoot (in Arabic) (288 ed.). 5 July 1999. p. 8.

External links

• Jamal Taha at FA Lebanon
• Jamal Taha at RSSSF
• Jamal Taha at National-Football-Teams.com
• Jamal Taha at Soccerway
• Jamal Taha at Global Sports Archive
• Jamal Taha at Kooora.com (in Arabic) (archived in English at Goalzz.com)