July 30, 1998:  

Nejmeh defeated Safa 2-0

The match started exactly at 5:35 P.M ( B.T):

The starting lineup for both teams are :

Nejmeh:  W. Fattal ( GK), A. Shahrour, H. Daher, M. Karneeb, R. Aboulnasser, M. Aboueleoua, M. Hejazi, J. Al-Hajj, A. Sanamian, W. Nazha, B. Fleifel, .

Safa: B. Hashem ( GK), N. Jurdi, A. Naamani, H. Hadi, W. Almiri,  D. Aaouar, N. Shaikhou, M. Kassass, W. Dahrouj, I. Moussa, H. Kaddah.

On the 13th. minute: B. Fleifel hit the ball to the goal but it was saved by a Safa player.

On the 15th. minute : I. Moussa of Safa hit a dangerous ball but was saved by W. Fattal.

On the 20th. minute: W. Nazha hit a strong shot but saved by H. Kaddah.

On the 22th minute: N. Sheikho of Safa receives a yellow card after doing a foul on J. Al-Hajj.

On the 27th. minute : I. Moussa hit a dangerous ball very wide.

On the 31th. minute: W. Dahrouj hit the ball but it went too wide from the left bar of the goal.

On the 39th. minute: Nejmeh makes their first change, W. Abdallah enters instead of M. Aboueleoua.

On the 45th. minute: I. Moussa passes the ball to W. Miri in front of Nejmeh goal who hit the ball very high..

The first half ended ( 0-0 )

On the 47th. minute: W. Dahrouj passes the ball from the right wing, it was too high for I. Moussa to reach.

On the 55th. minute: W. Nazha received the ball after it hit A. Sanamian and he hit it very strongly into the net, and Nejmeh advances ( 1-0).    

On the 59th. minute: Safa made their first change, A. Hommsi entered instead of I. Moussa.

On the 60th. minute: A. Naamani received a ball from a corner , and   hit it in the goal but saved by W. Fattal.

On the 62th. minute: W. Miri hit the ball very strongly but it was too wide from the right bar of Nejmeh goal.

On the 63th. minute: H. Daher of Nejmeh mistakenly hit the ball by head , it reached W. fattal who put it aside of the goal with the help of A. Shahrour with a Double-Kick.

On the 69th. minute: B. Fleifel hit a strong ball very wide.

On the 72th. minute: W. Nazha hit a lob over B. Hashem , it went slightly high.

On the 73th. minute: W. Nazha went alone with Safa goal keeper, and hit the ball near the right bar.

On the 77th. minute: M. Hassan of Safa entered instead of W. Miri.

On the 80th. minute: A. Sanamian passed the ball then H. Hadi of Safa cleared it very bad and scored an own goal. Nejmeh advanced ( 2-0).    

On the 83th. minute: H. Nasser entered instead of M. Hejazi for Nejmeh.

On the 85th. minute: A. Shahrour received a second yellow card and   a red card for obstructing a Safa player and got expelled from the match.

On the 86th. minute: M. Halaweh entered instead of B. Fleifel for Nejmeh.

Final Result:  Nejmeh defeated Safa ( 2-0).

July 29, 1998

Nejmeh  will  play  against Safa in the opening  match of Viceroy Cup for the  Elite on  Thursday  July 30, 1998 at 5:30 p.m   ( Beirut Times / 2:30 GMT) on Burj Hammoud Stadium.

Viceroy Cup includes the best 6 teams of last season's championship, the teams were put in 2 groups: The first group  includes : Nejmeh, Safa, & Homenmen,   the second group includes: Al-Ansar, Tadamoun Sour, & Al-Ahed.

Nejmeh won the first tournament on Tripoli stadium in 1996 after defeating Al-Ansar (1-0) with the only goal scored by Nejmeh midfielder Ahmad Bourah.

Al-Ansar won the second  championship on Bourj Hammoud stadium in 1997 after defeating Nejmeh (2-0) scored by S. Hamzeh, & I. Harounah.

Nejmeh has prepared for this tournament in a training camp. held in Alexandria, Egypt and played 2 friendly matches with Al-kouroum ( 1-3), and The Union of Alexandria ( 0-1). 

New Players have joined Nejmeh : ( Youssef Baalbaki, and Sunday Oukou)..

As for Safa, 2 new players has joined the team : Hamzah Hadi ( Former Iraqi defender of Racing Club), and Issam Moussa ( Former Forward of Tadamoun Sour ).

July 25, 1998:

The Arabic Football Federation  made the draw for the Arab Cup Winners' Cup finals on July 25, 1998 with the presence of the general secretary of the Arabic Federation Mr. Othman Assa'ad, the assistant general secretary Mr. Walid   Al-kurdi,  the general secretary of the Lebanese Football Federation Mr. Raheef Alameh , the president of Nejmeh Sporting Club Hajj. Omar Ghandour, the chairman of the organizing committee Mr. Hassan Mansour,  representatives of the embassies and   the clubs of the participiant countries, and a lot of media people.

The draw results put Nejmeh ( The hosting club) as the head of the First group together with Al-Kadesiah ( Kuwait), Al-Mawardah ( Sudan), and Al-Nasser ( Lybia).

Mawloudiat Wahran ( The champion) was put  as the  head of the   Second  group  together with Al-Jaeish ( Syria),  Al-Taei     ( KSA), and Al-Wassel ( UAE).

After the draw procedure, it was decided that Nejmeh will play against Al-Mawardah ( Sudan) in the opening match on Wednesday August 19, 1998 at 8:30 p.m in Sports' City Staduim. Before the match, there is going to be an opening ceremony for the 9th. championship.

July 17, 1998:

The draw for Viceroy Cup For The Elites - 1998 took place on Friday 17, 1998 in Mariott Hotel with the presence of the president of The Lebanese Football   Federation Dr. Nabil El-Raii, the general secretary Mr. Raheef Alamah,  the members of the Lebanese Federation, and the general manager of Horizon company for Advertising and Marketing Mr. Cezar Matar, and the commercial development manager in British- American Tobacco co. Mr. Raja Moubarak, and the manager of Viceroy's trademark Mr. Dekran Ghazal, and the chairmen of the participating clubs, referees, and media representatives.

Before the draw procedure, Al-ansar's representative Mr. Mahmoud El-Badaoui returned the Trophy of last year's tournament, and received a smaller copy of it..

Nejmeh Team, the runner- up of last year tournament and the head of the first group, will play the first match against Safa on Next Thrusday the 30th. of July on Bourj Hammoud Staduim as a repetition of the opening match of the first tournament (1996) that ended with a win for Safa 3-2..

Al-ansar, last year champion and the head of the second group,  will play his first match against Tadamoun Sour on Sunday August 2, 1998.

As for money prizes, the sponsoring company  specified money   prizes for all participating teams depending on their results, the champion will have $ 26,000 while the runner-up will have $ 16,000.

In addition, a technical committee has been formed of Lebanese and Foreign Football experts to choose the player of the tournament, this committee includes: Mr. Vernar, Bryan, Brahm, M. Saad, A. Mikdashi, R. Makhloufi, J. Darweesh, Jokey, E. Rustum, F. Halabi, W. Kamareddine, and E. Georges.

The first group includes: Nejmeh, Safa, and Homenmen.. The Second group includes includes: Al-ansar, Tadamoun Sour, and Al-a'ahed... All of the previous clubs have already participated in the previous tournaments except for Al-a'ahed, the new comer.

July 15, 1998:

Nejmeh team left Beirut to Alexandria- Egypt to enter a training camp. in The Arabic Academy for Science & Technology. This camp. will last till July 29th. and it comes under Nejmeh's preparations to host the finals of the Arab Cup Winners' Cup that will take place between ( August 19 - 30) at the Sports' City and Beirut Municipality stadiums. 

Meanwhile, Nejmeh had already started its training sessions on Nejmeh stadium in Manara under the supervision of the Technical manager  Rasheed Makhloufi and the technical board where training sessions took place 2 times daily on average with the participation of most the players including the 3 new African players: Edimola, Oko, and Ghana, and the Syrian International Goalkeeper Maher Beyrakdar, and the Armenian striker Armenia Sanamian.

In addition, 5 Nejmeh players didn't participate in the training sessions and won't join the Alexandria camp. after they had joined the Lebanese National Team that is preparing for the qualifying matches  of Al-Arab's Cup. These players are: M. Halaweh, H. Daher, M. Hojeij, B. Fleifel, and W. Nazha.

The Alexandria camp. will  include tentatively 5 friendly matches with strong Egyptian teams  as well as  concentrated training sessions which will tend to increase the level of physical and technical fitness at the players and the coordination among them after the long period of rest following the Lebanese Cup.   Directly after this camp., Nejmeh team has the Viceroy cup tournament as an additional preparation stage especially after the joining of the International players and the completeness of the team.

Below are the names of Nejmeh delegation that went to Alexandria:

F. Sennoh ( Chairman), M. Tabbarah (V.P), S. Al-Aadou, A. Koubrosli, M. I'idou ( officials), R. Makhloufi ( Technical manager), I. Za'aza'a, F. Yamani, A. Shebaro ( coaches), D. Fontol ( Physician), and the following players:

R. Aboulnasser, M. Beyrakdar, A. Shahrour, F. Natour, H. Nasser, M. Hejazi, W. Fattal, S. Oko, I. Edimola, P. Ghana, J. Hajj, M. Aboueleouah, M. Safa, M. Karneeb, W. Abdallah, Y. Baalbaki, B. Shatila, Z. Saad, M. Ibrahim, and A. Sanamian.