Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. () is an Israeli football club based in the city of Rishon LeZion, which currently plays in Liga Leumit, Israel's second football division. Home matches are hosted at the Haberfeld Stadium. In 1991, the club changed its name to Hapoel Ironi Rishon LeZion (), and in June 2008 the name was switched back to Hapoel Rishon LeZion following a change in ownership.History of Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. Hapoel Rishon LeZion fans Official Site

History

Hapoel Rishon LeZion was one of the first clubs in the history of league football in Israel. The football section of the Sports club was established in 1929,At the centennial, Rishon LeZion will be at the top (Page 9) Hadshot HaSport, 16 May 1980, archive.football.co.il and played several matches since 1933,At the EIFA Davar, 1 December 1933, Historical Jewish Press Activities in Liga Bet South division Do'ar HaYom 15 December 1933, Historical Jewish Press including competing at the Palestine Cup in 1937 and 1939. The club was formally established in 1940.The Stadium Hapoel Rishon LeZion Official Site Club Hapoel Rishon LeZion fans official website

Its best achievements were runner-up of the Israel State Cup in 1946 and 1996. On both occasions it lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv. Following its cup final in 1996, it played in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, but was eliminated in the qualifying round by Constructorul Chisinau of Moldova on away goals rule (0–1, 3–2).

The club played at the top division in Mandatory Palestine for the first time at the 1941–42 season and after the Israeli Declaration of Independence, became founder members of the Israeli League in 1949. In 1951–52, the club finished second bottom and dropped to the second tier.

Between 1952 and 1994 the club played just three seasons in the top division: 1978–79, 1980–81 (where they finished sixth) and 1981–82. In the 1991–92 season, while playing in Liga Alef, the third tier, it added the word Ironi to its name, and in the next two seasons, made two successive promotions and returned to the top flight once again after winning Liga Artzit in the 1993–94 season. This time the club managed to stay nine consecutive seasons in the top league until it was relegated to the second tier, (Liga Leumit), at the end of the 2002–03 season, and three seasons later dropped further down to Liga Artzit, the third tier at the time.

In June 2008, the businessmen Raviv Sapir and Ron Hadad acquired ownership of the club and secured guarantees from the Rishon LeZion municipality to cover the estimated 6 million NIS debt of the club, along with a guarantee to economically support the clubs youth academy with an approximate 800,000 NIS annually. following the change in ownership the club changed its name back to Hapoel Rishon LeZion and was promoted to the second tier (Known as Liga Leumit).

In 2010–11, the club was promoted to the Israeli Premier League, the top tier. They were relegated back to Liga Leumit the following season.

On 4 December 2012, Hapoel Rishon LeZion won the 2012–13 Toto Cup Leumit.

In 2017–18, the club was just one point short of being promoted to the top tier, The Israeli Premier League, finishing third. In the following year, 2018–19, the club finished twelfth, and narrowly avoided relegation.

In 2023-24, on 28 July 2023, the club sold Mohamed Bamba, an Ivorian striker who played for the club and the youth team for 3.5 years, to Austrian club Wolfsberger AC for 200,000€ and a 20% sell-on fee. After scoring 8 goals and 4 assists in 17 games in the 2023–24 Austrian Football Bundesliga and 2023–24 Austrian Cup, Wolfsberger AC sold Bamba to French club FC Lorient for 5,000,000€, securing Rishon 1,000,000€ from the sell-on. Bamba went on to score 8 goals and 3 assists in 16 games in the 2023–24 Ligue 1.

+ Season-by-season Season League Tier League Position Israeli Cup Toto Cup Notes 2004–05 2 6th Round of 32 X 2005–06 2 11th Round of 16 X No toto cup before 2006–07. 2006–07 3 2nd DNP X No toto cup in 3rd tier 2007–08 2 11th Round of 16 9th-10th 2008–09 3 4th Round of 64 X No toto cup in 3rd tier 2009–10 2 8th Round of 64 2nd 2010–11 2 2nd Round of 16 5th-8th 2011–12 1 15th Round of 32 9th-16th 2012–13 2 6th Semi Finals 1st 2013–14 2 11th Quarter Finals X The Toto Cup was not held that year. 2014–15 2 10th Round of 32 9th-16th 2015–16 2 12th Round of 16 9th-16th 2016–17 2 10th Round of 16 9th-16th 2017–18 2 3rd Round of 32 5th-8th 2018–19 2 12th Round of 64 9-10th 2019–20 2 5th Round of 32 3rd-4th 2020–21 2 4th Round of 32 5th-6th 2021–22 2 14th Round of 32 7th Won the Promotion/relegation playoff 2022–23 2 12th Round of 32 1st 2023-24 2 13th Round of 16 15th-16th 2024-25 2 13th Seventh round th-th

Current squad As to 5 August 2026

International former players Europe Sejad Halilović (had one cap for croatia before Bosnia got their independence) Yevgeni Kashentsev Gennadi Tumilovich Ivan Yaremchuk Marc Van Der Linden Dean Racunica Gábor Márton Tomasz Cebula Karol Schulz Asia

Andriy Zavyalov

Africa Paul Akouokou Mohamed Bamba Patrick Ovie Emmanuel Samadia Luwagga Kizito Gift Mphande Central and North America Matan Peleg Israel Rami Gershon Omer Atzili Baruch Dego Ya'akov Hodorov Shay Holtzman Eyal Ben Ami Itamar Shviro

Managers

Eli Cohen (born 1951) Arik Gilrovich (2008–09) Nissan Yehezkel (2010–12) Eyal Lahman (2012–13) Sharon Mimer (2013–15) Ofir Haim (2015–16) Gili Levanda (2016) Nir Berkovic (2016–2018) Ron Marcus (2018–2019) Nir Berkovic (2019) Ofer Taselpapa (2019–2020) Meni Koretski (2020) Ismaeel Amar (2020–2022) Amir Nussbaum (2022–2023) Yuval Naim (2023-)

Honours League HonourNo.YearsSecond tier11993–94Third tier31964–65, 1988–89, 1992–93

Cups HonourNo.YearsToto Cup (second division)22012–13, 2022–23

European record

Season Round Opponents Home leg Away leg Aggregate1996–97Qualifying Round Constructorul Chişinău 3–2 0–1 3–3 (a)

References

External links

Official website (archived) Fans site