Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C.

Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C. (Hebrew: הפועל ראשון לציון) 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 (Hebrew: הפועל עירוני ראשון לציון), and in June 2008 the name was switched back to Hapoel Rishon LeZion following a change in ownership.

Hapoel Rishon leZion

Full name	Hapoel Rishon LeZion הפועל ראשון לציון
Nickname(s)	Rishonia
Founded	1940 (1940)
Ground	Haberfeld Stadium, Rishon LeZion
Capacity	6,000
Owner	Amos Luzon
Manager	Ofer Tesselpapa
League	Liga Leumit
2023–24	Liga Leumit, 13th of 16
Home colours Away colours

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, and played several matches since 1933, including competing at the Palestine Cup in 1937 and 1939. The club was formally established in 1940.

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 2008–09, after the club changed its name back to Hapoel Rishon LeZion, it 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 July 28, 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

Current squad

As to 1 June 2024

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ISR	Eliran Gomelski
2	MF	FRA	Sacha Petshi
3	DF	ISR	Liad Levi
4	DF	ISR	Roei Zrihan
5	DF	HAI	Djimy Alexis
6	MF	ISR	Shay Ayzen
7	FW	ISR	Dor Jan
8	MF	ISR	Moshe Semel
9	FW	ISR	Raz Stain
10	FW	ISR	Yuval Sasson
11	FW	ISR	Ofek Osher
12	DF	ISR	Tomer Machluf

No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
14	MF	ISR	Daniel Bohadana
18	MF	ISR	Ido Davidov
20	MF	ISR	Dor Osowsky
22	GK	ISR	Arik Yanko
23	DF	ISR	Asher Ashata
24	MF	ISR	Yosef Balata
26	DF	ISR	Yorai Maliach
28	MF	ISR	Noam Cohen
29	MF	ISR	Itay Zada
30	MF	ISR	Sarel Cohen
44	DF	ZAM	Gift Mphande
55	GK	ISR	Dvir Nir

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

Honour	No.	Years
Second tier	1	1993–94
Third tier	3	1964–65, 1988–89, 1992–93

Cups

Honour	No.	Years
Toto Cup (second division)	2	2012–13, 2022–23

European record

Season	Round	Opponents	Home leg	Away leg	Aggregate
1996–97	Qualifying Round	Constructorul Chişinău	3–2	0–1	3–3 (a)

External links

• Official website (archived)
• Fans site