Hapoel Rishon LeZion F.C.

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,[2] and played several matches since 1933,[3][4] including competing at the Palestine Cup in 1937 and 1939. The club was formally established in 1940.[5][6]

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.[1] 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.

As to 31 January 2023

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ISR Avihay Dahan 4 DF  ISR Roei Zrihan 5 DF  ISR Omri Luzon 6 MF  ISR Ilay Tamam 7 MF  ISR Ohad Almagor 8 DF  ISR Eyas Masalha 9 MF  CIV Mohammed Bamba 11 FW  ISR Yuval Sasson 12 DF  ISR Bar Natanel 14 FW  ISR Ohad Barzilay 15 MF  ISR Ori Zohar 16 MF  ISR Yuval Haliva 17 DF  ISR Amit Moseri

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 DF  ISR Mor Edri 19 MF  SLE Emmanuel Samadia 20 MF  ISR Eden Dahan 21 DF  ISR Raz Baruchian 22 GK  ISR Dvir Nir 25 MF  ISR Yair Nir 26 FW  ISR Gal Katabi 27 DF  ISR Benny Tridovsky 32 DF  ISR Shahar Barnea 34 MF  ISR Daniel Misezhnikov 53 GK  ISR Dor Hevron 55 DF  ISR Tal Makhlouf 77 FW  ISR Ronen Hanchis

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

Africa

• Paul Akouokou
• Patrick Ovie
• Emmanuel Samadia

Central and North America

• Matan Peleg

Israel

• Rami Gershon
• Omer Atzili
• Baruch Dego
• Ya'akov Hodorov
• Shay Holtzman
• Eyal Ben Ami
• Itamar Shviro

• 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–)

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