Maccabi Rishon LeZion is a handball

Team handball

Handball is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each pass a ball to throw it into the goal of the other team...

 team from the city of Rishon LeZion, Israel

Israel

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

. competes in the Ligat Winner Big. The team's colors are yellow

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...

 and blue

Blue

Blue is a colour, the perception of which is evoked by light having a spectrum dominated by energy with a wavelength of roughly 440–490 nm. It is considered one of the additive primary colours. On the HSV Colour Wheel, the complement of blue is yellow; that is, a colour corresponding to an equal...

, and it hosts its home games in the new 1500-seat bet maccabi in Rishon LeZion.

Maccabi have won 11 championships and 9 Israeli cups. After some bad years in the 1990s

1990s

File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...

, the team has returned to success: between 2003 and 2007 it won three championships and four cups.

The team's biggest achievement in the European Cups was on its first appearance there in 1983 when it reached the Cup Winner's Cup semifinal, losing to the Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 team FC Barcelona Handbol. So far in the 2008-9 season it has made the last 16 in the EHF Cup

EHF Cup

The EHF Cup is an official competition for men's handball clubs of Europe and takes place every year. From 2012/13 it will be merged with EHF Cup Winners' Cup to EHF European Cup....

, where it is due to meet the Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n team Zarja Kaspija Astrakhan.

Their biggest rival is Hapoel Rishon LeZion

Hapoel Rishon LeZion (handball)

Hapoel Rishon LeZion The team was founded in 1968 and since then has become a regular member of the first division and the most successful team in Israeli handball, having won a record 15 league titles, a record 12 Israeli cups...

, another great Rishon LeZion team. The derby games between them have been very tense throughout the last two decades.

Titles

• Israel Champions: 1959, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1992, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011
• Israel Cup Holder: 1982, 1986, 1987, 1988, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2011
• Israel Double: 1986, 1987, 2006, 2007, 2011

Squad

Updated in December 2008

No.	Name	Position	Birth Date	Height	Weight	N.T. Caps	N.T Goals	Home Club
2	Offer Luzon	Line Player	27.11.84	1.88	90	37	24	H.C Ness Ziona
3	Yoav Neeman (C)	Right Wing	6.1.80	1.85	80	55	138	Maccabi Rishon LeZion
5	Dor Gevaa	Left Wing	12.3.90			0	0	Maccabi Rishon LeZion
6	David Amar	Line Player	15.3.67					Maccabi Kiryat Motzkin
7	Yaniv Lifshiz	Right Wing	21.6.77	1.82	89	0	0	Rehovot
8	Jo (Josef) Matatya	Center Back	13.10.78
9	Gal Avraham	Left Wing	15.8.81	1.79	80	15	58	Maccabi Rehovot
10	Chen Birenbaum	Line Player	29.7.80	1.87	82	7	16	Maccabi Rehovot
12	Julian Strat	Goal Keeper	1.1.75	1.89				Savisenti
13	Dov Yeshua	Left Back	31.8.77	2.01				Maccabi Arazim Ramat Gan
14	Shachar Haber	Center Back	16.1.75
15	Tom Matalon	Left Back	30.6.83	1.89	88	24	62	Maccabi Rishon LeZion
18	Dushko Milinovic	Right Back	19.2.75					Sintelon
19	Ariel Rosental	Center Back	3.8.86	1.80	75	6	2	Maccabi Rishon LeZion
84	Modi Sordo	Goal Keeper	18.8.81	1.80	82	4	0	Maccabi Rishon LeZion
	Eldar Shiklushi	Goal Keeper				0	0	Maccabi Rishon LeZion
	Roy Biton	Left Wing				0	0	Maccabi Rishon LeZion

• Coach: Gilad Maor
• Fitnnes Trainer: Yoram Menachem
• Administration Manager: Yankul Ruiter
• Chair Man: Yossi Geva