Maccabi Rishon LeZion (basketball)
| Maccabi Rishon LeZion | |||
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| Leagues |
Ligat HaAl Champions League |
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| Founded | 1976 | ||
| Arena | Beit Maccabi | ||
| Capacity | 2,200 | ||
| Location | Rishon LeZion, Israel | ||
| Team colors | Orange and White | ||
| President | Itzhak Perry | ||
| Head coach | Arik Shivek | ||
| Championships | 1 Israeli Championship | ||
| Website | www.maccabirishon.co.il | ||
| Uniforms | |||
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Maccabi Rishon LeZion (Hebrew: מכבי ראשון לציון), for sponsorship reasons Maccabi RAND MEDIA Rishon LeZion, is a basketball club based in Rishon LeZion, Israel. The club plays in Ligat Ha'Al and in the Champions League. The biggest achievement of the club is an Israeli League championship in 2016.
The club is considered as one of the most popular basketball clubs in Israel and stayed in the Israeli premier league for a lot of years. Some notable players as Miki Berkovich, Doron Jamchi, Guy Goodes, Motti Aroesti, Kevin Magee, Moran Roth and Hen Lippin played in the club through the years.
The club was founded in 1976 by Itzhak Perry and reached the top division, where they have remained since, in 1988–89 season. At the start of their first season in the top division, the Israeli star Miki Berkovich joined Roni Bosani and Richy Ralford and they led the team. Their coach was Moshe Vainkretz and they finished the season in the 6th place. In the following season Vainkretz replaced by Tal Tzuker, and the team finished in the 9th place.
In 1990–91, Vainkretz returned to Maccabi Rishon. With some high-quality players like Miki Berkovich, Gene Banks, Andre Spencer and Motti Aroesti, the team finished the regular season in the 2nd place of the league. In the semi-finals of the playoffs, Maccabi Rishon won Hapoel Tel Aviv in a 3–0 sweep, and reached their first ever final series. In the final, they lost in four games (3–1) to Maccabi Tel Aviv. One season later, in 1991–92, most of the key players stayed and the team ended the regular season again in the 2nd place. This time, they lost in the semi-finals series to Hapoel Tel Aviv. However, Maccabi Rishon reached the final of the Israeli cup but lost 76:84 to Hapoel Galil Elyon. They also participated in the European League but lost in the second qualifying round to Dutch champions Den Helder, and dropped to the European Cup, where they eliminated in the group stage with a record of 3 wins and 7 losses.
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