Hapoel Rishon LeZion is getting the fly-on-the-wall treatment. ONE has announced a new documentary series, titled "Rishona," that will follow the club through the coming season as it chases a route back to Israel's top flight.
The premise, as ONE frames it, is simple: how does a club with history, a loyal support base and an entire city behind it find its way back to where it believes it belongs. Cameras will track the squad both in matches and behind the scenes across the campaign.
It is the second entry in what is shaping up as a mini-genre for the broadcaster. "Rishona" follows "Malkat HaShchuna" (Queen of the Neighborhood), ONE's documentary that trailed Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv's season in the HaTikva neighborhood, weaving in veteran Eliran Atar's return to his boyhood club and youngster Jonathan Agyapong, with an original score by Dudu Tassa.
Rishon LeZion enters the new season in the National League, Israel's second tier, still searching for the promotion that has eluded it for years. The club last competed in Ligat Ha'al, the Israeli top flight, back in 2011/12 — and was relegated straight back down after only a single season among the elite.
Last season only sharpened the frustration. Rishon LeZion finished bottom of the top playoff group, losing six of its final seven matches to end the campaign on the worst possible note.
The club has responded by handing the reins to Elad Brown, hired as head coach for 2026/27 after five years in charge of Maccabi Herzliya. Brown has described Rishon LeZion as "a club with tradition, an audience and the potential to be in the Premier League," and has been candid that the National League field this season is unusually strong, with well-funded, well-coached rivals also chasing the two promotion spots.
Part of the appeal for a documentary crew is the club's pedigree. Two graduates of that ill-fated 2011/12 top-flight squad went on to notable careers: Assi Baldot, who scored nine league goals that season but could not prevent the drop, and Omer Atzili, who came through Rishon LeZion's youth ranks and made his top-flight debut for the club in October 2011 before moving on to Beitar Jerusalem and later Maccabi Tel Aviv.
For a club that has spent a decade and a half in the second tier trying to rediscover that level, the series gives Rishon LeZion's promotion push a spotlight well beyond the usual match-day coverage — and puts real pressure on Brown's squad to make the story worth telling.
