Hapoel Arad

Arad got its name on the map in 1962, and eight years later the town had a handball side of its own — the oldest sports club the place has produced, wearing the red of the Hapoel movement it belongs to. Hapoel Arad has carried that colour, and the nickname that comes with it, since 1970.

For decades the club existed on the margins of Israeli handball, playing out of a gymnasium that seats 500. That changed in April 2024, when Hapoel Arad reached the final of the Israel National Handball League Cup and beat Maccabi Petah Tikva 28-27 for the first major trophy in the club's history. Serbian forward Luka Dragovic scored eight goals in the final, but it was Tal Par — who doubles as the club's Under-17 coach — who put away the winner in the closing seconds.

The club sits in the Negev alongside Maccabi Beer Sheva, though nothing like a fixed rivalry has taken shape between them.