Maccabi Rehovot was the first team to win the championship, while Hapoel Rishon Lezion is most successful club with 18 titles over the years.

The league was established in 1954–55 with 10 teams competing in a double round-robin tournament, and with Maccabi Rehovot winning the first three championships.

[1] Until the 1980s, the handball in Israel was centered in places such as Rehovot, Ramat Gan and Petah Tikva, as 7 clubs played in these cities.

The three cities which were very successful in the Israeli handball, Rehovot, Ramat Gan and Petah Tikva, deteriorated.

They enjoyed from the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia and signed a lot of players who were famous in Europe such as Igor Bialik, Leonid Bernstein, Evgeni Oleinik and more.

One year later Hapoel won it again but the hegemony and the full domination in the handball ended when Maccabi Rishon with the notable head coach Gilad Maor grew stronger.

Other famous players: Doron Dayan, Amir Popko, Danny Turkenitz, Shlomo Hofman, Dudi Balsar, Harel Moritz, Akiva Lefler, Eyal Shur, Shachar Haber, Eitan Madmoni, Oleg Butenko, Benny Ne'eman Yoav Ne'eman, Chen Pomeranz and Avishay Smoler.