Avraham "Avi" Cohen (; 14 November 1956 – 29 December 2010) was an Israeli

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a defender, and a manager. He was best known for his spells playing for two British clubs:

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in England and Rangers in Scotland. After retirement from active football and management, he was the chairman of the Israel Professional Footballers Association for over five years until he was killed in a motorcycle crash. after his death Maccabi Tel Aviv retired the number 5 that he formerly wore.

Career

Cohen was born in

Cairo, Egypt Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

, and was Jewish. He moved to Israel as a youngster, and began his playing career with Maccabi Tel Aviv, before joining Liverpool for a fee of £200,000 ( $450,000) in July 1979, and became the first

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

i to play in England. He struggled to establish himself as a regular at

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

and was released in November 1981, rejoining Maccabi. On 20 September 1980, Cohen stirred up controversy when he decided to play in Liverpool's away fixture versus

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, which fell on the

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish holiday of

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...

. Liverpool drew with Southampton 2–2 in front of 24,085 spectators and Cohen was lambasted by the Israeli media for playing. He did not play enough matches to receive a winner's medal for either the first division League Championship or the European Cup. He returned to the United Kingdom in 1987, when he had a brief spell under former Liverpool teammate

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player, manager and television pundit. A midfielder, Souness achieved his greatest period of success as an integral part of the Liverpool team of the late 19 ...

at Rangers, before ending his career with Maccabi Netanya. He also played for the Israel national team, making his debut on 19 July 1976 during the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

in a 0–0 draw against

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. On 9 October 1984, Cohen scored his first goal against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

in a 2–2 friendly draw. He was capped 51 times, scoring 3 goals. His son,

Tamir Tamir is a male Hebrew name תָּמִיר meaning 'tall'. A different Hebrew spelling, טמיר, means 'arcane' or 'secretive'. In Mongolian language, Mongolian, the name is translated as 'strength' or 'vigour'. A Tamir River, river in Mongol ...

, is also a professional footballer who plays for Maccabi Haifa in the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League (, Ligat HaAl, ) is a professional association football league in Israel and the highest level of the Israeli football league system. The league is contested by 14 clubs, and operates on a system of promotion and rele ...

and the Israel national team.

Personal life

Cohen was married to Dorit Cohen and the father of three, including the

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player Tamir Cohen. In addition, Cohen was the

brother-in-law A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling or the sibling of one’s spouse. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred to as a brother-in-law for a male sibling-in-law and a sister-in-law for a female sibling-in-law. Sibling-in-law al ...

of former football player Vicky Peretz and the

uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent, as well as the parent of the cousins. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an un ...

of Peretz sons – Adi and Omer Peretz. In 2008, he participated in the Israeli reality version of ''

Dancing with the Stars ''Strictly Come Dancing (widely known as Dancing with the Stars)'' is an international television franchise based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing,'' itself a successor to the show ''Come Dancing'' (1950–1998) ...

'' and was the fifth to be eliminated.

Death

On 20 December 2010, Cohen was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash. He was taken to Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, where he was immediately taken into surgery. On 28 December 2010, the hospital declared that Cohen was brain dead. His brain death was confirmed by his son Tamir later the same day. Paying tribute to Cohen,

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

said "Avi was a lovely man who will be remembered fondly by everyone at Liverpool who knew him. He quickly integrated himself into the football club when he joined us and spent a lot of time learning English which really made him popular. He was well liked by all the lads and although he didn't spend a long time at the club, he certainly left his mark and no-one will forget how he helped us win the league against Aston Villa. My thoughts and those of everyone connected to the club are with Avi's family."

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who has since worked as a Manager (association football), manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Jo ...

said "we knew his situation was bad but never for a second did we think it would come to this" before going on to say it was "so sad to hear that he has passed away."

marked the death of Cohen with a period of applause before their

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

match against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

on 29 December 2010. The club also played a friendly game against the local Jewish community in honor of Avi. They competed for the Avi Cohen cup. Liverpool Legends team won 1–0. On 24 April 2011, his son Tamir, of

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

, paid a tribute to his late father after scoring the winner against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and celebrating with a printed T-shirt with his father's face on it.

Career statistics

Honours

Player

Maccabi Tel Aviv * Liga Leumit First Division: 1976–77, 1978–79 * State Cup: 1976–77, 1986–87 * Israel Super Cup: 1988 Liverpool * Charity Shield:

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

Rangers * League Cup: 1987–88

Individual

* Israel Player of the Year: 1978–79 * Member of the Israeli Football Hall of Fame

References

External links

injurylawguidecalifornia.org Accident Attorneys California

Thisisanfield.com Forgotten HeroesProfile at lfchistory.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Avi 1956 births 2010 deaths Jewish Israeli sportspeople Israeli men's footballers Footballers from Ramat Gan Men's association football fullbacks Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Israel men's international footballers Israeli expatriate men's footballers Israeli football chairmen and investors Liga Leumit players Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Maccabi Netanya F.C. players Motorcycle road incident deaths Olympic footballers for Israel Road incident deaths in Israel Egyptian emigrants to Israel Israeli football managers Beitar Tel Aviv F.C. managers Maccabi Yavne F.C. managers Maccabi Ironi Ashdod F.C. managers Hapoel Kfar Saba F.C. managers Hapoel Ashkelon F.C. managers Maccabi Herzliya F.C. managers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Israeli expatriate sportspeople in England Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Israeli Football Hall of Fame inductees Israeli Footballer of the Year recipients English Football League players 20th-century Israeli sportsmen