Javier Antonio Cohene Mereles ( ar, خافيير كوهيني ميراليس; born 3 May 1987) is a professional

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 le ...

who played as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for the Palestine national team. Born and raised in Paraguay, some of his ancestors came from

Bethlehem Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital o ...

Club career

After several short spells with General Díaz, and Brazilian clubs

Gaúcho A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired an ...

and

Passo Fundo Passo Fundo is a municipality in the north of the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. It is named after its river. It's the twelfth largest city in the state with an estimated population of 204,722 inhabitants living in a total municipa ...

, Cohene moved to Europe to play in Portugal for second division side

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

, where he would remain for two seasons before moving back to South America to play for River Plate and

Sportivo Luqueño Club Sportivo Luqueño is a Paraguayan football club, based in the city of Luque on the outskirts of the capital Asunción. The club has won two Paraguayan championships. History The club was founded in 1921 when three teams from the city of L ...

. In the summer of 2010, Cohene returned to Portugal to play for

F.C. Paços de Ferreira Futebol Clube Paços de Ferreira () is a Portuguese football club based in Paços de Ferreira, Porto district. Founded in 1950, the club competes in the Primeira Liga, holding home games at the 9,077-seater Estádio da Mata Real, a municipal s ...

. His first two, of his three seasons with ''Os Castores'' proved to be successful as he featured regularly in Paços' defense alongside

Ricardo Ricardo is the Spanish and Portuguese cognate of the name Richard. It derived from Proto-Germanic ''*rīks'' 'king, ruler' + ''*harduz'' 'hard, brave'. It may be a given name, or a surname. People Given name *Ricardo de Araújo Pereira, Portugu ...

in the 2010–11 season, and Ozéia in the 2011–12 season. His first two seasons saw him make 60 appearances, and contributing six goals in the process. His first season with Paços de Ferreira would see Cohene help his side reach the 2011 Taça da Liga Final, where his side were defeated by Benfica. The arrival of

Paulo Fonseca Paulo Alexandre Rodrigues Fonseca (born 5 March 1973) is a Portuguese professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who played as a central defender. He is the current head coach of French ...

at the Mata Real for the 2012–13 season saw Cohene feature less than previous seasons. He was primarily used as a back up to

and Tiago Valente, and would only feature regularly in domestic cup competitions. Despite Paços de Ferreira's historic third place league finish which granted qualification to the

2013–14 UEFA Champions League The 2013–14 UEFA Champions League was the 59th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 22nd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was ...

play-off round, Cohene left Paços in the summer of 2013. Following his departure from ''Os Pacenses'', Cohene signed for

Vitória de Setúbal Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

. He debuted for ''Os Sadinos'' on the 18 August against

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

. Cohene would score his first goal since arriving at Vitória on the 31 August, against

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to : People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Steven Vitória ...

in a 4–1 away win. In Summer 2014, he moved for first time outside his comfort zone, which has been Latin America and the Iberian peninsula, and moved to South-eastern Europe, where he signed a contract with

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

side

FK Borac Čačak Fudbalski klub Borac Čačak (), or simply Borac Čačak, is a professional football club based in Čačak, Serbia. The home ground is Čačak Stadium, which has seating capacity of 8,000. As of 2019–20 season, the club competes in third tier S ...

. On following summer, he and Borac decided to terminate contract by mutual agreement, and Cohene left Serbia but did stayed in Europe, only hat this time he was back to Portugal, and, on 1 August 2015, Cohene joined

Atlético CP Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico * Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy * Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic ...

International career

Cohene committed to the Palestinian national team where he was eligible to play because of his Palestinian grandmother. Known as Javier Mereles when playing for Palestine, he received his first call-up by Jamal Mahmoud for the

Peace Cup The Peace Cup was an invitational pre-season friendly football tournament for club teams which was held every two years by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. It was usually contested by eight clubs from several continents, though 12 teams pa ...

taking place in September 2014. He scored his first goal on his debut against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

on 6 September 2014.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Palestine's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cohene, Javier 1987 births Living people People from Paraguarí Paraguayan footballers Palestinian footballers Palestine international footballers Association football defenders General Díaz footballers Liga Portugal 2 players S.C. Olhanense players Argentine Primera División players Club Atlético River Plate footballers Paraguayan Primera División players Sportivo Luqueño players Primeira Liga players F.C. Paços de Ferreira players Vitória F.C. players FK Borac Čačak players Serbian SuperLiga players Palestinian expatriate footballers Paraguayan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Brazil Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Palestinian expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Portugal Palestinian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Argentina Paraguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Palestinian expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Serbia Palestinian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Paraguayan people of Palestinian descent