Yonatan Cohen ( he, יונתן כהן; born 29 June 1996) is an Israeli professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

er who plays as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

, on loan from the Italian club

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, and the Israel national team.

Early life

Cohen was born in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, to a family of

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

descent, of

Polish-Jewish The history of the Jews in Poland dates back at least 1,000 years. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Ashkenazi Jewish community in the world. Poland was a principal center of Jewish culture, because of the lon ...

descent on his mother's side. His older brother Guy Cohen is also a footballer, and his father Mickey Cohen is an Israeli retired footballer who played for

as well. He also holds a Polish passport, which eased his move to certain European football leagues.

Club career

Maccabi Tel Aviv

Cohen began playing youth football for

Maccabi Tel aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

before going on loans to Beitar Tel Aviv Ramla and to

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל בני יהודה תל אביב, ''Moadon Kaduregel Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv''), commonly referred to as Bnei Yehuda (), is an Israeli football club from the Hatikva Quarter of the city of Tel ...

. Then-manager

Arik Benado Ariel "Arik" Benado ( he, אריאל "אריק" בנאדו ; born 5 December 1973) is an Israeli football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Playing career Benado was a second generation player at Maccabi Haifa; his fathe ...

brought Cohen to Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv, where he made his senior debut in the

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

. Cohen became an important player for Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv during the 2016–17 season, relegating previously established midfielders Pedro Joaquín Galván and Amir Agayev to the bench.

Pisa

Since August 2021, Cohen plays for Pisa SC in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

having made his debut against Alessandria in Day 2, and scoring his first goal during the following fixture vs Ternana on 11 September.

Return to Maccabi Tel Aviv

On 29 September 2022, Pisa announced Cohen's return to Maccabi Tel Aviv. The transfer is initially a loan, at the end of the loan term Maccabi will be obligated to purchase his rights.

International career

Cohen made his debut for the senior Israel national team on 21 March 2019 in a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

...

Honours

Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv *

Israeli State Cup The Israel State Cup ( he, גביע המדינה, ''Gvia HaMedina''), is a knockout cup competition in Israeli football, run by the Israel Football Association (IFA). The State Cup was first held in 1928 as the People's Cup. Because it involve ...

: 2016–17 Maccabi Tel Aviv *

: 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Toto Cup The Israel Toto Cup ( he, גביע הטוטו, ''Gvia Ha'Toto'') is an association football tournament that features clubs in the two highest divisions in Israel: the Israeli Premier League ( Ligat Ha'Al), and the second division Liga Leumit. Fro ...

: 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

* * * Living people 1996 births Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Israeli footballers Jewish men's footballers Men's association football wingers Israel men's international footballers Israel men's youth international footballers Israel men's under-21 international footballers Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. players Beitar Tel Aviv Bat Yam F.C. players Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv F.C. players Pisa S.C. players Israeli Premier League players Liga Leumit players Serie B players Israeli expatriate footballers Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Footballers from Tel Aviv Israeli people of Polish-Jewish descent Israeli Jews {{Israel-footy-bio-stub