Avraham "Avi" Cohen ( he, אבי כהן; 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 ...

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

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

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 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 ...

retired the number 5 that he formerly wore.

Career

Cohen was born in Cairo, Egypt, and was Jewish. He moved to Israel as a youngster, and began his playing career with

, before joining Liverpool for a fee of £200,000 ( $450,000) in July 1979, and became the first

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 ...

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

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 189 ...

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 in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, which fell on the

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish holiday of

Yom Kippur Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day' ...

. Liverpool drew with Southampton 2–2 in front of 24,085 spectators and Cohen was lambasted by the Israeli media for playing. 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 and manager, and current TV pundit. A midfielder, Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player-manager of Ranger ...

at Rangers, before ending his career with

Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Netanya F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל מכבי נתניה, ''Football Club Maccabi Netanya'') is an Israeli football club based in Netanya. Established in 1934, the club was a founding member of the Israeli League in 1949. Af ...

. He also played for the Israeli national team, making his debut on 19 July 1976 during the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

in a 0–0 draw against Guatemala. On 9 October 1984, Cohen scored his first goal against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

in a 2–2 friendly draw. He was capped 51 times, scoring 3 goals. His son, Tamir, is also a professional footballer who plays for

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

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 ...

and the Israeli national team.

Personal life

Cohen was married to Dorit Cohen and the father of three, including the football 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, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations. More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referre ...

of former football player

Vicky Peretz Yitzhak "Vicky" Peretz ( he, יצחק "ויקי" פרץ, 11 February 1953 – 29 June 2021) was an Israeli Olympic football player who played for the Israel national team, and manager. He played for Maccabi Ramat Amidar, Maccabi Tel Av ...

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. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal rela ...

of Peretz sons –

Adi Adi or ADI may refer to: Names and titles * Adi (mythology), an Asura in Hindu faith who appears in the Matsya Purāṇa * Adi (name), a given name in Hebrew and a nickname in other languages * Adi (title), a Fijian title used by females of chi ...

and Omer Peretz. In 2008, he participated in the Israeli reality version of '' Dancing with the Stars'' 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 Brain death is the permanent, irreversible, and complete loss of brain function which may include cessation of involuntary activity necessary to sustain life. It differs from persistent vegetative state, in which the person is alive and some aut ...

. His brain death was confirmed by his son Tamir later the same day. Paying tribute to Cohen, Kenny Dalglish 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 footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland in ...

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 (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

match against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club'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, paid a tribute to his late father after scoring the winner against Arsenal and celebrating with a printed T-shirt with his father's face on it.

Career statistics

International goals

Honours

Player

;Club ;

* Liga Leumit First Division (2): 1976–77, 1978–79 * State Cup (2): 1976–77, 1986–87 *

Israel Super Cup The Israel Super Cup, also known as the Champion of Champions ( he, אלוף האלופים, Aluf HaAlufim), is an Israeli association football club competition played as a single match between the winner of the latest Israeli top league champio ...

(1):

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

;

* Football League First Division (1): 1979–80 * Charity Shield (2):

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 so ...

, 1980 * European Cup (1): 1980–81 ; Rangers *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

(1): 1987–88

Individual

* Israel Player of the Year (1): 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 Israeli Jews Israeli footballers Association football fullbacks Footballers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Israel international footballers Israeli expatriate 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 of 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 footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Israeli expatriate sportspeople in England Israeli expatriate sportspeople in Scotland