World Football – Former Liverpool star Avi Cohen’s Death
Avi Cohen, at the age of 54, dies bearing terrible injuries from his motorcycle accident. Cohen was a motorcycle fanatic and riding his bike, he encountered a collision with a car in Tel Aviv on 20th of December.
The Israeli international player who played in front of the Kop for two seasons starting from 1979, had been under coma for more than a week since he had a crash on 20th of this month. He was operated at the Tel Aviv’s
Ichiloy Hospital and his son, Tamir Cohen told the press that the doctor’s declared Avi Cohen’s brain dead on Tuesday.
Avi Shoshan, a spokesman for the Ichilov Hospital, said: ‘The committee of doctors say that Avi Cohen is brain dead.
Tamir Cohen was very emotional upon the loss of his father and talking to the press he said, “To our great sadness, a health ministry committee was in the hospital today and confirmed that our father is indeed brain dead. Which
is to say, he has died.”
The Bolton striker, Johan Elmander, dedicated his goal to his fellow player’s father in respect to his high profile of football as well as his healthy recovery by holding up a T-shirt with a hand written wish to his health, on
Boxing Day. His Son Tamir had just flown from Britain to stand by his father’s side in his last breaths. He currently plays for Bolton Wanderers in England.
Cohan’s playing career began when he was at the age of 18 in 1974. He went on with his first club Maccabi Tel Aviv making 64 appearances for Israel out of those he captained in 33 games.
Internationally he played as a defender for Israel when they were affiliated to FIFA Asia and then Oceania confederations. He was a part of the Anfield team winning the European Cup in his tenure in 1981.
Now, the Premier League welcomes players from all over the world to ply their trade but it was not the same in his time. Cohen was the pioneer over-sea footballer being the first foreign player to have played for Liverpool. His
stay there continued for 24-years after his debut at Leeds on September 15, 1979.
Cohan used to play in the tenure when Israeli players and clubs had minor contact with the European top leagues.
Liverpool won the First Division league title in 1979-80 and Cohan was a goal scorer in the same match that lead a 4-1 win against Aston Villa. Overall he made a total of 24 appearances for Liverpool playing two seasons. Cohen
then returned to Israel and rejoined his prime club Maccabi Tel Aviv. Glasgow Rangers also hold the services of this high esteemed player in 1988 when they were managed by Graeme Souness, with whom he used to play at Liverpool.
There was huge discrepancy when Cohan joined Liverpool. The normal thing was for the Kop to sing through the team, “there’s only one… followed by the player’s name.” but Cohan never got acknowledgement and only a bit of a friendly
jeer that had to be reminded by Ray Clemence. But a man of his caliber, never got demoralized, and soon enough he got a cheer from the Kop along with a bow by him to apologize.
Cohan served as the Chairman of the Israeli Professional Football Association since 2002 and along with that, he was a pundit at the local radio and television. Soon after his death was announced by his son, the Liverpool FC anthem,
“You will never walk alone” was played in his honor on his radio sports program.
When a player of that caliber passes away, all the golden times that had past are recalled when he was seen making the moves in the game and those strikes that won the game. May his soul Rest in Peace.