Tamir Cohen

Tamir Cohen (Hebrew: תמיר כהן; born 4 March 1984) is an Israeli footballer who plays as a midfielder. He is the son of the late Maccabi Tel Aviv and Liverpool player Avi Cohen.

Tamir Cohen
Personal information
Full name Tamir Cohen[1]
Date of birth (1984-03-04) 4 March 1984
Place of birth Tel Aviv, Israel
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[2]
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Maccabi Tel Aviv
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2007 Maccabi Tel Aviv 81 (4)
2007–2008 Maccabi Netanya 27 (2)
2008–2011 Bolton Wanderers 49 (6)
2011–2013 Maccabi Haifa 17 (0)
2013–2014 Hapoel Ra'anana 21 (4)
National team‡
2001–2002 Israel U19 14
2003–2006 Israel U21 12 (3)
2007–2011 Israel 21 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30 May 2011
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22 August 2008

Club career

Early career

Cohen was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is Jewish.[3] He started his career in Maccabi Tel Aviv's youth team where in 2001–02 he won the double. His first game in the Israeli Premier League was in November 2002 during Maccabi's 1–0 win over Bnei Yehuda Tel Aviv, when he came on as a substitute. He scored his first goal against Maccabi Petah Tikva in a 2–1 in the Toto Cup, where he scored the winning goal.

On 11 January 2007 Cohen moved to Maccabi Netanya.[4]

Bolton Wanderers

On 1 January 2008 he transferred to English club Bolton Wanderers for a fee of £39,000. He made his Bolton debut in the 1–0 FA Cup defeat to Sheffield United, wearing the squad number 25, previously occupied by Abdoulaye Faye. His first Premiership goal was scored on 2 March 2008 in a match against his father's former club Liverpool at the Reebok stadium, which ended in a 3–1 win for Liverpool. The 25-year-old made 11 appearances in his first season in English football.

In the 2008/2009 campaign, Cohen played a peripheral role for Bolton Wanderers this campaign with a longstanding thigh injury keeping him out of action for over five months. The Israeli man eventually returned to the first team fold in the final couple of months of the season, earning his first start against Aston Villa at the Reebok Stadium on 25 April. Cohen stole all the headlines with a vibrant midfield performance and capped off the afternoon with a neatly taken equaliser to earn Bolton a vital point. He celebrated his goal by saluting his friends and family who were sat in the West Stand after he had been handed a 'lucky shekel' to put down his sock. Cohen expressed hope that his injury problems would be behind him and that Wanderers fans would see more of his footballing talents in the 2009/2010, saying "It's been very frustrating because it's not easy for a football player to be injured. But that is football and you need to live with that. Now hopefully I won't be out anymore while I'm with Bolton".[5]

Cohen was released by Bolton Wanderers at the end of the 2010–11 season, after three and a half years at the club.[6]

Maccabi Haifa

On 8 August 2011, Cohen signed a 4-year deal with Israeli Maccabi Haifa. He rejected an offer from Greek side Panathinaikos in order to play in Israel where he can be closer to his family. Tamir earned €300,000, the highest salary in Maccabi Haifa.[7]

International career

Cohen made 7 appearances for the Israel national under-21 football team. His first appearance on the U-21 team was on the losing side to Cyprus.

He played for the Israel national football team against Croatia on 13 October 2007.[8]

Personal life

Cohen holds an Italian passport in addition to his Israeli one owing to his Italian ancestry. His citizenship of a European Union country gives him the option of playing for an EU football club without having to be classified as a foreigner.

He is the son of Maccabi Tel Aviv and Rangers player Avi Cohen. Following his father's ultimately fatal motorcycle accident in December 2010, he flew to Israel to be at his father's bedside.[9] On 24 April 2011, Cohen emotionally celebrated by taking off his shirt to reveal a picture of his father after scoring the winning goal in Bolton's 2–1 victory over Arsenal.[10]

Cohen is also the nephew of the former association football player Vicky Peretz and the cousin of Peretz sons – Adi and Omer Peretz.

Career statistics
As of 30 May 2011[11]
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Israel League Israel State Cup Toto Cup Europe Total
2002–2003Maccabi Tel AvivIsraeli Premier League130309000250
2003–2004272215010353
2004–2005222401090362
2005–2006160008020260
2006–20073000500080
2006–2007Maccabi Netanya141102000171
2007–2008131002020171
Total Israel 10861013201401647
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
2007–2008Bolton WanderersPremier League101100000111
2008–20094100000041
2009–2010273401000323
2010–201181201000111
Total England 496702000586
Israel League Israel State Cup Toto Cup Europe Total
2011–2012Maccabi HaifaIsraeli Premier League140000060200
2012–20132010300060
Career total 1691218137014024813

Honours

Maccabi Tel Aviv

See also

References
  1. "Premier League clubs submit squad lists" (PDF). Premier League. 1 February 2011. p. 13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2011.
  2. "Premier League Player Profile". Premier League. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
  3. "From Sandy Koufax to Yossi Benayoun: Where Are All the Other Jewish Sportsmen?" | Bleacher Report
  4. Tamir Cohen - biography, stats, rating, footballer’s profile | Football Top.com
  5. "Bolton Wanderers | Cohen Hails 'Lucky' Shekel". Bwfc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  6. "New deal for Blake". The Bolton News. 24 April 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  7. "תמיר כהן חתם ל-4 שנים". ONE. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011. and released on June 2013.
  8. Tamir Cohen - national football team player
  9. "Israeli former football international Avi Cohen dies". BBC. 28 December 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  10. BBC Sport (24 April 2011). "Bolton 2 – 1 Arsenal". BBC. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
  11. "תמיר כהן". ONE. Retrieved 27 January 2011.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.