Tamir Cohen
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Tamir Cohen | ||
| Date of birth | 4 March 1984 | ||
| Place of birth | Tel Aviv, Israel | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 1⁄2 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | 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. | |||
Tamir Cohen (Hebrew: תמיר כהן; born 4 March 1984 in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli football midfielder. He is the son of the late Maccabi Tel Aviv and Rangers player Avi Cohen.
Club career
Early career
Cohen 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.
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".[2]
Cohen was released by Bolton Wanderers at the end of the 2010–11 season, after three and a half years at the club.[3]
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.[4]
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.
Personal life
Israeli-born Cohen also holds an Italian passport 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 Liverpool 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.[5] 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.[6]
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[7]
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Israel | League | Israel State Cup | Toto Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2002–2003 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | Israeli Premier League | 13 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0 |
| 2003–2004 | 27 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 3 | ||
| 2004–2005 | 22 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 36 | 2 | ||
| 2005–2006 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 0 | ||
| 2006–2007 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | ||
| 2006–2007 | Maccabi Netanya | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 1 | |
| 2007–2008 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 1 | ||
| Total | Israel | 108 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 32 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 164 | 7 | |
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2007–2008 | Bolton Wanderers | Premier League | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 |
| 2008–2009 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | ||
| 2009–2010 | 27 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 | 3 | ||
| 2010–2011 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | ||
| Total | England | 49 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 6 | |
| Israel | League | Israel State Cup | Toto Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2011–2012 | Maccabi Haifa | Israeli Premier League | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| 2012–2013 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 169 | 12 | 18 | 1 | 37 | 0 | 14 | 0 | 248 | 13 | ||
Honours
- Israeli Premier League (1):
- 2002–03
- State Cup (1):
- 2004–05
See also
References
- ↑ "Premier League Player Profile". Premier League. Retrieved 16 March 2011.
- ↑ "Bolton Wanderers | Cohen Hails 'Lucky' Shekel". Bwfc.co.uk. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
- ↑ "New deal for Blake". The Bolton News. 24 April 2011. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
- ↑ "תמיר כהן חתם ל-4 שנים". ONE. 8 August 2011. Retrieved 8 August 2011. and released on June 2013.
- ↑ "Israeli former football international Avi Cohen dies". BBC. 28 December 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
- ↑ BBC Sport (24 April 2011). "Bolton 2 – 1 Arsenal". BBC. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
- ↑ "תמיר כהן". ONE. Retrieved 27 January 2011.