Avi Cohen’s son, Tamir (c), who plays for Bolton Wanderers, flew to Israel to be at his father’s bedside Former Israeli international footballer Avi Cohen has died from head injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.
His son, Tamir Cohen, who plays for Bolton Wanderers in the English Premiership, said his father was pronounced brain dead by doctors at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.
Avi Cohen, 54, was gravely injured in the accident in last week.
The defender was the first Israeli to play in the English top flight when he signed for Liverpool in 1979.
“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,” Tamir Cohen said, the Reuters news agency reported.
The Bolton midfielder and Israeli international had flown to Israel from England following his father’s accident.
Avi Cohen was one of Israel’s best-known players in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
He made 24 appearances for Liverpool, scoring one goal in the match against Aston Villa which secured the team the 1979-80 league title.
Avi Cohen began his playing career with Maccabi Tel Aviv before joining Liverpool, then returned to Maccabi. He briefly played at Glasgow Rangers before ending his career with Maccabi Netanya.
He captained his country and was chairman of the Israeli Professional Footballers Association for the past eight years, and was a regular local radio and television pundit.
This article is from the BBC News website. © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.