England’s 1966 World Cup winner right-back died at the age of eighty-three. The player from Kensington spent his entire career playing for Fulham Football Club.
The vice president of England’s 1966 World Cup squad was on the field every minute of the six matches in the tournament and finally lifted the cup in the Wembley final, defeating Germany by 4-2.
Sir Geoff Hurst, only one of the two living legends of the ’66’s team, was saddened by Cohen’s demise. He has expressed respect for him and condolences for his wife, Daphne and her family on Twitter. Fulham FC, who first came with the tragic news, have conveyed their pain after the announcement.
Cohen was strictly a one-club footballer who spent his thirteen glorious years as Fulham’s right-back. He signed for Fulham in 1956 and retired after a knee injury in March 1969 at just 29.
Just a season before his retirement, Fulham slipped to the second division and could not retrieve their old position for the next thirty-three years. He had 459 appearances with six League goals under his cap. Only five players in history can beat his appearance record for the club.
He came to England’s national team as a replacement for Jimmy Armfield of Blackpool under the supervision of coach Alf Ramsey. In Cohen’s international debut in 1964, his side won over Uruguay by a 2-1 score. Later, he was Ramsey’s first choice as a full-back in the squad and was named in the 1966 World Cup campaign.
Ramsey lined up his team without a traditional winger and bolstered the midfield with young and fast players like Alan Ball and Martin Peters, who can switch in and out from centre to flank. In this formation, full-back attacker Cohen played a vital role in assimilating the midfield.
After winning against Argentina in the quarter-finals, Cohen was featured in a controversial photo in which he was forbidden to exchange his jersey as a tradition for Argentinians’ caginess on the ground. In the semis, his side clinched a victory over Portugal.
Cohen played as vice president in the finals against West Germany, where his crucial block of Emmerich’s free-kick gave the team time to breathe and Wolfgang Weber’s equalizer set the teams for extra time. In extra time England came out victorious with a 4-2 scoreboard.
George Cohen was awarded ‘Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire’ alongside four other teammates of the 1966 campaign. Eminent personalities worldwide have expressed their condolences for his family. Surely his absence will be felt among the veterans of world football.
George Cohen, one of the few remaining members of England’s 1966 World Cup winning team, has died.
He was 83. https://t.co/xlipBEWqcG— Bloomberg UK (@BloombergUK) December 23, 2022
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| Title: England’s George Cohen Demise at the Age of 83
| Author: Trisita Aich
| Date: Dec 27, 2022