George Cohen

Fulham F.C. at 1958 with following players, from left standing: Eddie Lowe, George Cohen, Roy Bentley, Tony Macedo, Joe Stapleton, Jim Langley; front row: Graham Leggat, J. Hill, M. Cook, Johnny Haynes and Tosh Chamberlain. George Reginald Cohen (22 October 1939 – 23 December 2022) was an English professional footballer who played as a right-back. He spent his entire professional career with Fulham and won the 1966 FIFA World Cup with England. He is a member of the English Football Hall of Fame and was the uncle of rugby union World Cup winner Ben Cohen.

Playing career Fulham Cohen was a one-club footballer, joining Fulham professionally in 1956 and remaining there until retirement through injury 13 years later in March 1969. Fulham had been relegated to the Second Division the season before he retired as a player and did not return to the top flight for 33 years. He ended his career with 459 appearances for the club, a figure surpassed by only five other players in Fulham's history. As a full-back he also managed to score six League goals for Fulham.

England

Blackpool's Jimmy Armfield played in the 1962 World Cup in Chile. In April 1964, however, Armfield won his 41st cap in a 1–0 defeat to an Alan Gilzean of Scotland goal at Hampden Park. England coach Alf Ramsey duly tried out Cohen for his international debut a month later in a 2–1 win over Uruguay. With Armfield suffering an injury – badly timed with the World Cup imminent – Cohen went on to play in 21 of the next 23 internationals. Armfield managed two more caps in preparation for the 1966 tournament after regaining his fitness, but Cohen was Ramsey's first choice by the time the England-hosted competition started.

Ramsey's team played without conventional wingers, allowing extra strength in midfield and relying on young, stamina-based players like Martin Peters and Alan Ball to drift from centre to flank and back again as required. When these players were occupied in more central positions, or chasing high up the flank and needing support, attacking full-backs like Cohen proved their worth.

After England's win over Argentina in the quarter-finals, Cohen was featured in a photograph in which Ramsey prevented him from swapping shirts as customary with an opponent – Ramsey had referred to the Argentine players as "animals" for their fouling and gamesmanship during the match.

Three days later, one of Cohen's overlapping runs and near-post passes contributed to Charlton's semi-final clincher as England edged out Portugal.

Cohen played seven of the next eight internationals. His 37th and final England appearance was a 2–0 win over Northern Ireland at Wembley on 22 November 1967. Although he never scored for England, Cohen was regarded as "England's greatest right-back" due to his skilled attacking intent. He was the first of England's 1966 XI to retire from international football. He also briefly managed non-league Tonbridge, who he led to victory in the Kent Senior Cup in 1974–75.

In a documentary on Channel 4 to find the greatest England XI, Cohen was given the right-back spot by the public, ahead of Phil Neal and Gary Neville. He was one of four veterans of the 1966 team to make it.

His attacking intent has been regarded as an encouragement for modern day full-backs as well.

Cohen was also known for being vocal in his demands for a public inquiry into dementia in football, following research that suggested ex-professionals were more than three times at risk of getting the condition. Though of Jewish heritage on his father's side, with some of his family originally from Ukraine, he was brought up in the Church of England. He married his wife Daphne in 1962. They had two sons.

He had a history of bowel cancer, being first diagnosed with the condition in 1976.

His nephew Ben Cohen is an English former rugby union player and Rugby World Cup winner with England in 2003.

Cohen died at home in Mayfield, East Sussex, on 23 December 2022, aged 83. He had recently suffered a stroke and also lived with chronic osteomyelitis

Club

Honours FIFA World Cup: 1966