ENGLAND 1966 World Cup hero George Cohen has passed away.
Cohen played at right-back in the final against West Germany at Wembley as England won 4-2.
He won 37 England caps as an attacking right-back.
Cohen also made 459 appearances for Fulham, and was born just over a mile away from Craven Cottage.
Fulham confirmed the sad news on Twitter.
It read: “Everyone at Fulham Football Club is deeply saddened to learn of the passing of one of our greatest ever players – and gentlemen – George Cohen MBE.”
Sir Geoff Hurst paid tribute to his former team-mate on Twitter.
He said: “Very sad to hear my friend and England
team-mate George Cohen has died.
“Everyone, without exception, always said that George was such a lovely man.
“He will be sadly missed, my heartfelt thoughts are with George’s wife Daphne and his family.”
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Cohen was awarded the MBE in 2000, along with four 1966 team-mates who had been overlooked for honours at the time – Alan Ball, Ray Wilson, Nobby Stiles and Roger Hunt.
After retiring he coached the Fulham youth team and the England Under-23s, and also was manager of non-league Tonbridge.
His tragic passing means that only Sir Bobby Charlton and Hurst are still alive from the team which claimed the historic victory.
The club added: “All of our thoughts are with Daphne, his beloved wife of more than 60 years, sons Anthony and Andrew, his grandchildren and extended family, as well as George’s many, many friends.”
Cohen, who is the uncle of England rugby World Cup winner Ben Cohen, made his debut in 1956 and retired 13 years later at the age of 29.
He made his debut for Fulham in 1956 and played there for 13 seasons.
Cohen won his first England cap when he was picked by Sir Alf Ramsey in 1964 in a 2-1 victory over Uruguay.
Manchester United legend George Best described him as “the best full-back I ever played against.”
Cohen played an integral part of Ramsey’s 66 winning team, helping the Three Lions to keep clean sheets in each of their first four matches.
He then started the move which led to England’s winner in the semi-final against Portugal before playing all 120 minutes in the final.
Cohen was famously prevented by Ramsey from swapping shirts with an Argentina player after an ill-tempered quarter-final and later said he had the photograph on a wall at home.
In 2016 Fulham unveiled a statue of Cohen to celebrate the 50th anniversary of winning him the Jules Rimet.
On the statue Cohen said: “I mean, to think that they had made a statue; I find it absolutely wonderful that they even thought I was worthy of it.”
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Gary Lineker also paid tribute, saying: “Sorry to hear that George Cohen has died.
“Another of the heroes of the ‘66 World Cup winning team leaves us. He’ll always have footballing immortality. RIP George.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
