George Cohen
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | George Reginald Cohen | ||
| Date of birth | 22 October 1939 | ||
| Place of birth | Kensington, Greater London, | ||
| Playing position | Right back | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1956–1969 | Fulham | 459 | (6) |
| National team | |||
| 1959–1963 | England U23 | 8 | (0) |
| 1964–1967 | England | 37 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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George Reginald Cohen MBE (born 22 October 1939) is an English former professional footballer. He was the right full back for England in the side which won the 1966 World Cup.
He is a Football Hall of Famer and is the uncle of rugby union World Cup winner, Ben Cohen.
Cohen spent his entire playing career at Fulham where he proved his worth as a committed and strong full back, especially adept at supporting wingers with overlapping runs.
He joined Fulham professionally in 1956 and remained a dependable performer for 13 years thereafter, though his chances at international level seemed to be restricted to a handful of caps at under-23 level, mainly due to the presence of Blackpool's Jimmy Armfield, who was the regular incumbent at No. 2 and played in the 1962 World Cup in Chile.
In April 1964, however, Armfield won his 41st cap in an embarrassing defeat against Scotland 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 unfortunately suffering an injury – timed appallingly 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 competition, which England was hosting, got underway.
Cohen was an immaculate performer in Ramsey's revolutionary team which played without conventional wide men, 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, was where attacking full backs like Cohen proved their extra worth.
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