Former Israeli soccer star Avi Cohen died in a Tel Aviv hospital, eight days after his motorcycle crashed into another vehicle.
Cohen played for the Israeli team Maccabi Tel Aviv in the 1970s, before moving to the English team Liverpool, with which he won both the English and European soccer titles.
Paramedics told Ynet that Cohen was rushed to the hospital with severe head injuries, and that one of the reasons Cohen’s injury was fatal is because he was wearing an open bike helmet, which was not covering his entire face and proved to be mostly ineffective when the accident occurred.
In the week prior to Cohen’s death, as he lay in a coma, many soccer players and coaches, including ones who played with him in Liverpool, came to visit and support his family. In addition, the family invited many rabbis and religious leaders to hold prayers for Cohen’s survival.
Cohen’s family, including his son Tamir, who is also a soccer player and is currently playing in England, announced early Tuesday that there was no hope for his survival, and that they were considering cutting him off of life support and donating his organs.
However, because of advice from rabbis, they chose to let Cohen continue to be under life support, until his heart stopped working Tuesday afternoon.
Cohen’s funeral was held on Wednesday morning.
