Ex-Liverpool, Everton defender Ablett dies at 46

Ex-Liverpool, Everton defender Ablett dies at 46

Published Jan. 2, 2012 10:28 p.m. ET

English soccer player Gary Ablett, the first player to have won the FA Cup with both Liverpool and Everton, has died. He was 46.

England's League Managers Association says the former English defender died Sunday night after a 16-month fight against non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Ablett won the league championship twice and the FA Cup in 1989 during a 147-game stint at Liverpool between 1986 and 1992. He made the rare switch to neighbor and rival Everton in 1992.

At Everton, he became the first player to win the FA Cup with both Merseyside clubs when the Toffees beat Manchester United in the 1995 final.

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After four years at Everton, Ablett also played for Birmingham and Sheffield United and the Long Island Rough Riders in the U.S. A-League during 2000-01. He took a coaching job at Ipswich in 2010 before becoming ill.

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