1978 in association football

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The following are the association football events of the year 1978 throughout the world.

• Copa Libertadores 1978: Won by Boca Juniors after defeating Deportivo Cali on an aggregate score of 4–0.
• England: Ipswich Town win the cup beating Arsenal F.C. 1–0 with the winning goal scored by Roger Osborne

•  Egypt: Zamalek

•  Israel: Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C.
•  Qatar: Al-Rayyan SC

•  England: Nottingham Forest
•  France: AS Monaco
•  Hungary: Újpest FC
•  Italy: Juventus
•  Netherlands:
  • Eredivisie – PSV Eindhoven
  • Eerste Divisie – PEC Zwolle
•  Romania: Steaua București
•  Spain: Real Madrid
•  Scotland: Rangers
•  Turkey: Fenerbahçe

•  Mexico: Tigres UANL
•  United States /  Canada:
  • New York Cosmos (NASL)

•  Australia: West Adelaide

•  Argentina
  • Metropolitano – Quilmes
  • Nacional – Independiente
•  Brazil: Guarani
•  Paraguay: Olimpia Asunción

• African Cup of Nations in Ghana (March 5 – 16 1978)
  1.  Ghana
  2.  Uganda
  3.  Nigeria
• 1978 British Home Championship (May 13 – May 20, 1978)

 England

• FIFA World Cup in Argentina (June 1 – 25 1978)
  1.  Argentina
  2.  Netherlands
  3.  Brazil

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• January 1 – Philip Mulryne, Northern Irish footballer^[1]
• January 2 – Aimo Diana, Italian footballer and manager^[2]
• January 6 – Cédric Roussel, Belgian footballer (d. 2023)^[3]
• January 9
  • Gennaro Gattuso, Italian footballer and manager^[4]
  • Hamlet Barrientos, Bolivian footballer^[5]
• January 10
  • Gavin McCann, English footballer^[6]
  • Facundo Quiroga, Argentine footballer^[7]
• January 11
  • Emile Heskey, English footballer^[8]
  • Michael Duff, Northern Irish footballer and manager^[9]
• January 12 – Bonaventure Kalou, Ivorian footballer^[10]
• January 13
  • Chérif Touré Mamam, Togolese footballer^[11]
  • Tinga, Brazilian footballer^[12]
• January 17
  • Frode Kippe, Norwegian footballer^[13]
  • Patrick Suffo, Cameroonian footballer^[14]
• January 18 – Bogdan Lobonț, Romanian footballer and manager^[15]
• January 20
  • Salvatore Aronica, Italian footballer and manager^[16]
  • Luciano Zauri, Italian footballer and manager^[17]
• January 25
  • Jason Roberts, English-Grenadian footballer^[18]
  • Robin Nelisse, Dutch Antillean international footballer^[19]
• January 26 – Nastja Čeh, Slovenian footballer^[20]
• January 27 – Gustavo Munúa, Uruguayan footballer and manager^[21]
• January 28
  • Gianluigi Buffon, Italian international goalkeeper^[22]
  • Jamie Carragher, English footballer^[23]
  • Papa Bouba Diop, Senegalese footballer (d. 2020)^[24]

• February 2
  • Barry Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager^[25]
  • Claudio Morel, Paraguayan footballer and manager^[26]
• February 3 – Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer^[27]
• February 5
  • Jairon Zamora, Ecuadorian footballer^[28]
  • Anvarjon Soliev, Uzbekistani footballer^[29]
• February 6 – Jacek Kuranty, Polish footballer^[30]
• February 7
  • Ivan Leko, Croatian footballer and manager^[31]
  • Daniel Van Buyten, Belgian footballer^[32]
• February 12 – Alain Masudi, Congolese footballer^[33]
• February 15 – Alejandro Lembo, Uruguayan footballer^[34]
• February 18 – Josip Šimunić, Croatian footballer^[35]
• February 19
  • Alioum Saidou, Cameroonian footballer^[36]
  • Michalis Konstantinou, Cypriot footballer^[37]
• February 24 – Leon Constantine, English footballer^[38]
• February 25
  • Yazid Mansouri, French-Algerian footballer^[39]
  • Yuji Nakazawa, Japanese footballer^[40]
• February 26
  • Abdoulaye Faye, Senegalese footballer^[41]
  • Mohammed Noor, Saudi Arabian footballer^[42]
• February 27
  • James Beattie, English footballer and manager^[43]
  • Kakha Kaladze, Georgian footballer^[44]

• March 9 – Lucas Neill, Australian footballer
• March 11 – Didier Drogba, Ivorian international
• March 12 – Sébastien Michalowski, retired French footballer^[45]
• March 14 – Antti-Jussi Karnio, Finnish footballer^[46]
• March 15 – Ramalho (Edson Ramalho dos Santos), Brazilian footballer^[47]
• March 24 – Tomáš Ujfaluši, Czech footballer
• March 30 – Mauricio Rojas, Chilean footballer
• March 31
  • Stephen Clemence, English footballer and coach
  • Jérôme Rothen, French international

• April 1 – Antonio de Nigris, Mexican international striker (d. 2009)^[48]
• April 2 – Erivelton, Brazilian former footballer^[49]
• April 18 – Stéphane Lucas, French former professional footballer^[50]
• April 30 – Simone Barone, Italian footballer

• May 13 – Ilya Kazakov, former Russian football player^[51]
• May 16 – Edu, Brazilian football player and manager
• May 17 – Paddy Kenny, Irish footballer
• May 30
  • Barney Marman, Motswana former footballer^[52]
  • Nicolás Olivera, Uruguayan footballer

• June 9 – Miroslav Klose, German football player forward
• June 13 – Aleksei Brikov, former Russian footballer^[53]
• June 17 – Vladimir Buss, former Russian footballer^[54]
• June 20 – Frank Lampard, English football player midfielder
• June 21 – Hatem Aqel, Jordanian footballer
• June 23 – Diego Rangel, Spanish retired professional footballer^[55]
• June 30 – Vedat Kapurtu, Turkish footballer^[56]

• July 4 – Manfred Razenböck, Austrian former footballer^[57]
• July 15 – Antonio Sambruno, Spanish former professional footballer^[58]
• July 22 – Dennis Rommedahl, Danish footballer
• July 28 – Emmanuel Gros, retired French footballer^[59]

• August 4 – Talinda Nyathi, Motswana former footballer^[60]
• August 5 – Walid Chattaoui, Tunisian retired footballer and manager^[61]
• August 16 – Héctor Bosque, Spanish retired footballer^[62]

• September 6
  • Éric Kossingou, French former professional footballer^[63]
  • Homare Sawa, Japanese footballer^[64]
• September 11
  • Dejan Stanković, Serbian footballer and manager^[65]
  • Pablo Contreras, Chilean footballer^[66]
• September 15
  • Eiður Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer and manager^[67]
  • Marko Pantelić, Serbian footballer^[68]
• September 17 – Arne Slot, Dutch football player and manager^[69]
• September 18
  • Ryan Lowe, English footballer and manager^[70]
  • Augustine Simo, Cameroonian footballer^[71]
• September 22 – Harry Kewell, Australian footballer and manager^[72]
• September 25 – Hakim Bouchouari, Belgian former professional footballer^[73]

• October 3
  • Gerald Asamoah, German footballer^[74]
  • Claudio Pizarro, Peruvian footballer^[75]
  • Ricardo Rocha, Portuguese footballer^[76]
• October 6
  • Ankyofna Encada, Bissau-Guinean former footballer^[77]
  • Carl Hoefkens, Belgian footballer and manager ^[78]
• October 9 – Oscar Ewolo, Congolese footballer^[79]
• October 11 – Kali, Angolan footballer^[80]
• October 13 – Markus Heikkinen, Finnish footballer^[81]
• October 15 – Boško Balaban, Croatian footballer^[82]
• October 17
  • Lars Hirschfeld, Canadian footballer^[83]
  • Kevin Lisbie, English-Jamaican footballer^[84]
• October 18 – Igor Lebedev, Russian professional football coach and former player^[85]
• October 22 – Chaswe Nsofwa, Zambian footballer (d. 2007)^[86]
• October 23
  • Jimmy Bullard, English footballer and manager^[87]
  • Archie Thompson, Australian footballer^[88]
• October 24 – Carlos Edwards, Trinidadian footballer^[89]
• October 30 – Gerardo Seoane, Swiss footballer and manager^[90]
• October 31 – Marek Saganowski, Polish footballer and manager^[91]

• November 4 – Roman Hupf, Austrian footballer^[92]
• November 7
  • Mohamed Aboutrika, Egyptian footballer^[93]
  • Rio Ferdinand, English footballer^[94]
  • Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Dutch footballer^[95]
• November 8
  • Tim de Cler, Dutch footballer^[96]
  • Ali Karimi, Iranian footballer and manager^[97]
• November 10 – Nadine Angerer, German footballer^[98]
• November 11 – Erik Edman, Swedish footballer^[99]
• November 12
  • Eric Addo, Ghanaian footballer^[100]
  • Mista, Spanish footballer^[101]
• November 18 – Damien Johnson, Northern Irish footballer^[102]
• November 26 – Andrejs Rubins, Latvian footballer and manager (d. 2022)^[103]
• November 28 – Mehdi Nafti, Tunisian footballer and manager^[104]
• November 29
  • Dimitrios Konstantopoulos, Greek footballer^[105]
  • Andriy Vorobey, Ukrainian footballer^[106]

• December 4 – Michael Ricketts, English footballer^[107]
• December 5 – Marcelo Zalayeta, Uruguayan footballer^[108]
• December 8 – John Oster, English-Welsh footballer^[109]
• December 17 – Patricia Pérez, Mexican female footballer^[110]
• December 23 – Nicolás Suárez, Bolivian footballer^[111]
• December 24 – Ghislain Bagnon, French former professional footballer^[112]
• December 29
  • Victor Agali, Nigerian footballer^[113]
  • Kieron Dyer, English footballer^[114]

This section does not cite any sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• January 3 – Rubén Morán, Uruguayan striker, winner of the 1950 FIFA World Cup. (47)

• May 8 – Juan Evaristo, Argentine midfielder, runner up of the 1930 FIFA World Cup, part of the first sibling to ever play a World Cup Final. (75)

• June 2 – Santiago Bernabéu (82), Spanish footballer, coach and president.

• July 13 – George Reader (81), English football referee

• August 5 – Ernst Melchior, Austrian footballer
• August 11 – Mario Varglien, Italian midfielder, winner of the 1934 FIFA World Cup. (72)
• August 15 – Leo Lemešić, Croatian football player and manager
• August 31 – Ángel Bossio, Argentine Goalkeeper, runner-up of the 1930 FIFA World Cup. (73)

• September 15 – Ricardo Zamora, Spanish footballer
• September 25 – Luigi Allemandi, Italian defender, winner of the 1934 FIFA World Cup. (74)

• November 18 – Pablo Dorado, Uruguayan striker, winner of the 1930 FIFA World Cup and first player ever to score in a World Cup Final. (70)

• December 5 – Carlos Riolfo, Uruguayan midfielder, winner of the 1930 FIFA World Cup. (73)

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