# 1978 in association football

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

## Events

* 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

## Winners club national championship
### Africa

* Egypt: Zamalek

### Asia

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

### Europe

* 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

### North America

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

### Oceania

* Australia: West Adelaide

### South America

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

## International tournaments

* African Cup of Nations in Ghana (March 5 – 16 1978)
** Ghana
** Uganda
** Nigeria
* 1978 British Home Championship (May 13 – May 20, 1978)
       England
* FIFA World Cup in Argentina (June 1 – 25 1978)
** Argentina
** Netherlands
** Brazil

## Births
### January

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

### February

* February 2
** Barry Ferguson, Scottish footballer and manager
** Claudio Morel, Paraguayan footballer and manager
* February 3 – Joan Capdevila, Spanish footballer
* February 5
** Jairon Zamora, Ecuadorian footballer
** Anvarjon Soliev, Uzbekistani footballer
* February 6 – Jacek Kuranty, Polish footballer
* February 7
** Ivan Leko, Croatian footballer and manager
** Daniel Van Buyten, Belgian footballer
* February 12 – Alain Masudi, Congolese footballer
* February 15 – Alejandro Lembo, Uruguayan footballer
* February 18 – Josip Šimunić, Croatian footballer
* February 19
** Alioum Saidou, Cameroonian footballer
** Michalis Konstantinou, Cypriot footballer
* February 24 – Leon Constantine, English footballer
* February 25
** Yazid Mansouri, French-Algerian footballer
** Yuji Nakazawa, Japanese footballer
* February 26
** Abdoulaye Faye, Senegalese footballer
** Mohammed Noor, Saudi Arabian footballer
* February 27
** James Beattie, English footballer and manager
** Kakha Kaladze, Georgian footballer

### March

* March 9 – Lucas Neill, Australian footballer
* March 11 – Didier Drogba, Ivorian international
* March 12 – Sébastien Michalowski, retired French footballer
* March 14 – Antti-Jussi Karnio, Finnish footballer
* March 15 – Ramalho (Edson Ramalho dos Santos), Brazilian footballer
* 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

* April 1 – Antonio de Nigris, Mexican international striker (d. 2009)
* April 2
** Erivelton, Brazilian former footballer
** Radim Novák, Czech goalkeeper (d. 2020)
* April 18 – Stéphane Lucas, French former professional footballer
* April 30 – Simone Barone, Italian footballer

### May

* May 13 – Ilya Kazakov, former Russian football player
* May 16
** Edu, Brazilian football player and manager
** Lionel Scaloni, Argentine footballer and manager
* May 17 – Paddy Kenny, Irish footballer
* May 17 – Ricardo Carvalho, Portuguese footballer
* May 30
** Barney Marman, Motswana former footballer
** Nicolás Olivera, Uruguayan footballer

### June

* June 9 – Miroslav Klose, German footballer and manager
* June 13 – Aleksei Brikov, former Russian footballer
* June 17 – Vladimir Buss, former Russian footballer
* June 20 – Frank Lampard, English footballer and manager
* June 21 – Hatem Aqel, Jordanian footballer
* June 23 – Diego Rangel, Spanish retired professional footballer
* June 30 – Vedat Kapurtu, Turkish footballer

### July

* July 4 – Manfred Razenböck, Austrian former footballer
* July 15 – Antonio Sambruno, Spanish former professional footballer
* July 22 – Dennis Rommedahl, Danish footballer
* July 28 – Emmanuel Gros, retired French footballer

### August

* August 4 – Talinda Nyathi, Motswana former footballer
* August 5 – Walid Chattaoui, Tunisian retired footballer and manager
* August 16 – Héctor Bosque, Spanish retired footballer

### September

* September 6
** Éric Kossingou, French former professional footballer
** Homare Sawa, Japanese footballer
* September 11
** Dejan Stanković, Serbian footballer and manager
** Pablo Contreras, Chilean footballer
* September 15
** Eiður Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer and manager
** Marko Pantelić, Serbian footballer
* September 17 – Arne Slot, Dutch football player and manager
* September 18
** Ryan Lowe, English footballer and manager
** Augustine Simo, Cameroonian footballer
* September 22 – Harry Kewell, Australian footballer and manager
* September 25 – Hakim Bouchouari, Belgian former professional footballer

### October

* October 3
** Gerald Asamoah, German footballer
** Claudio Pizarro, Peruvian footballer
** Ricardo Rocha, Portuguese footballer
* October 6
** Ankyofna Encada, Bissau-Guinean former footballer
** Carl Hoefkens, Belgian footballer and manager
* October 9 – Oscar Ewolo, Congolese footballer
* October 11 – Kali, Angolan footballer
* October 13 – Markus Heikkinen, Finnish footballer
* October 15 – Boško Balaban, Croatian footballer
* October 17
** Lars Hirschfeld, Canadian soccer player
** Kevin Lisbie, English-Jamaican footballer
* October 18 – Igor Lebedev, Russian professional football coach and former player
* October 22 – Chaswe Nsofwa, Zambian footballer (d. 2007)
* October 23
** Jimmy Bullard, English footballer and manager
** Archie Thompson, Australian footballer
* October 24 – Carlos Edwards, Trinidadian footballer
* October 30 – Gerardo Seoane, Swiss footballer and manager
* October 31 – Marek Saganowski, Polish footballer and manager

### November

* November 4 – Roman Hupf, Austrian footballer
* November 7
** Mohamed Aboutrika, Egyptian footballer
** Rio Ferdinand, English footballer
** Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink, Dutch footballer
* November 8
** Tim de Cler, Dutch footballer
** Ali Karimi, Iranian footballer and manager
* November 10 – Nadine Angerer, German footballer
* November 11 – Erik Edman, Swedish footballer
* November 12
** Eric Addo, Ghanaian footballer
** Mista, Spanish footballer
* November 18 – Damien Johnson, Northern Irish footballer
* November 26 – Andrejs Rubins, Latvian footballer and manager (d. 2022)
* November 28 – Mehdi Nafti, Tunisian footballer and manager
* November 29
** Dimitrios Konstantopoulos, Greek footballer
** Andriy Vorobey, Ukrainian footballer

### December

* December 4 – Michael Ricketts, English footballer
* December 5 – Marcelo Zalayeta, Uruguayan footballer
* December 8 – John Oster, English-Welsh footballer
* December 17 – Patricia Pérez, Mexican female footballer
* December 23 – Nicolás Suárez, Bolivian footballer
* December 24 – Ghislain Bagnon, French former professional footballer
* December 29
** Victor Agali, Nigerian footballer
** Kieron Dyer, English footballer

## Deaths
### January

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

### May

* 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

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

### July

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

### August

* 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

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

### November

* 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

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