# 1956 in association football

The following are the football (soccer) events of the year 1956 throughout the world.

## Events

* November 3 – Dutch club Rapid JC makes its European debut with a defeat (3-4) on home soil against Yugoslavia's Red Star Belgrade in the second round of the European Cup.
* Foundation of Royal Thai Navy F.C.

## Winners club national championship

* Argentina: River Plate
* England: Manchester United
* France: Nice
* Israel: Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C.
* Italy: ACF Fiorentina
* Mexico: León
* Paraguay: Olimpia Asunción
* Soviet Union: FC Spartak Moscow
* Spain: Atlético Bilbao
* Sweden: IFK Norrköping
* West Germany: Borussia Dortmund

## International tournaments

* Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia (November 24 – December 8, 1956)
** Soviet Union
** Yugoslavia
** Bulgaria
* 1956 British Home Championship (October 22, 1955 – April 14, 1956)
       Shared by England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland

## Births
### January

* January 16: Martin Jol (Dutch footballer and manager)
* January 17: Faouzi Mansouri (Algerian footballer) (died 2022)
* January 31: Stefan Majewski (Polish footballer)

### February

* February 14: Reinhold Hintermaier (Austrian footballer)
* February 18: Rüdiger Abramczik (German footballer)
* February 21: Alan Hart, English former professional footballer
* February 25: Davie Cooper (Scottish footballer) (died 1995)
* February 28: Jimmy Nicholl (Northern Irish footballer)
* February 29: Allan Marley (English former professional footballer)

### March

* March 3: Zbigniew Boniek, Polish international footballer
* March 4: Philippe Mahut, French international footballer (died 2014)
* March 12: László Kiss, Hungarian footballer
* March 12: Pim Verbeek, Dutch footballer and manager (died 2019)
* March 15: Gilberto Yearwood, Honduran footballer
* March 24: Włodzimierz Ciołek, Polish footballer
* March 29: Ferenc Csongrádi, Hungarian footballer
* March 29: Dick Jol, Dutch football referee

### April

* April 12: František Jakubec; Czech international footballer (died 2016)

### May

* May 3: Bernd Förster (German international footballer)
* May 15: Ken Ayres (English former professional footballer)
* May 19: Jan Fiala (Czech footballer)

### June

* June 5: Martin Koopman (Dutch footballer)
* June 12: David Narey (Scottish footballer)
* June 22: Jean-Paul Defrang (Luxembourgian footballer)
* June 26: Maxime Bossis (French footballer)

### July

* July 15: Emmanuel Kunde (Cameroonian footballer)
* July 20: Thomas N'Kono (Cameroonian footballer)
* July 29: Jean-Luc Ettori (French footballer)

### August

* August 16: Patricio Hernández (Argentinian footballer)
* August 27: Jean-François Larios (French footballer)
* August 29: Viv Anderson (English footballer)

### September

* September 7: Tony Mitchell, English former professional footballer
* September 8: Jacky Munaron (Belgian footballer)
* September 14
** Béla Bodonyi (Hungarian footballer)
** Ray Wilkins (English footballer) (died 2018)
* September 23: Paolo Rossi (Italian footballer) (died 2020)
* September 30: Frank Arnesen (Danish footballer)

### October

* October 10: Raúl Gorriti, Peruvian international footballer (died 2015)
* October 28: Frank Vercauteren (Belgian international footballer)

### November

* November 4: Jan Korte (Dutch footballer and manager)
* November 10: José Luis Brown Argentine international footballer, (died 2019)
* November 16: Max Hagmayr (Austrian footballer)
* November 18: Noel Brotherston (Northern Irish footballer) (died 1995)

### December

* December 6: Klaus Allofs (German footballer)
* December 9: Oscar Garré (Argentine footballer)
* December 10: Jan van Dijk (Dutch footballer and manager)
* December 11: Ricardo Giusti (Argentine footballer)

## Deaths
### August

* August 12 – Gianpiero Combi, 53, Italian goalkeeper, captaining winner of the 1934 FIFA World Cup and one of Italy's greatest goalkeepers of all-time.

### October

* October 16 - Jules Rimet, 83, 3rd president of FIFA.
* October 24 - Tom Whittaker, 58, Arsenal manager, heart attack