Title: 2002 in association football Content: The following are the football (soccer) events of the year 2002 around the world. ==Events== ;January *January 8: Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion withdraw from the MLS. They are both dissolved on the same day. *January 19: The opening match of the 2002 African Cup of Nations is played. draw 1-1 against the Stade du 26 Mars in Bamako, . ;February *February 10: The 2002 African Cup of Nations Final is played. beat 3-2 on penalties. *February 13: Dick Advocaat replaces Louis van Gaal as the manager of the . His first game as Netherlands manager was 1-1 draw against in Amsterdam, . *February 19: Roberto Di Matteo (31) retires. He most famously played for Lazio, , and . ;April *April 5: The 2002 Asian Club Championship Final was played. Suwon Samsung Bluewings beat Anyang LG Cheetahs 4-2 on penalties. ;May *May 8: Feyenoord beat Borussia Dortmund 3-2 in the 2002 UEFA Cup Final. The match was played at the Stadion Feijenoord, in Rotterdam, . *May 10: Lee Dixon (38) retires. He most famously played for and . *May 15: Real Madrid C.F. beat Bayer Leverkusun in the 2002 UEFA Champions League Final. The match was played at Hampden Park, . *May 28: The 53rd FIFA Congress is held. This is when the 2002 FIFA Presidential Election happened. Joseph "Sepp" Blatter beats Issa Hayatou in the election *May 30: A.F.C. Wimbledon is founded in . It is founded by Wimbledon F.C. fans who were annoyed that the club was allowed to move to Milton Keynes. *May 31: The opening match of the 2002 FIFA World Cup is played. In that game, beat 1998 World Cup winners 1-0 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium, . ;June *June 17: 1954 FIFA World Cup winner Fritz Walter passes away. *June 21: Wacker Innsbruck is founded in . *June 30: The 2002 FIFA World Cup Final is played. beats 2-0 at the International Stadium of Yokohama, . ;July *July 31: The 2nd leg of the 2002 Copa Libertadores Final is played. Club Olimpia beat São Caetano 2-1 (2-2 on aggregate). Club Olympia would win 4-2 on penalties. ;August *August 11: Tony Adams (35) retires. He played for and . *August 17: Wayne Rooney makes his professional debut for . The match was a 2-2 draw against . *August 27: The 2nd leg of the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were played. Stuttgart beat Lille 2-0 (Stuttgart won 2-1 on agg.), beat Bologna 3-1 (Fulham won 5-3 on agg.), and Málaga drew 1-1 against Villarreal (Málaga won 2-1 on agg.). *August 30: The 2002 UEFA Super Cup is played. Real Madrid beats Feyenoord 3-1 at the Stade Louis II in . *August 31: Real Madrid sign Ronaldo from Inter Milan for €45 million. *Date Unknown: Gerard van der Lem replaces Martin Koopman as the manager of . ;September *September 17: 1958 FIFA World Cup winner Edvaldo Alves de Santa Rosa passes away. He dies due to cancer. *September 18: The 2002 CONCACAF Champions' Cup Final was played. Pachuca beat Monarcas Morelia 1-0. *September 22: 1950 FIFA World Cup winner Julio Pérez passes away. ;October *October 31: A match between AS Adema and SO l'Emyrne ended at 149-0. This is due to SO l'Emyrne scoring 149 own goals in protest. It was later discovered that the match was fixed. ;November *November 9: 1950 FIFA World Cup winner Eusebio Tejera passes away. *November 13: 1950 FIFA World Cup winner Juan Alberto Schiaffino passes away. ;December *December 3: Real Madrid beat Club Olimpia in the 2002 Intercontinental Cup ;Date Unknown *Tirol Innsburck went bankrupt after winning their 3rd Austrian Bundesliga title. *The 2002 FIFA World Player of the Year is held. Ronaldo wins the Men's award, while Mia Hamm wins the Woman's award. *The English Football Hall of Fame is opened. *Athletic Club Femenino is founded. It is the woman's team of Athletic Bilbao ==Tournament Winners== ===International===  *February 13: George Bray, footballer  *February 13: Ramón Grosso, footballer (Real Madrid, ) and manager (Real Madrid B) *February 14: Nándor Hidegkuti, footballer (MTK Hungária, ) and manager (MTK Hungária, Fiorentina, Al Ahly) *February 16: Sir Walter Winterbottom, footballer  and manager (, ) *Febuary 20: Branko Stanković, footballer (Red Star Belgrade, ) and manager (, , FC Porto, PAOK, Red Star Belgrade, Fenerbahçe, Beşiktaş) ====March==== *March 4: Velibor Vasović, footballer (Partizan, Red Star Belgrade, Ajax, ) and manager (F.K. Partizan, Angers, , Red Star Belgrade) *March 26: Eugen Meier, footballer (BSC Young Boys, ) ====April==== *April 2: Ike Clarke, footballer (, ) and player- manager  *April 3: Ernst Stojaspal, footballer (Austria Wien, Strasbourg, , Metz, ) *April 9: Roy Dwight, footballer (, ) *April 29: Sune Andersson, footballer (AIK, Roma, Kalmar FF, ) and manager (Kalmar FF, IFK Eskilstuna) ====May==== *May 13: Valeriy Lobanovskyi, footballer (Dynamo Kyiv, Shakhtar Donetsk) and manager (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Dynamo Kyiv, , , , ) *May 21: Roy Paul, footballer (Swansea Town, . ) *May 29: Stan Bentham, footballer  *May 30: Sándor Mátrai, footballer (Ferencvaros, ) ====June==== *June 17: Fritz Walter, footballer (Kaiserslautern, ) ====July==== *July 3: Billy Liddell, footballer ( *July 7: Ray Wood, footballer (, Huddersfield Town, ) and manager (, APOEL). Survivor of the Munich air disaster *July 20: Michalis Kritikopoulos, footballer (, ) *July 22: Giuseppe Corradi, footballer (Modena, , Genoa, ) and manager (Pisa, Spezia Calcio) *July 23: Hermann Lindemann, footballer (FSV Frankfurt, VfB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt) and manager (FSV Frankfurt, Fortuna Düsseldorf, VfL Bochum, Borussia Dortmund) *July 25: Hans Dorjee, footballer (DHC, XerxesDZB) and manager (NAC, Excelsior, Vitesse, PSV (assistant manager), AA Gent, ) *July 27: Anatoli Bashashkin, footballer (CDSA Moscow, Spartak Moscow, ) ====August==== *August 8: Reiner Geye, footballer (Fortuna Düsseldorf, 1. FC Kaiserslautern, ) *August 17: John Charles, footballer (West Ham United) ====September==== *September 17: Edvaldo Alves de Santa Rosa, footballer (Flamengo, Portuguesa de Desportos, Atlético Junior, ) *September 18: Mauro Ramos, footballer (, ) and manager (, ) *September 22: Julio Pérez, footballer (Racing Montevideo, River Plate Montevideo, Nacional, Internacional, Sud América, ) ====October==== *October 10: Erling Sørensen, footballer (Frem, Udinese, ) and manager (Frem) *October 11: Ron Gray, footballer (, , ), manager (, , ), and scout  *October 14: Arturo Silvestri, footballer (Modena, Milan) and manager (Cagliari, Milan, Brescia, Genoa) ====November==== *November 1: Lester Morgan, footballer  *November 6: Gianluca Signorini, footballer (Livorno, Parma, Genoa) *November 9: Eusebio Tejera, footballer (River Plate Montevideo, Nacional, ) *November 12: Raoul Diagne, footballer (RC Paris, Toulouse, ), and manager  *November 13: Juan Alberto Schiaffino, footballer (Peñarol, Milan, Roma, , ) and manager (Peñarol, ) *November 18: Pasquale Vivolo, footballer (, Lazio, ) *November 30: Alan Ashman, English footballer  and manager (, , ) ====December==== *December 19: Arthur Rowley, footballer , player-manager , and manager  *December 21: Jeu van Bun, footballer (MVV, ) *December 28: Albert Stubbins, English footballer (, ) *December 31: Billy Morris, footballer (, ) and manager (Wrexham)