1971 in association football

The following are the football (soccer) events of the year 1971 throughout the world.

Events

 * January 2 – Second Ibrox disaster. Barriers on Stairway 13 at Ibrox Park give way under a crush of fans departing a Rangers–Celtic match, killing 66 and injuring over 200.


 * 17 April 1971 - France and the Netherlands played the first women's international football match recognized by FIFA against the France. The match took place in Hazebrouck, France and resulted in a 4–0 defeat for the Netherlands with Jocelyne Ratignier scoring a hattrick and Marie-Claire Caron-Harant scoring once.


 * Copa Libertadores:Won by Nacional after defeating Estudiantes La Plata on an aggregate score of 2–0.
 * May 20 – Ajax claims the KNVB Cup by defeating Sparta Rotterdam in the second leg, 2–1.
 * 9 May – The very first Women's FA Cup in England, the Mitre Challenge Trophy for women's professional soccer football, was won when Southampton Women's F.C. defeated Stewarton Thistle, 4 to 1, in the final held at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. Pat Davies scored three of her team's four goals and Dot Cassell contributed the lone Stewarton score.

Asia

 * 🇮🇷: Taj
 * 🇶🇦: Al-Oruba

Europe

 * 🇫🇷: Olympique de Marseille
 * 🇮🇹: Inter Milan
 * : Feyenoord
 * 🇪🇸: Valencia
 * 🇹🇷: Galatasaray

North America

 * 🇲🇽: Club América
 * Dallas Tornado (NASL)
 * Dallas Tornado (NASL)

South America

 * 🇧🇷: Atlético Mineiro

International tournaments

 * 1971 British Home Championship (May 15 – May 22, 1971)
 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 england


 * Pan American Games in Colombia (July 31 – August 12, 1971)
 * Gold Medal: 🇦🇷 argentina
 * Silver Medal: 🇨🇴 colombia
 * Bronze Medal: 🇨🇺 cuba

January

 * January 1 – Juan Carlos Plata, Guatemalan footballer and coach
 * January 2 – Slobodan Komljenović, Serbian footballer
 * January 5 – Bjørn Otto Bragstad, Norwegian footballer
 * January 8 – Jesper Jansson, Swedish footballer
 * January 10 – Rudi Istenič, Slovenian footballer
 * January 14 – Bert Konterman, Dutch footballer
 * January 14 – Antonis Nikopolidis, Greek goalkeeper
 * January 16 – Ulrich van Gobbel, Dutch footballer
 * January 18 – Pep Guardiola, Spanish footballer
 * January 26 – Giuseppe Pancaro, Italian footballer
 * January 29 – Jörg Albertz, German footballer
 * January 31 – Georgios Karathanasis, Swedish former professional footballer

February

 * February 1 – Joaquín Hernández, Mexican footballer
 * February 1 – Zlatko Zahovič, Slovenian footballer
 * February 1 – Marcelinho Carioca, Brazilian footballer
 * February 2 – Osvaldo Peralta, Paraguayan footballer
 * February 4 – Maarten Atmodikoro, Dutch footballer
 * February 17 – Carlos Gamarra, Paraguayan footballer
 * February 20 – Jari Litmanen, Finnish footballer

March

 * March 1 – Avi Pitusi, Israeli football manager and former player
 * March 4 – Jovan Stanković, Serbian footballer
 * March 11 – Kokos Elia, Cypriot former international footballer
 * March 13
 * Juraj Mintál, retired Slovak footballer
 * Allan Nielsen, Danish footballer
 * March 15 – Joachim Björklund, Swedish footballer
 * March 18 – Jerzy Brzęczek, Polish footballer
 * March 18 – Fernando Ochoaizpur, Bolivian footballer
 * March 24 – Conny Rosén, Swedish former footballer
 * March 26 – Liviu Ciobotariu, Romanian footballer

April

 * April 2 – Francisco Arce, Paraguayan international
 * April 2 – Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto, Brazilian footballer
 * April 5 – Choi Eun-sung, South Korean club player
 * April 7
 * Daniel Albert, former Israeli footballer
 * Franky Vandendriessche, Belgian goalkeeper
 * April 8 – Kim Byung-ji, South Korean international goalkeeper
 * April 9 – Víctor López, Uruguayan footballer
 * April 13 – Steven Lustü, Danish footballer and coach
 * April 14
 * Miguel Calero, Colombian international (d. 2012)
 * Jérôme Sykora, French former professional footballer
 * April 15 – Finidi George, Nigerian footballer
 * April 17 – José Francisco Cevallos, Ecuadorian footballer, Minister of Sports in Ecuador and President of Barcelona F.C.
 * April 23 – Hjalmar Zambrano, Ecuadorian footballer

May

 * May 1 – Mariusz Luncik, Polish former professional footballer
 * May 14 – Martin Reim, Estonian footballer

June

 * June 3 – Luigi Di Biagio, Italian footballer
 * June 5 – Francisco Gabriel de Anda, Mexican footballer and analyst
 * June 9
 * Gilles De Bilde, Belgian footballer
 * Uladzimir Zhuravel, Belarusian footballer and coach (d. 2018)
 * June 11 – Valeri Smolkov, former Russian professional footballer
 * June 14 – Håkan Mild, Swedish footballer
 * June 23 – Enrique Romero, Spanish footballer
 * June 24 – Thomas Helveg, Danish international
 * June 25 – Neil Lennon, Northern Irish footballer and manager
 * June 28 – Fabien Barthez, French footballer

July

 * July 26 – Mladen Rudonja, Slovenian footballer
 * July 31 – Elivélton, Brazilian international footballer
 * July 31 – Ignacio Vázquez, Mexican footballer

August

 * August 9 – Oswald Snip, Dutch footballer
 * August 10 – Roy Keane, Irish footballer and manager
 * August 16 – Rick Slor, Dutch footballer
 * August 18 – Patrik Andersson, Swedish footballer
 * August 19
 * Marios Pefkos, retired Cypriot footballer
 * Miguel Ponce, Chilean footballer
 * August 23
 * Demetrio Albertini, Italian footballer
 * Florent Delay, retired Swiss footballer
 * August 26 – Osman Özköylü, Turkish footballer
 * August 27 – Ernest Faber, Dutch footballer
 * August 29 – Marco Sandy, Bolivian footballer

September

 * September 1 – Hakan Şükür, Turkish footballer
 * September 3 – Ángel Lemus, Mexican footballer
 * September 3 – Paolo Montero, Uruguayan footballer
 * September 9 – Mikel Lasa, Spanish footballer
 * September 9 – Johan Mjällby, Swedish footballer
 * September 13 – Mladen Dabanovič, Slovenian footballer
 * September 17 – Edílson, Brazilian footballer
 * September 18 – Filip Apelstav, Swedish footballer
 * September 20 – Henrik Larsson, Swedish footballer and manager
 * September 29 – Miguel Fuentes, Mexican footballer
 * September 29 – Jeffrey Talan, Dutch footballer

October

 * October 4 – Jorge Costa, Portuguese footballer
 * October 5 – Bertrand Crasson, Belgian footballer
 * October 7 – Ismael Urzaiz, Spanish footballer
 * October 8 – Miran Pavlin, Slovenian footballer
 * October 13 – André Bergdølmo, Norwegian footballer
 * October 15 – Andy Cole, English footballer
 * October 15 – Niko Kovač, Croatian footballer
 * October 16 – Geert De Vlieger, Belgian footballer
 * October 18 – Yoo Sang-chul, South Korean footballer
 * October 21 – René Ponk, Dutch footballer
 * October 25 – Geoffrey Prommayon, Dutch footballer
 * October 26 – Didier Martel, French footballer
 * October 27 – Theodoros Zagorakis, Greek footballer

November

 * November 3 – Dwight Yorke, Trinidadian and Tobagonian footballer
 * November 12 – Robert Jones, English former professional footballer
 * November 13
 * Unai Emery, Spanish footballer and manager
 * Erwin Ramírez, Ecuadorian footballer
 * November 16 – Mustapha Hadji, Moroccan footballer
 * November 17
 * Jamie Murphy, English former professional footballer
 * Vladimir Shutov, former Russian footballer
 * November 30 – Pedro Pineda, Mexican footballer

December

 * December 2 – Francesco Toldo, Italian footballer
 * December 3 – Henk Timmer, Dutch footballer
 * December 7 – Spira Grujić, Serbian footballer
 * December 8 – Abdullah Ercan, Turkish footballer
 * December 14 – Arsenio Benítez, Paraguayan footballer
 * December 26 – Mika Nurmela, Finnish footballer
 * December 28 – Sergi Barjuán, Spanish footballer
 * December 29 – Niclas Alexandersson, Swedish footballer

Deaths

 * June 30 – Georgi Asparuhov (28), Bulgarian footballer (born 1943)
 * June 30 – Nikola Kotkov (32), Bulgarian footballer (born 1938)
 * July 13 – Harry Dénis (74), Dutch footballer (born 1896)
 * August 5 – Ber Groosjohan (74), Dutch footballer (born 1897)