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

Africa

 * 🇪🇬: Zamalek

Asia

 * 🇮🇱: Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C.
 * 🇶🇦: Al-Rayyan SC

Europe

 * 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿: Nottingham Forest
 * 🇫🇷: AS Monaco
 * 🇭🇺: Újpest FC
 * 🇮🇹: Juventus
 * Eredivisie – PSV Eindhoven
 * Eerste Divisie – PEC Zwolle
 * : Steaua București
 * 🇪🇸: Real Madrid
 * : Rangers
 * 🇹🇷: Fenerbahçe
 * 🇹🇷: Fenerbahçe

North America

 * 🇲🇽: Tigres UANL
 * New York Cosmos (NASL)
 * New York Cosmos (NASL)

Oceania

 * 🇦🇺: West Adelaide

South America

 * Metropolitano – Quilmes
 * Nacional – Independiente
 * 🇧🇷: Guarani
 * : Olimpia Asunción
 * : 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
 * 🇧🇷 brazil
 * 🇧🇷 brazil

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 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
 * 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
 * May 17 – Paddy Kenny, Irish footballer
 * May 30
 * Barney Marman, Motswana former footballer
 * Nicolás Olivera, Uruguayan footballer

June

 * June 9 – Miroslav Klose, German football player forward
 * June 13 – Aleksei Brikov, former Russian footballer
 * June 17 – Vladimir Buss, former Russian footballer
 * June 20 – Frank Lampard, English football player midfielder
 * June 21 – Hatem Aqel, Jordanian 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 footballer
 * 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

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)