2008 in association football

The following are the association football events of the year 2008 throughout the world.

January

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3 – Argentine midfielder Éver Banega leaves Boca Juniors and joins the Spanish club Valencia for an estimated fee of €18 million.
5 – Everton are knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Oldham Athletic, a team from Football League One (third division) as Huddersfield Town from the same division beat Birmingham City.
6 – Toulouse are eliminated from the Coupe de FrancebyParis FC, a team from the Championnat National (third division).
9 – Sam Allardyce leaves the manager's position at Newcastle United by mutual agreement.
11 – Jürgen Klinsmann is unveiled as the new coach of Bayern Munich, effective July.
20 – The Africa Cup of Nations begins in Ghana with the hosts beating Guinea 2–1.
23 – Tottenham Hotspur defeat Arsenal 5–1 in the semi-final second-leg of the League Cup. This was the first time they had beaten their local rivals since 1999.
24 – George Burley is announced as the new coach of the Scotland national football team.
28 – Mohamed Sissoko leaves Liverpool to sign for Juventus, costing the Italian team €13 million.

February

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2 – Frédéric Kanouté is named 2007 African Footballer of the Year
4 – Víctor Muñoz is sacked from the managers job of Spanish team Recreativo Huelva; Manolo Zambrano is immediately installed as the new coach of the La Liga team.
10 – Egypt win the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations after beating Cameroon in the final 1–0.
13 – Giovanni Trapattoni is announced as the new coach of the Republic of Ireland. He will officially take up this role in May.
23 – South Korean men's team won East Asian Cup 2008.
23 – Japanese J. League Cup winner Gamba Osaka defeated MLS champion Houston Dynamo at the final game of Pan-Pacific Championship 2008 by 6–1, won the champion title of inaugural tournament. The Los Angeles Galaxy won the third place match against Sydney FC from A-league by 2–1.
24 – Japan won the Women's East Asian Cup 2008 with three straight wins over South Korea, North Korea, and China.
24 – Tottenham Hotspur win the Football League Cup after beating Chelsea 2–1 after extra time at Wembley Stadium.
24 – Newcastle Jets win the Hyundai A-League Grand Final by defeating the Central Coast Mariners by 1–0 at the Sydney Football Stadium.

March

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11 – Newport County win the FAW Premier Cup beating Llanelli 1–0 in the final.
12 – The United States women's national soccer team wins the 2008 Algarve Cup for the sixth time, beating Denmark 2–1 in the final.
16 – Rangers win the Scottish League Cup by beating Dundee United 3–2 in a penalty shootout after a 2–2 draw at Hampden Park.

May

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5 – Real Madrid wins the 31st La Liga title after beating Osasuna 2–1.
8 – Announced that Frank Rijkaard would leave his managerial post at Barcelona at the end of the season, to be replaced by Barcelona B coach Pep Guardiola.
11 – Manchester United wins its tenth Premier League title after beating Wigan Athletic 2–0 away.
17 – Portsmouth wins the 127th FA Cup after beating Cardiff City 1–0 at Wembley Stadium
21 – Manchester United won the UEFA Champions League after beating Chelsea 6–5 on penalties after a 1–1 draw after 90 minutes in Moscow
22 – Celtic win the SPL title for the third successive season by three points from Rangers on the final day.
24 – Avram Grant is sacked as Chelsea manager after just eight months in charge of the Premier League club.

June

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2 – José Mourinho replaces Roberto Mancini as manager of Inter Milan
25 – LDU Quito won the first leg of the Copa Libertadores final beating Fluminense 4–2.
29 – Spain wins UEFA Euro 2008 after beating Germany 1–0 in the final.

July

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1 – Luiz Felipe Scolari becomes the new manager of Chelsea.
2 – LDU Quito wins the Copa Libertadores beating Fluminense in penalties 3–1 after a 5–5 aggregate draw.

August

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8 – Scottish Premier League team Gretna are formally liquidated.^[1]
21 – United States women's team win gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics
23 – Argentina's men's team win gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics

September

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1 – Manchester City sign Robinho from Real Madrid for a British record fee of £32.5 million
1 – Manchester United sign Dimitar Berbatov from Tottenham Hotspur for £30.75 million.
4 – Kevin Keegan resigns as manager of Newcastle United.

(A = Apertura, C= Clausura)

CONCACAF nations

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(A = Apertura, C= Clausura)

OFC nations

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Football Federation American Samoa Soccer League: Pago Youth
Cook Islands Round Cup: Nikao Sokattack
Fijian National Football League: Ba
FSMFA Top League: Yap
Kiribati National Championship: competition canceled
New Caledonia Division Honneur: AS Magenta
ASB Premiership: Waitakere United
Niue Soccer Tournament: Talava
Norfolk Island Soccer League: unknown
Palau Soccer League: Surangel & Sons Company
Papua New Guinea National Soccer League: PRK Hekari United
Samoa National League: Sinamoga
Solomon Islands National Club Championship: Koloale
Tahiti Division Fédérale: AS Manu-Ura
Tonga Major League: Lotoha'apai
Tuvalu A-Division: Nauti
Vanuatu Premia Divisen: Tafea

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January

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1 January – Božidar Sandić (85), Serbian footballer, Yugoslavia international
4 January – Vyacheslav Ambartsumyan (67), Russian footballer, Soviet Union international
4 January – Bjørn Odmar Andersen (64), Norwegian international footballer and manager
5 January – Louis Hon (83), French international footballer
9 January – Paul Aimson (64), English footballer
11 January – Frank Loughran (77), Australian international footballer
12 January – Leszek Jezierski (78), Polish footballer and manager
13 January – Seyran Osipov (46), Russian footballer
14 January – Kaj Christiansen (86), Danish international footballer and manager
14 January – Johnny Steele (91), English footballer and manager
18 January – Wally Fielding (88), English footballer
21 January – Billy Elliott (82), English international footballer
24 January – Jorge Recio (66), Argentine international footballer
26 January – Celestino Celio (82), Italian international footballer and manager
27 January – Bengt Lindskog (74), Swedish international footballer
28 January – Eleuterio Santos (67), Spanish international footballer

February

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1 February – Władysław Kawula (70), Polish footballer
2 February – Yiu Cheuk Yin (80), Hong Kong footballer
9 February – Guy Tchingoma (22), Gabonese footballer
10 February – Ove Jørstad (37), Norwegian footballer
12 February – Jean Prouff (88), French footballer and manager
12 February – Thomas Grosser (42), German footballer
14 February – Len Boyd (84), English footballer
15 February – Inge Thun (62), Norwegian footballer
17 February – Brian Harris (72), English footballer and manager
21 February – Emmanuel Sanon (56), Haitian footballer

March

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2 March – Carl Hoddle (40), English footballer
4 March – Jocelyne Henry (54), French footballer
5 March – Derek Dooley (78), English footballer and manager
25 March – Thierry Gilardi (49), French commentator

April

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3 April – Hrvoje Ćustić (24), Croatian footballer
5 April – Wang Donglei (23), Chinese footballer
18 April – Erminio Favalli (64), Italian footballer
19 April – Constant Vanden Stock (93), Belgian footballer, manager, and executive

May

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8 May – François Sterchele (26), Belgian footballer
10 May – Eusebio Ríos (73), Spanish footballer and manager
15 May – Tommy Burns (51), Scottish former footballer and manager
23 May – Heinrich Kwiatkowski (81), German footballer

June

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6 June – Victor Wégria (71), Belgian footballer
11 June – Adam Ledwoń (34), Polish footballer
22 June – Ron Stitfall (82), Welsh footballer

July

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13 July – Rudolf Nafziger (62), German footballer
15 July – Gionata Mingozzi (23), Italian footballer
18 July – George Niven (79), Scottish footballer

August

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3 August – Anton Allemann (72), Swiss footballer

September

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3 September – Joan Segarra (80), Spanish defender
4 September – Tommy Johnston (81), Scottish footballer
25 September – Jimmy Sirrel (86), Scottish football player and manager

October

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October 8 - Chicão, Brazilian midfielder, semi-finalist at the 1978 FIFA World Cup. (59)
October 21 - George Edwards (87), Welsh footballer
October 25 - Ian McColl (81), Scottish football player and manager

November

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1 November – Dermot Curtis (76), Irish football player and manager
17 November – Peter Aldis (81), English footballer
27 November – Gil Heron (87), Jamaican footballer

December

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8 December – John Cumming (78), Scottish footballer
9 December – Dražan Jerković (72), Croatian football player and manager
9 December – Ibrahim Dossey (36), Ghanaian footballer
12 December – Maksym Pashayev (20), Ukrainian footballer

2008 in association football

Contents

News

January

February

March

May

June

July

August

September

International tournaments

Men

Women

National champions

AFC nations

UEFA nations

CAF nations

CONMEBOL nations

CONCACAF nations

OFC nations

Deaths

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

References

Languages