Soccer 2008

[edit] Events
20 January to 10 February — Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana
June 7 to June 29 — Euro 2008 held in Austria and Switzerland
August 6 to August 24 - Men's and Women's Football Tournaments at the Beijing Olympics
October 30 to November 16 — Inauguration of FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup held In New Zealand
November 20 to December 7 — 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in Chile

[edit] News

[edit] January
3 – Argentine midfielder Éver Banega leaves CA Boca Juniors and joins the Spanish club Valencia CF for an estimated fee of €18 million.
5 – Everton are knocked out of the FA Cup in the third round by Oldham, 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 France by Paris 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 FC Bayern Munich, it was announced this would be effective from 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.

[edit] February
2 – Frédéric Kanouté is named 2007 African Footballer of the Year
4 – Víctor Muñoz is sacked from the managers job of Spanish team Recreativo de 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.
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. 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.

[edit] National champions

[edit] AFC nations
Australia: Newcastle Jets

[edit] International tournaments
2008 Africa Cup of Nations in Ghana (January 20 – February 10, 2008)
Egypt
Cameroon
Ghana
Côte d'Ivoire
Men's East Asian Cup 2008 final in Chongqing, China (February 17 – 23, 2008)
Korea Republic
Japan
China PR
Korea DPR
Women's East Asian Cup 2008 final in Chongqing, China (February 18 – 24, 2008)
Japan
Korea DPR
China PR
Korea Republic

[edit] Deaths

[edit] January
January 4 – Bjørn Odmar Andersen, Norwegian footballer
January 4 – Vyacheslav Ambartsumyan, Russian footballer
January 5 – Louis Hon, French footballer
January 9 – Paul Aimson, English footballer
January 11 – Frank Loughran, Australian international footballer
January 12 – Leszek Jezierski, Polish footballer and manager
January 14 – Johnny Steele, English footballer and manager
January 18 – Wally Fielding, English footballer
January 21 – Billy Elliott, English footballer

[edit] February
February 1 – Władysław Kawula, Polish footballer
February 9 – Guy Tchingoma, Gabonese footballer
February 10 – Ove Jørstad, Norwegian footballer
February 12 – Jean Prouff, French footballer and manager
February 12 – Thomas Grosser, German footballer
February 14 – Len Boyd, English footballer
February 15 – Inge Thun, Norwegian footballer
February 17 – Brian Harris, English footballer and manager
February 21 – Emmanuel Sanon, Haitian footballer

[edit] March
March 2 – Carl Hoddle, English footballer
March 5 – Derek Dooley, English footballer and manager