1988 in association football

The following are the association football events of the year 1988 throughout the world.

• March 27 – Cameroon wins the 1988 African Cup of Nations by defeating Nigeria: 1–0. The only goal in Casablanca's Stade Mohammed V is scored by Emmanuel Kundé from a penalty kick.
• June 25 – Thanks to goals from captain Ruud Gullit and top goalscorer Marco van Basten, the Netherlands defeat the Soviet Union (2–0) in the final of UEFA Euro 1988 in Munich.
• July 12 – Italian club Juventus receive The UEFA Plaque in Geneva (Switzerland) as first club in European football history to win the three main UEFA club competitions.
• 1988 Copa Libertadores – won by Nacional after defeating Newell's Old Boys on an aggregate score of 3–1.
• England – FA Cup – Wimbledon won 1–0 over Liverpool.
• The Football League celebrates its Centenary.
• With great surprise worldwide FIFA gives the 1994 FIFA World Cup to United States.
• August 24 – The Faroe Islands record their first international victory, defeating Canada 1–0.
• September 14 – Thijs Libregts makes his debut as the manager of Dutch national team with a 1–0 win over Wales, replacing successful coach Rinus Michels.
• October 1 – Soviet Union wins the Olympic gold medal in football by defeating Brazil: 2–1 after extra time in Seoul's Olympic Stadium.
• December 11 – Uruguay's Nacional wins the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo, Japan by defeating Dutch PSV Eindhoven on penalties (7–6), after the match ended in 2–2.

*Greenland was not affiliated with UEFA and never has been, but it's part of the sovereign state of Denmark which is located in Europe.

• African Cup of Nations in Morocco (March 13 – 27 1988)
  1.  Cameroon
  2.  Nigeria
  3.  Algeria
• Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea (September 17 – October 1, 1988)
  1.  Soviet Union
  2.  Brazil
  3.  West Germany
• UEFA European Football Championship in West Germany (June 10 – 25 1988)
  1.  Netherlands
  2.  Soviet Union
  3.  West Germany and  Italy

• 1 January:
  • Diego Basto, Colombian footballer^[1]
  • Sékou Fadiga, Ivorian footballer^[2]
  • Isaac Mattia, South Sudanese footballer^[3]
• 3 January: Crispin Olando, Kenyan international footballer^[4]
• 4 January:
  • Anestis Argyriou, Greek footballer
  • Maximilian Riedmüller, German footballer
• 8 January:
  • Vitaliy Hoshkoderya, Ukrainian footballer
  • Adrián López, Spanish footballer
  • Michael Mancienne, English footballer
• 9 January: Marc Crosas, Spanish footballer
• 20 January:
  • Uwa Elderson Echiéjilé, Nigerian international^[5]
  • Jougle (Jougle Manoel Rodrigues), Brazilian footballer^[6]
  • Jeffrén Suárez, Spanish footballer
• 23 January: Marko Šimić, Croatian junior international
• 28 January: Alaa Ali, Egyptian footballer (d. 2019)
• 29 January: Bohdan Karkovskyi, Ukrainian former professional footballer^[7]

• 3 February: Pouria Gheidar, Iranian footballer^[8]
• 4 February: Sergei Yuvenko, Russian professional football player^[9]
• 12 February:
  • Linda Bengtsson, Swedish footballer^[10]
  • Nicolás Otamendi, Argentine international football player
• 23 February: Nicolás Gaitán, Argentine international football player
• 24 February: Levi Hanssen, New Zealand/Faroe Islands footballer
• 26 February: İsmail Baydil, Turkish footballer^[11]
• 28 February: Jorge Gastélum, Mexican footballer
• 29 February:
  • Mikel Balenziaga, Spanish footballer
  • Fabiano Ribeiro de Freitas, Brazilian footballer
  • Scott Golbourne, English footballer
  • Benedikt Höwedes, German footballer
  • Viktor Prodell, Swedish footballer
  • Evgeni Cheremisin, Russian footballer
  • Hamza Ziad, Algerian footballer

• 3 March: Eike Mund, German footballer
• 11 March: Joaelton (Joaelton Jonathan Sampaio), Brazilian footballer^[12]
• 12 March: Aarón Torlà, Spanish footballer^[13]
• 21 March: Lee Cattermole, English footballer^[14]

• 2 April: Edinaldo (Edinaldo Malcher de França Filho), Brazilian footballer^[15]
• 3 April: Tim Krul, Dutch international^[16]
• 11 April: Oleg Sibalov, Russian professional football player^[17]
• 12 April: Fred Santana, Brazilian footballer^[18]
• 23 April: Vitali Seletskiy, Russian professional football coach and former player^[19]

• 2 May; Ahn Il-joo, South Korean professional footballer^[20]
• 4 May:
  • Artur Gieraga, Polish footballer^[21]
  • Michael Ludäscher, Swiss footballer^[22]
• 15 May: Ruslan Tarala, former Russian professional footballer^[23]
• 17 May: Jennison Myrie-Williams, English youth international
• 21 May: Jonny Howson, English footballer^[24]
• 23 May: Angelo Ogbonna, Italian footballer
• 25 May: Adrián González Morales, Spanish junior international
• 29 May:
  • Łukasz Bocian, Polish footballer^[25]
  • Alex Porfirio, Brazilian footballer

• 1 June: Javier Hernández, Mexican international football player
• 9 June: Martín Castillo, Mexican professional footballer^[26]
• 15 June: Cristopher Toselli, Chilean footballer
• 22 June: Silvio Arango, Colombian former footballer^[27]
• 23 June: Adrian Chomiuk, Polish footballer^[28]
• 24 June: Micah Richards, England international footballer

• 2 July: Abderahmane Hachoud, Algerian international footballer
• 6 July: Gustavo Mencia, Paraguayan footballer
• 8 July:
  • Enoch Oteng, Belgian footballer^[29]
  • Cédric De Troetsel, Belgian retired footballer^[30]
• 11 July: Bongane Twala, South African footballer^[31]
• 18 July: Elvin Mammadov, Azerbaijani international
• 24 July: Irina Birvagen, Kazakhstani former footballer^[32]

• 5 August: Eddie Nolan, Irish international footballer
• 6 August: José Márquez, Guatemalan footballer^[33]
• 28 August: Ray Jones, English footballer (d. 2007)
• 31 August: Faber Cañaveral, Colombian professional footballer^[34]

• 2 September: Javi Martínez, Spanish international footballer
• 5 September:
  • Nuri Şahin, Turkish footballer
  • Felipe Caicedo, Ecuadorian association footballer
• 12 September: Aleksei Buryanov, former Russian professional footballer^[35]
• 13 September: Luis Rentería, Panamanian international footballer (died 2014)
• 18 September:
  • Ferdinand Sinaga, Indonesian international
• 19 September: José Pedro Sousa, Portuguese football^[36]
• 23 September: Anthony Straker, English footballer
• 25 September: Chinta Chandrashekar Rao, Indian footballer^[37]
• 28 September: Alex Marello, Canadian professional soccer player^[38]

• 4 October: Marcos Román, Nicaraguan professional footballer^[39]
• 7 October: Diego Costa, Spanish international^[40]
• 12 October: Abdou Boinaheri, French international footballer^[41]
• 13 October: Marco Gasparri, Italian professional footballer^[42]
• 14 October
  • Will Atkinson, English footballer
  • Mario Titone, Italian footballer
• 15 October: Mesut Özil, German international football player

• 7 November: Andri Abubakar, Indonesian footballer^[43]
• 15 November: Sascha Imholz, Swiss footballer
• 17 November: Salome Khubuluri, Georgian footballer^[44]
• 18 November: Andreas Niederquell, German former footballer^[45]
• 20 November: Soheil Rahmani, Iranian footballer^[46]

• 5 December
  • Cristian Machín, Uruguayan footballer^[47]
  • Kamil Cholerzyński, Polish professional footballer^[48]
• 9 December: Ibrahim Morad, Emirati footballer^[49]
• 10 December:
  • Wilfried Bony, Ivorian international footballer
  • Mitchell Donald, Dutch footballer
  • Neven Subotić, Serbian international footballer
• 17 December: Thaísa Moreno, Brazilian footballer^[50]
• 21 December: Anastasios Christofileas, Greek professional footballer^[51]

• January 27 – Kemal Faruki, Turkish football player (77)
• February 8 – Pietro Arcari, Italian forward, winner of the 1934 FIFA World Cup and one of four Italian players who won the FIFA World Cup while never being capped. (78)
• February 26 – Euclydes Barbosa, Brazilian defender, semi-finalist at the 1938 FIFA World Cup. (82)
• March 13 – Rodolpho Barteczko, Brazilian striker, semi-finalist at the 1938 FIFA World Cup. (77)
• March 16 – Erich Probst, Austrian football player (60)^[52]
• October 19 – Marcos Carneiro de Mendonça, Brazilian goalkeeper, the inaugural goalkeeper for Brazil National Football Team and winner of the 1919 South American Championship and 1922 South American Championship. (93)

• Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (in English)
• VoetbalStats (in Dutch)