The following are the association football events of the year 1979 throughout the world.
Events
Copa Libertadores 1979: Won by Olimpia Asunción after defeating Boca Juniors on an aggregate score of 2–0. European Cup 1979: Won by Nottingham Forest after defeating Malmö FF 1–0 in the Final. Intercontinental Cup 1979: Won by Olimpia Asunción after defeating Malmö FF by an aggregate score of 3–1. This was the last time the Intercontinental Cup was played in two legs (South America and Europe). May 22 – Ruud Krol becomes Holland's most capped player in history when he plays his 65th match for the Netherlands national football team against Argentina.
Winners club national championship
Asia
: Al-Sadd SC
Europe
: K.S.K. Beveren
: PFC Levski Sofia
: Omonia Nicosia
: Esbjerg fB
: Liverpool F.C. : RC Strasbourg : AEK Athens : Újpest FC : AC Milan : Eredivisie – Ajax Amsterdam Eerste Divisie – Excelsior Rotterdam : Ruch Chorzów : FC Porto : Dundalk F.C. : Celtic F.C. : Real Madrid : Trabzonspor : Hamburger SV : FC Spartak Moscow
North and Central America
: Cruz Azul
/ : Vancouver Whitecaps (NASL)
Oceania
: Marconi Fairfield
South America
Metropolitano – River Plate
Nacional – River Plate
: Internacional
: América de Cali
: Olimpia Asunción
International tournaments
1979 British Home Championship (May 19 – May 26, 1979)
Pan American Games in San Juan, Puerto Rico (July 2 – July 14, 1979)
Copa América (July 10 – December 12, 1979)
and
World Youth Championship (August 26 – September 7, 1979)
Births
January 2 – Jonathan Greening, English footballer and coach
January 4 – Shergo Biran, German footballer
January 12 – Grzegorz Rasiak, Polish footballer
January 15 – Martin Petrov, Bulgarian footballer
January 26 – Maksym Kalynychenko, Ukrainian footballer
February 2 – Daniel Bierofka, German footballer
February 13 – Rafael Márquez, Mexican footballer
February 19 – Steve Cherundolo, American footballer
February 20 – Denis Fladung, former Russian professional footballer
March 2 – Damien Duff, Irish footballer
March 4 – Vyacheslav Malafeev, Russian footballer
March 14 – Neftalí Luna, Spanish retired footballer
March 22 – Aldo Duscher, Argentine footballer
April 3 – Christoph Spatzenegger, Austrian footballer
April 5 – Timo Hildebrand, German footballer
April 12 – Tobias Linderoth, Swedish footballer
April 20 – Ludovic Magnin, Swiss footballer
April 26 – Fereydoon Zandi, Iranian-German footballer
May 11 – Tomás Jiménez, Spanish retired footballer
May 19
Diego Forlán, Uruguayan footballer
Andrea Pirlo, Italian footballer
May 29 – Arne Friedrich, German footballer
May 30 – Fabian Ernst, German footballer
June 4 – Naohiro Takahara, Japanese footballer
June 7 – Kevin Hofland, Dutch footballer
June 19 – José Kleberson, Brazilian footballer
July 14 – Sergei Ignashevich, Russian footballer
July 26 – Paul Freier, German footballer
August 7 – Pablo Salinas, Bolivian footballer
August 12 – Júnior Izaguirre, Honduran footballer
August 27 – Thierry Bayock, Cameroonian footballer
August 28 – Bojan Gojak, Serbian former footballer
September 11
Eric Abidal, French footballer
Leon Cort, English footballer
David Pizarro, Chilean footballer
September 13 – Julio de León, Honduran footballer
September 15 – Dadash Kazikhanov, former Russian professional footballer
October 8 – Doyle Vaca, Bolivian footballer
October 9 – Gonzalo Sorondo, Uruguayan footballer
October 15 – Paul Robinson, English footballer
October 18 – Jaroslav Drobny, Czech footballer
October 23 – Simon Davies, Welsh footballer
October 30 – Simone Berardi, Italian former footballer
November 2 – Marián Čišovský, Slovak footballer (d. 2020) November 5 Patrick Owomoyela, German footballer David Suazo, Honduran footballer November 15 – Rowan Hendricks, South African footballer November 20 – Dmitri Bulykin, Russian footballer November 21 – Vincenzo Iaquinta, Italian footballer December 7 – Diego Bengolea, Bolivian footballer December 14 Jean-Alain Boumsong, French footballer Michael Owen, English footballer December 20 – Ashley Cole, English footballer December 30 – Hernán Boyero, Argentine footballer