Overview of the events of 1961 in association football
The following are the football (soccer) events of the year 1961 throughout the world.
Births
- January 12 – Andrea Carnevale, Italian international footballer
- January 13 – César Baena, Venezuelan international footballer
- January 17 – Zhao Dayu, Chinese international footballer (died 2015)
- January 18 – Peter Beardsley, English international footballer
- January 20 – Patricio Yáñez, Chilean international footballer
- January 31 – Jonny Otten, German international footballer. [1]
- February 13 – Oļegs Karavajevs, Latvian international footballer
- March 13 – Sebastiano Nela, Italian international footballer
- March 21 – Lothar Matthäus, German international footballer and manager
- April 4 – Karsten Härtel, former German footballer[2]
- April 6 – Tony Paul, English former professional footballer[3]
- April 11 – Roberto Cabañas, Paraguayan international footballer (died 2017)
- April 19 – Dave Wiffill, English former professional footballer and coach[4]
- May 3 – Daniel Sánchez, Uruguayan international footballer
- May 5 – Ali Hussein Shihab, Iraqi international footballer (died 2016)
- May 8 – Gert Kruys, Dutch footballer and manager
- May 21 – Thomas Dooley, American international footballer and manager
- June 1 – Rubén Espinoza, Chilean footballer
- June 3 – César Zabala, Paraguayan international footballer (died 2020)
- June 29 – Víctor Genés, Paraguayan footballer and football manager (died 2019)
- August 1 – Danny Blind, Dutch international footballer and manager
- August 10 – Chris Marustik, Welsh international footballer (died 2015)
- September 9 – Justo Jacquet, Paraguayan footballer
- September 20 – Erwin Koeman, Dutch international footballer and manager
- October 16 – Wilfried Brookhuis, Dutch footballer
- October 20 – Guillermo Muñoz, Mexican footballer
- November 3 – Sven Habermann, German-Canadian soccer player
- November 4 – Nigel Worthington, Northern Irish international footballer and manager
- November 17 – Wolfram Wuttke, German international footballer (died 2015)
- November 20 – Dave Watson, English footballer and manager
- December 17 – Henk van Stee, Dutch footballer and manager
Deaths
January
- January 5 – Jack Butler (66), English international footballer and manager (born 1894)
October
