2005 in Association Football - Events

Events

• January 21 – German referee Robert Hoyzer admits to having accepted large sums of money from a gambling syndicate to fix matches. The resulting scandal was a major embarrassment to Germany as it prepared to host the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Eventually Hoyzer would be sentenced to two years and five months in prison.
• February 3 – Dutch club Fortuna Sittard has three points deducted for financial mismanagement (failure to settle tax debts); an additional deduction of three points on April 29 was confirmed after an appeal on June 13.
• February 4 – Swiss AXPO Super League – Club Servette FC was declared bankrupt. It had run debts of over 10 million Swiss francs. As a consequence of the bankruptcy the club will be demoted two divisions.
• March 20 – Dutch club Go Ahead Eagles has three points deducted for financial mismanagement.
• March 26 – Chelsea won the League Cup after beating Liverpool 3–2
• April 23 – PSV wins its 18th national title in the Dutch Eredivisie.
• April 30 – National Football title assignment in two major European tournaments. In England, Chelsea wins for the second time in the FA Premier League; in Germany, Bundesliga is won for the 19th time by Bayern Munich. In France, RC Strasbourg won second League Cup.
• May 8 – Ligue 1 – Lyon win its fourth French title in 2000s (decade).
• May 14 – Spain Liga – FC Barcelona won its 17th league title.
• May 18 – UEFA Cup Final – CSKA Moscow became the first Russian club to win a major European club competition, defeating Sporting CP 3–1 at Sporting's home field in Lisbon.
• May 20 – Italian Serie A – Juventus won its 28th title ("scudetto") without playing following a 3–3 draw between A.C. Milan and Palermo.
• May 21 – Manager Gert Aandewiel receives the Rinus Michels Award for the best coach in Dutch amateur football.
• May 21 – Arsenal wins the FA Cup Final by defeating Manchester United 5–4 on penalties after regular time and extra time ended 0–0.
• May 25 – UEFA Champions League Final – Liverpool come from three goals down, and beat A.C. Milan 3–2 on penalties after a 3–3 draw in Istanbul to win Europe's top prize for the 5th time.
• May 26 – Dutch club Sparta Rotterdam fires manager Mike Snoei and names former international Adri van Tiggelen as interim-coach.
• June 8 – Goalkeeper and captain Edwin van der Sar plays his 100th international match for the Netherlands, when the side defeats Finland (0–4) in Helsinki.
• July 9 – Spain's Basque Country wins the fourth UEFA Regions' Cup, beating Bulgaria's South-West Sofia 1–0 in Proszowice.
• July 14 – 2005 Copa Libertadores is won by São Paulo FC after defeating Clube Atlético Paranaense on an aggregate score of 5–1.
• August 5 – Ajax wins the Johan Cruijff Schaal, the annual opening of the new season in the Eredivisie, by a 2–1 win over PSV in the Amsterdam ArenA.
• August 26 – The first match of the inaugural Hyundai A-League in Australia was played.
• August 31 – Boca Juniors (Argentina) won the Recopa Sudamericana 2005 4–3 on aggregate over Once Caldas (Colombia). (First leg in Buenos Aires 3–1, second leg in Manizales 1–2)
• November 21 – Head coach Robert Maaskant is fired by Willem II.
• December 9 – 2006 FIFA World Cup group assignments for the finals in Germany announced.
• December 11 – Opening game of the second FIFA World Club Championship, a six team tournament replacing the former Intercontinental Cup. In the final one week later Brazilian team São Paulo FC won the competition narrowly beating UEFA Champions Liverpool 1–0.
• December 18 – Boca Juniors defeated UNAM Pumas on penalties after the second leg game for the Copa Sudamericana 2005.
• December 19 – Manager Cees Lok leaves NEC and is replaced by another former player of the Dutch Club, Ron de Groot.
• December 19 – Ronaldinho (Brazil, for male footballer) and Birgit Prinz (Germany, for female footballer) were elected FIFA World Player of the Year.
• December 31 – Mark Wotte resigns as technical director of Feyenoord.