Oliver's Almanack of World Football

2008 Edition

The Almanack of World Football 2008 was published in September 2007 and covers world football in the 2006 and 2006-07 seasons. The third year of the Almanack covered the final tournaments of three of the main continental competitions for national teams – the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, held in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, the 2007 Copa America in Venezuela and the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the USA, along with the first year of qualifying for UEFA Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland.

Once again full match details of all the major continental club competitions are provided. Find out how a dramatic injury-time winner secured a record fifth African title for Al Ahly as they beat Sfaxien in the final of the CAF Champions League, or how the rematch of the 2005 UEFA Champions League saw Milan gain revenge over Liverpool in Athens. In the 2007 Copa Libertadores final, Boca Juniors beat Grêmio to take the Argentine club to within one title of the record held by compatriots Independiente while there was a second title for Pachuca in Central and North America and first titles for Jeonbuk in Asia and Waitakere United in Oceania.

The Almanack of World Football 2008 saw a major innovation with the introduction of medals tables for club football. By awarding clubs and national teams gold, silver and bronze medals for first, second and third place finishes an invaluable historical record can be created. Find out which clubs are the most successful in each country. In France for instance, 2007 saw Lyon win an unprecedented sixth consecutive title, but a quck glance at the medals table sees that they still lag some way behind Marseille who have won 19 titles in their history to just 10 for Lyon.