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Football News: A Look Back At All The Soccer News For 2007

Year of Milan, Kaká and McClaren

January

4th In Scotland, Paul Le Guen resigns as Glasgow Rangers coach and is replaced by the old Ibrox favourite, Walter Smith.

11th David Beckham signs a five-year contract with Los Angeles Galaxy, which should guarantee Becks 250 million euros including endorsements. The amount will make Beckham the best paid athlete in the US.

13th Inter sets an Italian record winning streak with 12 consecutive wins in Serie A. The previous record was held by Roma in the 2005/06 season.

19th Feyenoord are expelled from the UEFA Cup because of violent incidents caused by their fans on November 30th in Nancy.

26th Michel Platini is elected UEFA president defeating Lennart Johansson by 27 votes to 23.

30th The unsettled Ronaldo is transferred from Real Madrid to Milan.

31st Felix Magath steps down as Bayern coach in favour of Ottmar Hitzfeld, who had coached the Bavarians from 1999 to 2004.

February

2nd An Italian policeman is killed during fighting with Catania fans during a Serie A match between Catania and Messina.

25th Chelsea win the League Cup with a 2-1 win over Arsenal with two goals by Didier Drogba.

27th Inter Milan's record 17-game winning run comes to an end with a 1-1 draw against Udinese.

March

10th Barcelona's Lionel Messi scores a hat-trick in the Spanish championship "el clásico" against Real Madrid at Nou Camp.

18th The Scottish League Cup goes to Hibernian, victorious over Kilmarnock 5-1 in the final.

24th England is held by Israel in a goalless draw in Tel Aviv.

31th Bordeaux win the French League Cup with a 1-0 win over the fancied Lyon.

April

18th UEFA sensationally awards the 2012 European Championship to Poland and Ukraine ahead of Italy and joint Hungarian and Croatian bid.

21st Lyon secure a record-breaking sixth consecutive French Championship with five games to go.

22th Inter retain the Italian title by raising the advantage over Roma to 16 points.

29th PSV become the Dutch champions in a dramatic championship finale. The favourites AZ Alkmaar lose on the last day, allowing PSV and Ajax to overtake them. PSV edge Ajax by one goal.

May

1st Liverpool make it to the Champions League finals after a penalty shootout against Chelsea. The first leg at Stamford Bridge and the second leg at Anfield both finished 1-0 to the hosts.

2nd Milan join Liverpool thanks to a 5-3 aggregate win over Manchester United. The stage is set for Milan's great revenge.

3rd Espanyol and Seville reach the UEFA Cup final for a rare all-Spanish showdown.

6th Manchester United win the English Premiership after three seasons without the prize.

12th Sochaux win their second French Cup at the expense of Marseille.

16th Sevilla defend their UEFA Cup title with a 3-1 penalty shoot-out win over Espanyol after a 2-2 draw in 120 minutes. The Andalusian team become the first club to win two consecutive UEFA Cups after Real Madrid, who achieved that feat in 1985 and 1986.

17th Roma collect the Italian Cup with a 7-4 aggregate win against Inter.

19th Chelsea secure the FA and League Cup double thanks to a 1-0 win over Manchester United at the new Wembley stadium.

Stuttgart win a sensational Bundesliga title thanks to Schalke's and Werder's slip-ups. Bayern end a disappointing fourth.

20th Romário makes history by scoring an alleged 1000th career goal. FIFA do not verify the record since some goals were scored in exhibition games.

23rd Milan take a revenge on Liverpool in Athens and take their seventh Champions League with a 2-1 victory. Filippo Inzaghi scores both goals, Dirk Kuyt pulls one back for the Reds in the final minutes.

26th Nürnberg beat Stuttgart in the German Cup finals, stopping the Swabian team from winning the double.

30th The Italian World Cup winner Luca Toni signs a four year contract with Bayern Munich.

June

6th An improved England thrash Estonia 3-0 in Tallinn in Euro 2008 qualifying.

7th Franck Ribery joins Bayern from Marseille on a 26 million euro transfer, which constitutes the Bundesliga record.

17th Real Madrid achieve their 30th national title thanks to a 3-1 win over Mallorca. Barcelona finish second, level on points, with an inferior head to head record.

20th Boca Juniors take their sixth Copa Libertadores by defeating the Brazilians Gremio of Porto Alegre in the finals.

23th Sevilla adds the Spanish Cup to their recent collection following a 1-0 victory against Getafe.

25th Barcelona spend 24 million euros to prise Thierry Henry from Arsenal.

28th Fabio Capello is sacked as Real Madrid coach.

July

1st Owen Hargreaves is transferred from Bayern to Manchester United for 25 million euros.

2nd Dinamo Zagreb sell top-scoring Eduardo da Silva to Arsenal for a reported 11 million euros.

4th Fernando Torres becomes the most expensive Spanish player ever as Liverpool pay Atlético Madrid 36 euros for his transfer.

6th Sven-Goran Eriksson takes over as Manchester City coach.

9th Bernd Schuster, ex-Getafe manager, agrees to coach his former team, Real Madrid.

15th Brazil bring home the Copa América from Venezuela after an unexpected 3-0 thumping of perennial rivals Argentina.

22nd Argentina win their sixth U-20 World Cup title at the expense of the Czech Republic.

29th Iraq are sensationally crowned the champions of Asia by downing Saudi Arabia 1-0 in the final in Jakarta.

August

2nd Manchester City sign the Croatian international Vedran Corluka from Dinamo Zagreb for an estimated 14 million euros.

23rd Real Madrid bring Arjen Robben from Chelsea for the unrealistic amount of 36 million euros.

28th Antonio Puerta of Sevilla dies in hospital three days after suffering a cardiac arrest at the end of a game against Getafe. His demise brings together even the most fanatical Sevilla and Betis followers.

31st Milan win their fifth European Supercup owing to a 3-1 win over bereaved Sevilla. Inzaghi is yet again on the score sheet. Both teams' players wear black armbands in memory of Antonio Puerta.

September

8th England score an easy 3-0 win over Israel to improve their chances of qualifying for the European Championship.

12th With their fifth consecutive 3-0 win, this time against Russia at Wembley, England come tantalizingly close to a place at Euro 2008.

Scotland create a major upset in Paris by winning 1-0 against the World Cup runners-up.

15th José Mourinho is dismissed at Chelsea due to strained relations with the chairman Roman Abramovich. His successor is the Israeli Avram Grant.

30th In the Women's World Cup finals in China, Germany beat Brazil 2-0 and take the trophy without conceding a single goal.

October

13th In a vital Euro qualifying game Israel succumb to Croatia, while England achieve another 3-0 win over Estonia to go within a point of qualifying for Austria and Switzerland.

17th Russia edge England 2-1 in Moscow thanks to a controversial penalty ruling against Wayne Rooney. Now the Three Lions must hope for a late miracle to get back in the race.

Scotland also compromise their chances as they are well-beaten 2-0 by Georgia in Tbilisi.

26th Martin Jol is fired by Tottenham and his place is taken by Juande Ramos, the creator of the great Sevilla team.

November

3rd Liverpool demolish Besiktas 8-0 at Anfield, the highest ever win in Champions League's history.

9th Ruud Gullit take over at Los Angeles Galaxy as the successor to Frank Yallop.

A Lazio Rome fan dies as an accidental victim of a bullet fired by a policeman during clashes between Lazio and Juventus fans at a motorway services.

17th Israel give England a helping hand: their 2-1 win over Russia means that Steve McClaren's team only have to draw against Croatia to be present at the Euro 2008.

Scotland waste all their chances of reaching the final stage as a proverbially effective Italy proves an insurmountable obstacle at Hampden.

21st The darkest date in recent English soccer history as Wembley is conquered by a resilient Croatia. The visitors' 3-2 win enable Russia to go through instead of England thanks to a meager 1-0 victory against minnows Andorra.

22th Much-maligned "wally with the brolly" Steve McClaren is fired as England manager.

27th Alex McLeish leaves his job as the Scotland coach and eventually takes over at Birmingham.

December

2nd Milan's Brazilian Kaká is as expected awarded the European Golden Ball by France Football magazine. Later he will also pick up the FIFA's annual World Player of the Year award.

13th The Italian super coach Fabio Capello accepts the England FA's offer to take over as manager of the national side.

16th Milan complete the hat-trick of the international trophies after a resounding 4-2 win over the American champions Boca Juniors in FIFA's World Club Cup finals in Tokyo.

Compiled by Ozren Podnar

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