The following are the football (soccer) events of the year 1972 throughout the world.

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• 24 May – Copa Libertadores 1972: Won by Independiente after defeating Universitario de Deportes on an aggregate score of 2-1.
• 11 May – Ajax Amsterdam claims the Dutch Cup by defeating FC Den Haag: 3-2.
• 12 October – the 1972–73 Honduran League was canceled due to economic problems.
• 18 November 1972 –1972 Scotland v England women's football match

• African Cup of Nations in Cameroon (February 23 – March 5, 1972)
  1.  Congo
  2.  Mali
  3.  Cameroon
• 1972 British Home Championship (May 20 – May 27, 1972)

Shared by  England and  Scotland

• UEFA European Football Championship in Belgium (June 14 – 18 1972)
  1.  West Germany
  2.  Soviet Union
  3.  Belgium
• Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany (August 26 – September 10, 1972)
  1.  Poland
  2.  Hungary
  3.  Soviet Union and  East Germany

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• January 1 – Lilian Thuram, French international footballer
• January 2 – Eduardo Pereira, Timorese footballer
• January 3 – Manuel Martínez, Mexican international footballer
• January 5 – Richard Sosa, Uruguayan former footballer^[1]
• January 8
  • Paul Clement, English footballer, coach, and manager
  • Giuseppe Favalli, Italian footballer
  • Esteban Valencia, Chilean international footballer
• January 11 – Huub Loeffen, Dutch footballer
• January 16
  • Ruben Bagger, Danish footballer
  • Yuri Alekseevich Drozdov, Russian footballer
  • Ezra Hendrickson, Vincentian footballer
  • Alen Peternac, Croatian footballer
• January 29
  • Artur Belotserkovets, Russian former professional footballer^[2]
  • Joseph Oosting, Dutch footballer
• February 11 – Steve McManaman, English international footballer
• March 2 – Mauricio Pochettino, Argentine football player and manager
• March 3
  • Darren Anderton, English international footballer
  • Karel Poborský, Czech international footballer
• March 17 – Mia Hamm, American women's soccer player^[3]
• March 23 – Daniel Prodan, Romanian international footballer (died 2016)
• March 28 – Péter Lipcsei, Hungarian footballer
• March 29 – Rui Costa, Portuguese footballer
• April 28 – Jean-Paul van Gastel, Dutch footballer
• April 28 – Wilmer Velásquez, Honduran international footballer
• May 8 – José Alberto Guadarrama, Mexican footballer
• May 10 – Radosław Majdan, Polish goalkeeper
• May 13 – Gytis Padimanskas, Lithuanian professional footballer^[4]
• June 15 – Marcus Hahnemann, American soccer player
• June 23 – Zinedine Zidane, French international footballer
• August 7 – Goran Vlaović, Croatian footballer
• August 30 – Pavel Nedvěd, Czech international footballer
• September 8 – Markus Babbel, German international footballer and manager
• September 10 – João Carlos dos Santos, Brazilian international footballer
• September 10 – Mariano Bombarda, Spanish footballer
• October 1 – Jean Paulo Fernandes, Brazilian footballer
• November 2 – Derlis Gómez, Paraguayan footballer
• November 2 – Darío Silva, Uruguayan footballer
• November 4 – Luís Figo, Portuguese international footballer
• November 11 – Nurmat Mirzabaev, Kazakhstani footballer
• December 11 – Andriy Husin, Ukrainian international footballer and coach (died 2014)
• December 16 – Aleksei Morochko, former Russian footballer^[5]
• December 22 – Claudio Guerra, former Uruguayan footballer^[6]
• December 29 – Losseni Konaté, Ivorian footballer

This section does not cite any sources. (August 2022)

• June 9 – Caesar ten Cate, Dutch international footballer (born 1890)
• September 16 – Jan de Natris (76), Dutch international footballer (born 1895)