1972

Events

January

• January 5: 27-year old electrician, Vasilis Lymperis, sets his mother-in-law's house on fire killing her, his estranged wife and his two children.

February

• February 6: Giorgos Sideris scores his last two goals in the Alpha Ethniki (Olympiakos-Panachaiki 3-2) in his first match since his return from Belgium.
• February 16: Thomas Mavros makes his debut with Greece in a match against Holland (0-5) in Athens.
• February 18: An Olympic Aviation Learjet crashed off the coast of Monte Carlo. Both crew members are killed.
• February 20: Giorgos Sideris plays his last game in the Alpha Ethniki (Olympiakos-Panathinaikos 0-0)

March

• March 2: Three Cypriot Metropolitans demand that Makarios III step down from the Presidency of the island-Republic.
• March 4: The US resumes economic and military aid to the Military regime of Greece.
• March 4: Greece defeat Italy 2-1 in a friendly at Karaiskaki Stadium. Antonis Antoniadis and Spyros Pomonis score the Greek goals.
• March 5: Mikis Theodorakis leaves the Communist Party of Greece.
• March 8: AEK are eliminated from the Greek Football Cup by Lamia FC 1-0.
• March 28: Dictator George Papadopoulos becomes: Royal Regent, Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, Defence Minister and President of the Greek Parliament.

April

• April 28: Petros Galaktopoulos wins the gold medal, in Graeco-Roman wrestling (74 kgs), at the European Championships.

May

• May 4: A strong earthquake (6.5 on the Richter scale) strikes the island of Crete.
• May 7: Vasilis Lymperis is found guilty and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife, two kids and mother in law on January 5.
• May 21: Sofia Sakorafa breaks the Greek record in the javelin with a throw of 41.32m.

June

• June 5: Greece establishes full diplomatic relations with P.R. China.
• June 12: Bobby Moore dons Olympiakos' jersey in the Piraeus team's friendly against Brazilian side Corinthians. The England captain played the full 90 minutes.
• June 30: The Military Government of Greece passes a "quickie divorce" law.

July

• July 13: Iraklis player Aristides Moumoglou sets a Greek basketball record by scoring 143 points in a single game against VAO BC. The final score of the game was Iraklis - VAO 170-94.
• July 19: Bishop Demetrius of Imvros and Tenedos is elected Ecumenical Patriarch. The election was controversial since the favoured candidate, Bishop Meliton of Chalkedon, was bypassed as he did not please the Turkish government.
• July 30: Archaeologists discover a 6th Century BC temple near Kalentzi, Achaea.

August

• August 4: Vasilis Papageorgopoulos breaks the Greek record for the 100m with a 10.22 performance. The record will stand for 21 years.
• August 6: Kyriakos Onesiphorou breaks the Greek record for the 400m with 46.6.
• August 25: Vasilis Lymperis' death sentence is carried out; Vasilis Lymperis is the last person to be executed in Greece.

September

• September 2: Stavros Tziortzis finishes 6th in 400m hurdles (49.7) at the Munich Olympics. John Akii-Bua from Uganda wins the race setting new world record with 47.8.
• September 8: Elias Hadjipavlis wins silver at the Munich Olympiad in Finn class sailing.
• September 10: Petros Galaktopoulos wins silver at the Munich Olympiad in Greco-Roman wrestling.
• September 24: Maroula Lambrou breaks the Greek women's record in the long jump with a jump of 6.00m.
• September 27: Olympiakos defeat Cagliari 1-0 in Italy and advance to the next round of the UEFA Cup.

October

• October 21: An Olympic Airways NIHON YS-11 crashes off the coast of Voula, Athens. 37 passengers and crew (36 passengers and 1 crew member) drown, while 16 passengers and 3 crew members are rescued.
• October 26: Totis Fylakouris is handed a 4-game ban because, prior to Panathinaikos' game against CSKA Sofia, he left a rooster in midfield as an insult to Olympiakos who had lost the previous day 4-0 to Tottenham Hotspur.
• October 31: Dowry offered for officer weddings is no longer endorsed

November

• November 13: The Vardinoyiannis family put into operation the oil refineries of Corinth.
• November 16: 44 persons die as tanker "World Hero" collides with Hellenic Navy vessel "Merlin" just 5 miles from the port of Piraeus.

December

• December 20: Charilaos Florakis is elected Chairman of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), replacing Konstantinos Koligiannis who had resigned for health reasons.
• December 29: Cyprus proclaims presidential elections to be held on February 8, 1973. Makarios is the only expected candidate.

Births

January

• January 2: Christos Meletoglou, athlete (triple jump).
• January 5: Sakis Rouvas, singer.

February

• February 4: Giovanni, football player.

April

• April 19: Rivaldo, football player.

May

• May 26: Panagiotis Engomitis, Cypriot footballer

August

• August 4: Predrag Djordjevic, footballer.
• August 16: Stan Lazaridis, Greek-Australian footballer.

September

• September 8: Panagiotis Stroumbakos, athlete (800m, 1500m)

November

• November 12: Vasilis Tsiartas, footballer
• November 28: Anastasia Kelesidou, athlete

Deaths

January

• January 1: Maximus V, Patriarch of Constantinople
• January 7: Eftychia Papayiannopoulou, song lyricist

February

• February 8: Markos Vamvakaris, composer

July

• July 7: Patriarch Athenagoras

August

• August 3: Yiannis Papaioannou, rebetika songwriter
• August 25: Vasilis Lymperis, last person executed in Greece.

Unknown

• Konstantinos Dovas, general, interim Prime Minister