1968

Events

January

• January 30: Junta-appointed Secretary General of Athletics, Lt. Col. Kostas Aslanidis, blasts corruption in football in a speech in Thessaloniki. He alleges that Panathinaikos fixed games, that footballers Tzekos Ballarinis and Kostas Vallianos threw games for money and that several referees and linesmen had been paid off.

February

• February 25: Archbishop Makarios III is re-elected President of Cyprus obtaining 220,911 votes (96.29%) out of 229,488 valid votes cast. Takis Evdokas received a mere 8,577 votes (3.71%).

March

• March 5: The National Route between Larisa and Thessaloniki is completed.
• March 30: Dictator George Papadopoulos adopts the slogan "Greece of Greek Christians".

April

• April 4: In the Panathenaic Stadium, before 80,000 fans, AEK defeat Slavia Prague 89-82 and win the European Cup-winners Cup of Basketball.

July

• July 31: American chess Grandmaster Bobby Fisher plays five simultaneous games in Athens against Greek chess masters. He wins four - against Apostolopoulos, Christos Kokkoris, Ornithopoulos and Lazaros Vyzantiadis - and draws against Giorgos Trikaliotis.

August

• August 13: Alexandros Panagoulis attempts to assassinate Dictator George Papadopoulos. The attempt fails.

October

• October 16: In the Olympic Games of Mexico City, pole vaulter Christos Papanikolaou, breaks the Greek record with a jump of 5.35m but fails to win a medal as he finishes 4th.
• October 20: Aristotle Onassis marries Jackie Kennedy at island of Skorpios.
• October 27: Goalkeeper Stelios Serafeidis is sent off in an Olympiakos - AEK derby. He is replaced by...forward Mimis Papaioannou who makes the save of the match in the 89th minute to preserve a 3-2 AEK victory.

November

• November 3: The funeral for Georgios Papandreou turns into a protest against the military government of Georgios Papadopoulos

December

• December 11: Greece defeat then-powerhouse Portugal 4-2 in a qualifier of the 1970 World Cup. In utter frustration, Eusebio - considered the best player in Europe - spits at Greek right winger Stathis Haitas.

Births

March

• March 18: Temuri Ketsbaia, football player and coach

June

• June 9: Niki Bakogianni, female athlete.

October

• October 10: Marinos Ouzounidis, football player and coach

December

• December 16: Petros Marinakis footballer for OFI, Olympiakos and CF Sevilla.

Deaths

July

• July 14 : Ilias Tsirimokos, politician, briefly Prime Minister of Greece

November

• November 1 : Georgios Papandreou, politician, Prime Minister of Greece