1968

Events

January

• January 28: Andreas Filotas becomes the first goalkeeper to score in an Alpha Ethniki match, slotting home a penalty in the game between Olympiakos Lefkosia and Proodeftiki (2-1).
• 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 18: The KKE Interior is formed after a split in the ranks of the Communist Party of Greece.
• February 19: A major earthquake (7.1 on the Richter scale) strikes the island of Agios Efstratios.
• February 25: Archbishop Makarios III is re-elected President of Cyprus obtaining 220,911 votes (96.29%) out of 229,488 valid votes cast. Dr Takis Evdokas receives 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.

May

• May 9: MP Giorgis Tsarouchas (EDA) is killed in Thessaloniki after apparently being tortured during interrogation.

June

• June 13: Tanker "World Glory" - owned by Stavros Niarchos - sinks off the coast of South Africa. Of the 34-member crew (33 Greeks and one Irishman) only ten survive.

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 13: Olympiakos play against AEK in a game where all the proceeds were given for the benefit of cancer-stricken Olympiakos striker Aristides Papazoglou.
• 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
• November 8: Two Italians attempt to hijack an Olympic Airways aircraft after its departure from Orly Airport, Paris, France.
• November 17: Alekos Panagoulis is sentenced to death for his attempt to assassinate dictator George 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.
• December 26: Two Palestinians attack a Boeing 707 aircraft belonging to El Al at Ellinikon International Airport. An Israeli mechanic is killed.

Births

February

• February 25: Evridiki, singer

March

• March 18: Temuri Ketsbaia, football player and coach

June

• June 9: Niki Bakogianni, female athlete.
• June 24: Alexandros Terzian, athlete (100m).

October

• October 10: Marinos Ouzounidis, football player and coach
• October 21: Alekos Alexandris, footballer

December

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

Deaths

March

• March 15: Yiannis Pasalidis, politician

June

• June 9: Chrysostom II, Archbishop of Athens

July

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

November

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