| 18/12/2022 | Argentina are crowned 2022 FIFA World Cup champions after defeating France on penalties 4-2 (2-2 normal time, 3-3 extra time) at the final in Qatar. Lionel Messi receives the Golden Ball awarded to the tournament's best player, Kylian Mbappe takes the Golden Boot after his hat-trick in the final put him on eight goals, Emi Martinez takes Golden Glove and Enzo Fernandez claims the Young Player award. |
| 18/12/2021 | Olympiacos women’s water polo team beat Kinef Kirishi 14-11 winning the European Super Cup, for the 2nd time in their history. That’s the 5th European title for the women’s water polo team of Olympiacos (2 Super Cups, 2 Euroleague titles and one LEN Trophy). |
| 18/12/2000 | West Ham Italian striker Paolo di Canio performs an unprecedented act of good sportsmanship in the match against Everton (1-1). Everton goalkeeper was lying injured in the penalty area when Di Canio received a cross. Faced wth an empty net he chose to catch the ball rather than score a goal that would have probably given West Hame a 2-1 win. Di Canio's career has been blighted by controversy. In 1998 he was banned for 11 games after pushing referee Paul Alcock to the ground following a red card |
| 18/12/1977 | Dusan Bajevic makes his debut with AEK against Kastoria (1-0) |
| 18/12/1974 | Greece break a 40 year-old tradition by winning Bulgaria 2-1 at Karaiskakis stadium (Sarafis, Antoniadis) |
| 18/12/1971 | A historic General Assembly, convened by President Nikos Goulandris, is being held at Olympiacos, during which 481 new members are registered. Among them are Socrates Kokkalis and Miltiadis Marinakis. Until then, members of the Olympiacos team were the "100 Immortals", lifelong members who made all decisions. |
| 18/12/1971 | Robert Tyre “Bobby” Jones Jr, one of the greatest golfers of all time, dies at the age of 69. The golfers on the Old Course at St. Andrew's stop play as the flag in front of the 18th hole is lowered to half-staff for the player who between 1923 and 1930 dominated the game of golf winning at least one national championship every year. Jones shocked the world by retiring in 1930, at the age of 28, and in 2000, Robert Redford, who used to play golf as a stufent, will direct the film "The legend of Bagger Vance", based on his biography |
| 18/12/1963 | Ron Clark breaks the 10km race record in Melbourne (28:15.6). Two years later (July 14, 1965) he will smash his own record in Oslo (27:39.4). One year later (July 5, 1966) he becomes the 5km world record holder (13:16.6) in Stockholm. Clark remained in history as an athlete who broke many records without succeeding in winning any major competition |
| 18/12/1956 | ''Ballon d' Or'' is first awarded by ''France Football'' magazine. 49 journalists choose Stanley Matthews to receive the prize |
| 18/12/1952 | Sugar Ray Robinson announces his retirement from boxing |
