| 20/1/2019 | At the Australian Open, the first of 4 "Grand Slams" in tennis, Stefanos Tsitsipas eliminates Roger Federer, the world's greatest "all time" tennis player, 3-1 (6-7, 7-6, 7-5, 7-6) in 3 hours and 45 minutes and forces John McEnroe to write: "This is a change of baton |
| 20/1/2014 | Kostas Filinis, top executive of the Communist Party, one of the pioneers of the foundation of the Communist Party in Greece and MEP, dies at the age of 93. He was an author and translator of many books (J. Guillaumon., A. Gramsci, Karl Marx, etc.) and also fond of chess. In 1672, he released the "Game Theory", the first book written in Greek in this field, which he wrote in prison, highlighting the "importance of sacrifice and overturn". Manolis Glezos will bid farewell with his poem "The theory of games." |
| 20/1/2008 | Valladolid's Joseba Llorente opens the scoring for his club in just 7.82 seconds against Espanol, breaking the record for the fastest goal in La Liga once held by Uruguayan Dario Silva, who had scored against Valladolid in 8 seconds during the 2000-01 season. For more than two decades, the record for the fastest goal was held by Lobo Diarte. The Paraguayan player of Valencia in the 1978/79 season had scored in 10 seconds against Elche. |
| 20/1/2006 | Former international FIFA referee (1958-1968) 85-year-old Petros Tzouvaras dies at Volos. He was considered the "father" of greek referees having written many guide and rule books |
| 20/1/1999 | IOC member Finnish Pirjo Haeggman resigns after the Salt Lake scandal breaks out because her husband was member of the 2002 Salt Lake organizing committee. Many IOC members involved in the case will follow her example (Attarabulsi, Arroyo, Ganga, Geesnik, Santande and Sibandze) |
| 20/1/1997 | 20 year-old Brazilian striker Ronaldo is crowned ''world player of the year'' in a poll of more than 100 international coaches. Last year's winner George Weah comes second |
| 20/1/1994 | Legendary Manchester United coach Sir Matt Busby dies aged 84 |
| 20/1/1990 | IAAF decides to strip Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson of his medals and records after the doping scandal in the Seoul 1988 Olympics |
| 20/1/1983 | Manuel dos Santos Francisco Garincha, the greatest dribbler in football history, dies at the age of 49 of cirrhosis of the liver. Garincha, who was an alcoholic forgotten hero, and whose name means “wren” (little bird) is considered one of the best dribblers in football history, and the best Brazilian player ever after Pele |
| 20/1/1976 | Iraklis fans react violently outside the courthouse in Salonica, when the trial, against Antonis Mantzavelakis, general manager of Panathinaikos is postponed for next month (17/2) due to the absence of the “intermediate” Giorgos Rokidis, who was supposed to persuade his co-players to allow Panathinaikos win the match. The case, known as “case of the flowers” was initially closed on 12/12/1975, when the football federation decided that there was nothing suspicious to be proven, but justice had to confirm this in the court |
| 20/1/1976 | PSAP is founded. Mimis Domazos is the first president (till December 10, 1978). Mimis Papaioannou succeeds him (till October 20, 1980). From that day on, Antonis Antoniadis takes charge (except for a short spell when he was appointed general manager of Panathinaikos and was replaced by Giannis Gounaris) |
| 20/1/1963 | Panathinaikos is defeated by Real Madrid with 97-73 for the European Champions Cup. It is the first international match played at the “Indian Tomb”, Panathinaikos’ home ground. Giorgos Vassilakopoulos (2), later Hellenic Basketball Federation and FIBA Europe president, Petros Panagiotarakos (24), Tavoularis (20), Zannis (4), Liamis (17), Katsikidis (2) and Koukopoulos (4) play for Panathinaikos. Gofredo Sussi from Italy and Guduz Aktug from Turkey are the referrees and Kostas Simonidis is the table official |
| 20/1/1952 | Patricia McCromik becomes the first professional female bullfighter |
| 20/1/1898 | Atletic Bilbao is founded by 33 men, students who played football in England and workers in Bilbao |
