| 12/4/2025 | Cristiano Ronaldo, captain of Al-Nassr, scores twice in his team’s victory against Al-Riyadh (2-1) during the 27th round of the Saudi Pro League and becomes the first footballer to reach 500 league victories (Sporting 11, Manchester United 152, Real Madrid 216, Juventus 69, Al-Nassr 52) |
| 12/4/2020 | One of the true greats of Formula 1, Sir Stirling Moss, dies at the age of 90. Often referred to as the greatest driver never to win the world championship, Moss contested 66 Grands Prix from 1951 to 1961, driving for the likes of Vanwall, Maserati and Mercedes, where he famously formed a contented and ruthlessly effective partnership with lead driver Juan Manuel Fangio. In his 10-year career, Moss took 16 wins, some of which rank among the truly iconic drives in the sport's history – his 1961 victories in Monaco and Germany in particular often held up as all-time classics. Following an enforced retirement from racing (bar a brief comeback in saloon cars in the 1980s) after a major crash at Goodwood in 1962, Moss maintained a presence in Formula 1 as both a sports correspondent and an interested observer, before retiring from public life in January of 2018. |
| 12/4/2017 | Cristiano Ronaldo scores twice in the second half to become the first player to reach 100 goals in UEFA club competition and help Real Madrid overturn a first-half headed goal by Arturo Vidal to win at Bayern München (1-2) for the 1st leg of the Champions League 2016-2017 quarter finals. |
| 12/4/2009 | OFI draws 0-0 with Ergotelis at Pagritio Stadium for the 29th day of SuperLeague Greece and relegates to Division B’ after 33 years. Before the start of the game, a one-minute of silence was held in the memory of 32-year-old Thodoris Papadopoulos, president of the “Krites” Fan Club, who lost his life after being in the intensive care unit for two weeks following a motorcycle accident. |
| 12/4/1993 | Russian 31-year-old Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is elected as the first president of Kalmykia. Two and a half years later (November 1995) he will become president of FIDE (World Chess Federation). In 1997 he will claim that a UFO abducted him from his apartment to some kind of star, and after putting him on a spacesuit they showed him around in order to demonstrate that UFOs exist. |
| 12/4/1993 | Greek-American Pete Sampras reaches No1 of world ranking. In 1990 he became the youngest tennis player (19 years and 28 days old) to win the US Open after overcoming Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and Andre Agassi. In 1994 he became the first after Laver (1969) to win 3 consecutive Grand Slam titles. In 1998 he won the Wimbledon title for the 5th time (completing 11 Grand Slam titles) equaling the record of Rod Laver and Bjorn Borg |
| 12/4/1989 | Sugar Ray Robinson, middleweight and heavyweight world champion, dies |
| 12/4/1986 | Greece qualify for the World Volleyball Championship after beating Canada 3-1 at Peace and Friendship Stadium |
| 12/4/1981 | Joe Louis, one of the greatest world heavyweight champions, dies at the age of 67. In 1937 he began a 12-year reign, during which he had 68 victories and lost only 3 times until 1949. Max Schmeling, who was his rival in 1936 and 1938, helped Louis, when he faced health problems, as at that time, Louis, although he had earned $5 million in his career, was poor |
| 12/4/1961 | Yuri Gagarin's Vostok 1 spacecraft orbits earth. Gagarin will get killed in a car accident 7 years later (March 27, 1968) |
| 12/4/1949 | Juventus Vera Cruz players, coach and owner drown when the river boat ''Terror'' sinks |
| 12/4/1924 | England play their first international football match in Wembley against Scotland (1-1). Billy Walker scores the first goal in Wembley |
| 12/4/1913 | Leeds become the first rugby team to score 100 points in a game against Coventry (102-0) |
| 12/4/1911 | Pierre Prier makes the first London - Paris non stop flight in 3 hours and 56 minutes |
| 12/4/1905 | Hippodrome Arena opens in New York |
| 12/4/1877 | Baseball catcher James Alexander Tyng wears the first catcher's mask at Linn, Massachusetts. One year later, on Febtuary 12, he will patent it |
| 12/4/1859 | First international billiard tournament in Detroit. Michael J. Phelan is the winner |
