Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) becomes world heavyweight champion for the first time, defeating Sonny Liston

In a match at the Oval, England cricketer Freddie Trueman becomes the first bowler to take 300 Test wickets

18-year-old Dutch footballer Johann Cruyff joins Ajax, the club with which he will be associated in numerous successes

Stanley Matthews plays his last game for Stoke City after 34 years as a professional football player

Footballer Franz Beckenbauer plays his first international for West Germany

The US tennis player Billie Jean King wins the first of six Wimbledon singles titles

Alf Ramsey (manager) and Bobby Moore (captain) lead the England football team to victory in the World Cup

English yachtsman Francis Chichester completes a record round-the-world voyage, sailing 29,600 miles solo in 226 days

British racing driver Jim Clark is killed in an accident on the Hockenheim circuit, while leading in the world championship

US athlete Bob Beamon sets a world long-jump record of 8.9 metres that will stand for 23 years

Russian chess player Boris Spassky beats Tigran Petrosian to become world champion

19-year-old rugby player J.P.R. Williams makes his debut for Wales in a match against Scotland

Australian tennis player Rod Laver is the first to win the Grand Slam a second time

Scottish Grand Prix racing driver Jackie Stewart wins the first of his three world championship titles

The Northern Irish player George Best is voted European Footballer of the Year

Australian tennis player Margaret Court achieves the grand slam in singles, adding it to her previous grand slam in doubles

Joe Frazier becomes the first boxer to beat Muhammad Ali in a professional fight, at New York's Madison Square Gardens

19-year-old Aboriginal tennis player Evonne Goolagong wins the singles title at Wimbledon

Eleven Israeli athletes are killed by Palestinian 'Black September' terrorists at the Munich Olympic Games

US swimmer Mark Spitz wins seven gold medals in the Munich Olympics

Chess player Bobby Fischer defeats Boris Spassky to become the first US world champion

US tennis player Chris Evert wins the first of three victories at Wimbledon and of seven in the French Open

Jimmy Connors wins both Wimbledon and the US Open, on each occasion defeating the veteran Ken Rosewall

Muhammad Ali regains the world heavyweight title, beating George Foreman in Zaire in a fight that becomes known as the Rumble in the Jungle

Anatoly Karpov becomes world chess champion by default when Bobby Fischer fails to defend his title