The 'Disgrace of Gijón', the most scandalous match in World Cup history

There have been many controversial matches throughout World Cup history, but the 1982 Disgrace of Gijón certainly lives up to the billing. Let's take a look back at this fixture that changed football history forever.

In 1982, the World Cup was played in Spain, with Group 2 consisting of West Germany, Austria, Chile and Algeria, who were making their World Cup debut.

Algeria shocked the world on their debut and defeated West Germany 1-2 in their first Group 2 match. One day later, Austria won 0-1 against Chile, earning their first two points, which was the payback for winning a match at the time instead of the modern-day standard of three points.

On the second matchday, West Germany took revenge against Chile, destroying the South Americans 4-1. The Algerians, on the other hand, were unable to continue their winning streak and lost 2-0 to the Austrians.

On the final matchday, Algeria kept their qualification hopes alive by beating Chile 3-2. However, everything depended on the result between West Germany and Austria, who were to meet a day later in El Molinón, Gijón.

Due to the Algeria result and the tie-breaker rules in the group stage, both West Germany and Austria would always advance to the next round if the West Germans won by one or two goals. And both countries were well aware of this...

West Germany took an early lead after ten minutes through striker Horst Hrubesch, a result that would send both the West Germans and the Austrians to the next round. This was also the score at half-time.

In the second half, West Germany and Austria shocked the football world by doing little to nothing. Both teams made no real effort to play a competitive game and allowed themselves to pass the ball back and forth, with little physical challenges from their opponents and no serious attempts at goal.

The Spanish fans in the stadium were furious and expressed their anger by shouting "Fuera, fuera" ("Out, out") and "Argelia, Argelia" ("Algeria, Algeria"), as recalled by the Indian magazine The Week. There were also Algerian fans waving money, as if to say that the match was bribed.

Even the commentators couldn't believe their eyes: according to German sports magazine Kicker, Austrian Robert Seeger even asked the spectators to switch off their TV.

"What’s happening here is disgraceful and has nothing to do with football. You can say what you want, but not every end justifies every means," scolded German commentator Eberhard Stanjek, according to The Irish Times.

The match ended 1-0, and both teams qualified for the next round. The West Germans would eventually reach the final, where they lost 3-1 to Italy, but the match against the Austrians deeply affected the football world.

This was illustrated by the local Gijón newspaper 'El Comercio', which published the match report in its crime section.

Algeria was furious and lodged a formal complaint with FIFA, which concluded that West Germany and Austria had not infringed any rules, as per The Week.

The Disgrace of Gijón had serious consequences for the history of the World Cup. Following the scandal, FIFA decided that from then on the final group matches should be played simultaneously, The Irish Times reported.

The match went down in history as one of the most scandalous moments in World Cup history, and is still widely discussed today.

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