World Cup scandal that triggered simultaneous group matches
Updated . First published
The World Cup has entered its final round of group games, which means both matches in each of the 12 groups will kick off at the same time.
The reason FIFA brought in simultaneous kick-offs for the final round of matches is because of the “Disgrace of Gijon” match at the 1982 World Cup, in which West Germany and Austria essentially fixed their final group match to ensure they both progressed and knocked Algeria, which was playing its first World Cup, out of the tournament.
Friendly hugs and handshakes after the match mark a collusive game between Germany and Austria in 1982. Getty
Friendly hugs and handshakes infuriated fans after the match. The game ended with furious protests from the 40,000 spectators and was considered one of the biggest scandals in World Cup history.
The scandal played out after Algeria shocked the Germans with a 2-1 win in the opening match. They then lost to Austria and beat Chile.
Austria had also beaten Chile and were through with two wins, as did Germany. A 1-0 win against Austria would have been enough for the Germans to go through.
Germany scored about 10 minutes in, and then both teams virtually stopped playing. They just passed the ball around, with neither side making any attacking moves.
As a result, FIFA changed the scheduling to stop such an event ever happening again.
But in a twist of irony, Algeria and Austria are playing their final group clash on Sunday morning, and both would surely far prefer to lose to give themselves a more favourable round-of-32 opponent.
Argentina has already locked itself in as winner of Group J. Austria and Algeria are also through, albeit one in second and one as a highest-ranked third place finisher.
However, neither will really want to finish second, because they’ll come up against Spain.
The third-place finisher is most-likely to play Switzerland -- a significantly easier challenge than Spain.
The introduction of head-to-head as the tiebreaker between teams level on points, rather than goal difference, means some teams will have a clearer understanding of what they need to advance.
