Disgrace of Gijón

West Germany v Austria

El Molinón held the match
Event 1982 FIFA World Cup
Date 25 June 1982
Venue El Molinón, Gijón, Spain
Referee Bob Valentine
Attendance 41,000

The Disgrace of Gijón refers to the 1982 FIFA World Cup football match played between West Germany and Austria at the El Molinón stadium, Gijón, Spain, on 25 June 1982. The match was the last game of the first-round Group 2, with Algeria and Chile having played the day before. With the outcome of that match already decided, a win by one or two goals for West Germany would result in both them and Austria qualifying at the expense of Algeria, who had beaten West Germany in the first game. After 10 minutes, West Germany took the lead. Thereafter, neither team scored, and few scoring chances were created, along with much own-half passing and few tackles: with both sets of players flamboyantly missing with no clear attempt to guide the ball whenever they shot on goal.[1]

As a result of this, and similar events at the previous World Cup in Argentina, FIFA revised the group system for future tournaments, so that the final two games in each group would be played simultaneously.[2] In German, the match is known as Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón (lit. "Non-aggression pact of Gijón") or Schande von Gijón (lit. "Disgrace of Gijón"),[3] while in Algeria it is known as the Anschluss.[4]

Background

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Austria 220030+34
 Algeria 32015504
 West Germany 210153+22
 Chile 300338−50

Algeria began their campaign by recording a shock 2–1 win over West Germany on the opening day, referred to as the "greatest World Cup upset since North Korea beat Italy in 1966" at the time,[5] and retrospectively as "one of the biggest shocks in World Cup history".[6] Algeria became the first African team to defeat a European team at the FIFA World Cup. They then went on to lose 0–2 to Austria before beating Chile 3–2 in their final match. The Chile victory made Algeria the first African team to win twice at a World Cup.[6]

As Algeria played that final match the day before West Germany met Austria, the two European teams knew what result they needed in order to qualify for the next round. A German win by one or two goals would see both West Germany and Austria qualify. A larger West German victory, by three goals or more, would see West Germany and Algeria qualify (because Algeria had scored more goals than Austria, they would qualify even with the same goal difference) while a draw or an Austrian win would eliminate the Germans.

Match summary

After ten minutes of furious attack, West Germany succeeded in scoring through a goal by Horst Hrubesch. After the goal was scored, the team in possession of the ball often passed between themselves in their own half until an opposition player came into the vicinity of the ball. The ball was then passed back to the goalkeeper. Isolated long balls were played into the opposition's half, with little consequence. For the next 80 minutes there were few serious attempts on goal, e.g. by Wolfgang Dremmler of West Germany. The only Austrian player who seemed to make any effort at livening the game up was Walter Schachner, though he had little success.

This performance was widely deplored by all observers. German ARD commentator Eberhard Stanjek at one point refused to comment on the game any longer. Austrian commentator Robert Seeger bemoaned the spectacle and actually requested that the viewers should switch off their television sets. George Vecsey, a New York Times journalist writing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette stated that the teams "seemed to work in concert", though added that proving such would be impossible.[5]

Likewise, many spectators were not impressed and voiced their disgust with the players. Chants of "Fuera, fuera" ("Out, out") and "Que se besen, que se besen" ("Let them kiss, let them kiss") were screamed by the appalled Spanish crowd, while angry Algerian supporters waved banknotes at the players. The match was criticized even by the German and Austrian fans who had hoped for a hot rematch of the 1978 World Cup match, the so-called "Miracle of Córdoba", in which Austria had beaten West Germany; one German fan burned the national flag in protest.[7][8] El Comercio, the local newspaper, printed the match report in the paper's crime section.[9]

Match details

25 June 1982
17:15 CEST
West Germany  1–0  Austria
Hrubesch  10' Report
El Molinón, Gijón
Attendance: 41,000
Referee: Bob Valentine (Scotland)
West Germany
Austria
GK 1 Harald Schumacher
SW 15 Uli Stielike
RB 20Manfred Kaltz
LB 2 Hans-Peter Briegel
CB 4 Karlheinz Förster
CM 3 Paul Breitner
CM 6 Wolfgang Dremmler
CM 14Felix Magath
RF 11 Karl-Heinz Rummenigge  66'
FW 9 Horst Hrubesch  10'  68'
LF 7 Pierre Littbarski
Substitutes:
GK 21 Bernd Franke
GK 22 Eike Immel
DF 5 Bernd Förster
FW 8 Klaus Fischer  68'
MF 10 Hansi Müller
DF 12 Wilfried Hannes
FW 13 Uwe Reinders
FW 16 Thomas Allofs
MF 17 Stephan Engels
MF 18 Lothar Matthäus  66'
DF 19 Holger Hieronymus
Manager:
Germany Jupp Derwall
GK 1 Friedrich Koncilia
DF 2 Bernd Krauss
DF 3 Erich Obermayer
DF 4 Josef Degeorgi
DF 5 Bruno Pezzey
MF 6 Roland Hattenberger
FW 7 Walter Schachner  32'
MF 8 Herbert Prohaska
FW 9 Hans Krankl
MF 10Reinhold Hintermaier  32'
DF 19Heribert Weber
Substitute:
GK 21 Herbert Feurer
GK 22 Klaus Lindenberger
MF 11 Kurt Jara
DF 12 Anton Pichler
DF 13 Max Hagmayr
MF 14 Ernst Baumeister
MF 15 Johann Dihanich
MF 16 Gerald Messlender
MF 17 Johann Pregesbauer
FW 18 Gernot Jurtin
FW 20 Kurt Welzl
Manager:
Austria Felix Latzke & Georg Schmidt

Aftermath

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 West Germany 320163+34
 Austria 320131+24
 Algeria 32015504
 Chile 300338−50

With West Germany's 1–0 victory, they joined Austria and Algeria with four points in three matches. The teams were separated by goal difference, with West Germany and Austria progressing to the next round of the tournament at the expense of Algeria.

It appears that this was a case of spontaneous match-fixing, in which Austria gave up their opportunity to be first in the group (by winning or drawing the match) in exchange for a sure opportunity to advance. The bargaining positions of the two teams was affected by West Germany being in danger of elimination if it failed to win, but also being the higher-ability team.[10]

The Algerian football officials were furious and lodged an official protest. However no rules were technically broken as a result of the match, so FIFA declined to take any action or investigation and the outcome was allowed to stand. Both teams denied any collusion during the match.[11] West Germany manager Jupp Derwell defended his team from the criticism, pointing out that Uli Stielike and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge were both unfit.[12]

In addition, the president of the Algerian Football Federation opined that referee Bob Valentine should have intervened and his failure to do so was worthy of complaint.[13]

The West Germans made it to the final, where they lost to Italy 3–1. Austria fell at the next group stage, to the benefit of eventual fourth-place finishers France.

The direct consequence of the game was that from Euro 1984 and World Cup 1986 onward, the final pair of group matches in international tournaments always start at the same time.[14]

In Euro 2004 Group C, it was alleged that Denmark and Sweden deliberately played to a 2–2 draw which saw both teams advance at the expense of Italy.[nb 1] UEFA refused to investigate.[15][16]

At the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the last ten minutes of the group match between Chile and Spain saw similar behaviour.[17]

At the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the United States had unexpectedly made it to the end of the Group stages as favorites to make it to the group of 16, all they needed to guarantee it was a tie with Germany in the final group game, this fact combined with the friendship between German coach Joachim Löw and the USs German coach Jürgen Klinsmann caused fears of similar collusion, once the game started, those fears were eliminated as both sides played a competitive match and at the 55th minute Thomas Müller scored the only goal of the game, which had it not been for a favorable result from the game between Ghana and Portugal would've knocked the Americans out of the tournament. Germany (the inheritor of the West Germany side from 1982) played Algeria in the last 16 of the World Cup. Lakhdar Belloumi, who scored the winning goal in 1982, claimed that the 2014 Algerian side would be "inspired" to gain "revenge" due to the events 32 years before.[18] However, Germany went on to win 2–1 in extra time after a hard-fought match.[19]

In the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup, the final group stage matches of all North American Football Union teams are played two hours and thirty minutes later than the others, similar to the Disgrace of Gijón.[20]

Notes

  1. ↑ The 2–2 draw between Denmark and Sweden ensured the elimination of Italy, which simultaneously played its last group match against already-eliminated Bulgaria, because UEFA's tiebreakers took into consideration head-to-head results before overall goal difference. Because both Sweden and Denmark had lower-scoring draws with Italy, and because both teams had beaten Bulgaria, it was known prior to the final pair of group matches that a draw of 2–2 or higher score would eliminate Italy regardless of the result of their match with Bulgaria.

References

  1. ↑ "World Cup: 25 stunning moments ... No3: West Germany 1-0 Austria in 1982". Guardian. 25 February 2014. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Booth, Lawrence; Smyth, Rob (11 August 2004). "What's the dodgiest game in football history?". The Guardian (London).
  3. ↑ Smyth, Rob (25 February 2014). "No3: West Germany 1–0 Austria in 1982". The Guardian. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  4. ↑ Spurling, Jon (2010). Death or Glory The Dark History of the World Cup. p. 67. ISBN 978-1905326-80-8.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Vecsey, George (29 June 1982). "When West Germany and Austria danced a Vienna waltz". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. p. 12. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Murray, Scott; Walker, Rowan (2008). "June 25 - West Germany 1-0 Austria: 'El Anchluss' (1982)". Day of the Match. Boxtree. p. 183. ISBN 978-0-7522-2678-1.
  7. ↑ "World Cup Tales: The Shame Of Gijon, 1982". twohundredpercent.net (London). 9 May 2010. Retrieved 30 December 2010.
  8. ↑ Doyle, Paul (13 June 2010). "The day in 1982 when the world wept for Algeria". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 30 December 2011.
  9. ↑ Honigstein, Raphael (29 June 2014). "Germany won't repeat 1982 mistakes". espnfc.com (ESPN). Retrieved 16 July 2014.
  10. ↑ Caruso, R (2007), The Economics of Match-Fixing (PDF)
  11. ↑ Molinaro, John (16 June 2008). "No agreement between Germany and Austria this time around". CBC Sports. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  12. ↑ "German victory in World Cup stirs controversy". Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press; United Press International. 26 June 1982. p. 10. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  13. ↑ "Cup game labeled as 'fix'". The Register-Guard (Eugene). 26 June 1982. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  14. ↑ "The Game that Changed the World Cup — Algeria". algeria.com. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  15. ↑ "Uefa will not investigate". BBC Sport. 22 June 2004. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  16. ↑ "Italy angry at rivals' draw". BBC Sport. 23 June 2004. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  17. ↑ Ingle, Sean (25 June 2010). "World Cup 2010: Spain survive – and steer clear of Brazil". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 June 2014.
  18. ↑ Doyle, Paul (29 June 2014). "Algeria’s 1982 World Cup veterans eager but not bitter before Germany tie". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  19. ↑ Ashdown, John (1 July 2014). "Algeria fail to avenge Disgrace of Gijón against Germany". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
  20. ↑ Why are the final group stage matches at the World Cup played simultaneously?

External links