Disgrace of Gijón

The Disgrace of Gijón (Spanish: Desgracia de Gijón) is one of many names given in hindsight to the 1982 FIFA World Cup football match played at the El Molinón stadium in Gijón, Spain, on 25 June 1982, with West Germany beating Austria 1-0 and both teams advancing to the next round while Algeria was eliminated by the goal scoring tie breaker mainly due to having played its last game a day earlier without knowing how many goals would be needed. In German, the match is known as Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón (lit. "Non-aggression pact of Gijón") or Schande von Gijón (lit. "Disgrace of Gijón"), while in Algeria it is called فضيحة خيخون (faḍīḥat Khīkhūn, "Scandal of Gijón"), and in French: le Match de la honte (lit. "The Shameful Match"); it has also been satirically referred to as the Anschluss (a reference to the annexation of Austria by Germany in 1938).

The Algerian team had beaten two-time World Champions and reigning European Champions Germany 2-1 in the first round, then had lost to Austria 0-2 before beating Chile 3-2 after leading 3-0. As the last game of the first-round Group 2 was scheduled a day later, the two German-speaking teams had an advantage in knowing that a low-score West German win would qualify both, while they were eliminated following their WC 1978 meeting. After a German goal early in the game, the match remained competitive before the teams in the second half started to "defend" the 1-0 score as there was little benefit for each side in trying harder. Many spectators, mostly Algerians, were not happy about the perceived lack of effort, and accused the West German and Austrian teams of manipulation.

After Chile had lost all of its three games, and the other three teams had beaten each other up to now, West Germany was in a "do or die" situation to catch up. A win over Austria would cause a Mexican standoff between three teams, with the difference of goals scored and allowed being the tiebreaker in the group stage. With Algeria being at 0 in this category, and the others both positive mainly due to wins against Chile, they had an undeserved advantage due to playing later, plus a partially deserved advantage in the tie breaker. A West German win by one or two goals would ensure that both Austria and West Germany advanced to the next round. After West Germany scored the only goal in the first 10 minutes of the match, the game remained exhilarating until the hitherto dominant Germany slowed down to play on the counterattack towards half-time. The first audible unrest occurred after 52 minutes after a long pass back to the halfway line. The game progressively deteriorated to a virtual standstill in the second half.

Despite widespread condemnation and a formal complaint lodged by Algeria – who were consequently eliminated – FIFA ruled that neither team had broken any rules.

Following this match, along with similar matches at the previous World Cup in Argentina, FIFA subsequently revised the group system for future tournaments so that the final two games in each group would be played simultaneously. This change made it highly impractical for teams to engage in any form of match-fixing, since they would not know what result was required ahead of time.