Disgrace of Gijón

Disgrace of Gijón

In 1982, a match between West Germany and Austria earned the moniker "Disgrace of Gijón" because Austria threw their FIFA match to keep Algeria out of the following round. It was so shameful that the German TV commentator refused to talk about the game at one point, the Austrian TV commentator urged viewers to change channels, and the Spanish daily reported the game in their Crimes Section. Following this debacle, the final round of FIFA World Cup Group Stage matches are played concurrently to discourage match-fixing.

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