3 infamous controversies in the World Cup

#2 The disgrace of Gijon (1982)

West Germany v Austria - 1982 FIFA World Cup

The World cried for Algeria and spat on West Germany and Austria after this match.

The World Cup of 1982 produced one of the most disgraceful matches in the history of football. It was the last match of the first round for the second group to be played between West Germany and Austria.

The other two teams - Algeria and Chile had already played their last game the day before. West Germany and Austria were aware that a win for West Germany would see both of them through to the next round at the expense of Algeria. Algeria, having beaten West Germany, needed an Austrian victory to proceed to the next round.

Germans began the game on an aggressive note and went on to score the first goal of the match after 10 minutes through Horst Hrubesch. The next 80 minutes that followed the goal saw both the teams settling down and passing the ball aimlessly. No real attempts were made to score from either side.

West Germany was a footballing giant in the days. Their attitude towards the game faced a lot of criticism. Some Algerian fans went on to throw money on the field. The events led to an investigation of a possible match-fixing scandal, but both the teams were cleared of any allegations later on by FIFA.