What is the ‘Disgrace of Gijon’? How Austria and Algeria are tied historically ahead of their Group J finale? All you need to know

A history so intriguing that all football fans must know about the “Disgrace of Gijon” ahead of Austria’s much anticipated FIFA World Cup 2026 Group J finale against Algeria

Published: June 25, 2026, 7:06 PM IST

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Amine Gouiri (bottom) of Algeria (L) celebrates with supporters after scoring his side’s second goal during the Group J match between Jordan and Algeria at the 2026 FIFA World Cup at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. Austria’s (R) Marko Arnautovic (2nd L) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal that was later disallowed during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Group J match between Austria and Jordan at the San Francisco Bay Area Stadium in San Francisco. (Credits: IANS)

History will be relived and memories will be revived when North African outfit Algeria lock horns with European minnows Austria in their last Group J outing of the FIFA World Cup 2026 in two days’ time at the Kansas City Stadium. This fixture holds plenty of significance not only in terms of their qualification hopes but also for a separate historic reason.

The last time these two teams met at the FIFA World Cup was way back in 1982 when Spain hosted the quadrennial event featuring 24 teams. Algeria and Austria were placed in the same group along with West Germany and Chile.

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It was an exciting group where Algeria, Austria and West Germany were tied on 4 points each with both the European teams proceeding to the next round on goal difference. The North Africans, too, had good chances of going ahead but would you believe if we tell you that they were deliberately kept at 3rd place?

It’s what exactly Austria and West Germany did. The Austrians had actually connived their continental counterparts to make sure that they go through to the next round and not Algeria but how did they make it happen?

Algeria had staged a massive upset in their group opener, beating West Germany 3-2 before losing to Austria and defeating Chile 3-2 in their group finale. As a result, the North Africans had 4 points to their name, since only two points were awarded for a win back then. Their chances depended on the result of the group decider between Austria and West Germany but after the 90 minutes, the fixture was declared as a disgrace.

Austria knew that they could qualify for the next stage even if they lose against West Germany and that’s exactly what they did. After the Germans took an early lead in the 10th minute, the two teams went on to just casually pass the ball around until the full-time whistle to ensure Algeria’s elimination.

And since the city of Gijon hosted this fixture, it was labelled as the “Disgrace of Gijon”. This had the Spanish fans go absolutely furious as they waved white scarves as a sign of disapproval. Former Algerian player Rabah Madjer came out in public to express his disappointment, stating that not letting Algeria, a nation that qualified for its first-ever World Cup, qualify to the next round was shocking.

“Even ​though we had somewhat expected it, we were all angry, outraged and stunned. That two ​major football nations could agree to eliminate a small country like Algeria, playing in its first World Cup and just emerging on the international stage, was shocking,”

1974 World Cup winning defender with Germany Paul Breitner did not find anything wrong in it as he claimed that the public were at fault to not understand that it was qualification that mattered the most. “The public is stupid if it doesn’t understand ​that qualification was all that mattered here,”

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42 years later, Austria and Algeria are in the same group but this time, both the teams’ qualification to the round of 32, lies in their own hands. A win for either sides will see them through to the knockouts. It will be interesting to see if the Algerians will make the Austrians pay for their mistake on Sunday, June 28.