Monday 28 June 2010

Question for June 28 - PS

In keeping with the soccer fever, here's today's question:

West Germany v Austria (25 June, 1982) was a 1982 FIFA World Cup game held in El Molinón, Gijón, Spain, that changed the rules of future World Cup tournaments ever since. In German the match is known as Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón or Schande von Gijón. In Algeria it is known as the Anschluss.

What happened in the game, and what was the subsequent rule change introdued by FIFA, to prevent such an event ever occurring again?

6 comments:

Nikhil said...

The game went on too long till players were too exhausted to play? And to avoid that FIFA introduced the penalty shoot-outs?

Ankur said...

The last group fixture is played at the same time, to prevent teams already qualified to influence results.

SKK said...

the league matches towards the end are scheduled in parallel since the incident.

I think the buggers played for a draw to kick Algeria out!

Rahul said...

Germany had many former Austrians playing on its team? I think FIFA now has a rule that requires a certain amount of time before naturalised citizens can play for their adopted country.

Sailesh Ganesh said...

West Germany and Austria played out a farce after West Germany scored so that both teams qualified for the next round at Algeria's expense. Now, all final round matches of the same group are held at the same time.

The Answer said...

Nichtangriffspakt von Gijón = Non-aggression pact of Gijón
Schande von Gijón = Shame of Gijón
Anschluss=link-up

West Germany and Austria played for a 1-0 win for West Germany, so that both teams qualified at the expense of Algeria. Any more goals by Germany would mean Austria is out, and a draw or loss for Germany would mean Germany is out.

After this disgraceful game, FIFA changed the rules so that the final two games in each group were played simultaneously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Germany_v_Austria_(1982)

Congrats Ankur, Sanjit and Sailesh. And good guesses Nikhil and Rahul.