FIFA World Cup: Why are final group-stage matches happening at the same time?

There will be adjustments to the match times as the Qatar World Cup enters its last round of group games.

Starting on November 29, group matches will no longer be played in the first and second rounds at different times; they will now be played simultaneously.

Why was the format different?

One have to look back to the 1982 World Cup in Spain to understand why this is happening. On June 25, 1982, West Germany and Austria played in a group match at the El Molinon stadium in Gijon, Spain. This event is now known as the “Disgrace of Gijon.”

Algeria beat West Germany 2-1 on the first day of the 1982 edition, giving it a memorable start. With the victory, Algeria made history at the FIFA World Cup by defeating a European team for the first time. After losing 0-2 to Austria in its second game, it defeated Chile 3-2 to finish first in its group. Algeria also made history by being the first African team to ever win two World Cups with two victories.

West Germany and Austria’s paths to qualifying were easy because Algeria played its final group game the day before them.

The Germans and Austria would have qualified based on goal differential if West Germany had won by one or two goals. Algeria and the former would have qualified if West Germany had won by four goals or more. Algeria and Austria would have advanced to the next tiebreaker had West Germany won by exactly three goals (goals scored). Austria could have qualified only if it scored two goals or more in its loss to West Germany in that scenario, when West Germany had won by a margin of three and the other two teams competed in a tiebreaker ( i.e 5-2 or 6-3 etc.)

In the opening 10 minutes of the game, the Germans only scored one goal. West Germany won the game 1-0 as the pace of play steadily slowed down and neither team made any discernible effort to play.

What resulted from the “Disgrace of Gijon”?

West Germany and Austria were charged with rigging the results to let both of the European countries advance. FIFA, however, determined that neither team had actually infringed any rules.

FIFA changed the format of group games for next competitions so that the final two games in each group would be played simultaneously to avoid situations like the “Disgrace of Gijon.”