IF this type of game was to happen today the likelihood of both nations being banned from international football for lengthy periods would have high.

For this clash was anti-football at its absolute worst, and it turned the 1982 tournament in Spain into a farce.

What was the moment: ‘The Disgrace of Gijon’

Which World Cup was it? Spain, 1982

Match between: West Germany and Austria

It was a match fixed before our very eyes: the final Group 2 match at the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

In those days a very trusting FIFA allowed the other group game to go ahead 24 hours earlier before the second stage of the World Cup began.

Algeria was on four points after a win over Chile and an opening win over West Germany before one of the most sickening soccer matches in history took place (FIFA at the time awarded teams two points for a win rather than the three of today).

The Algerians needed Austria to draw or beat West Germany to qualify for the second round.

What unfolded after West Germany got the goal to propel both nations to the next stage of the tournament was mind-boggling.

Horst Hrubesch nailed the goal they were all looking for in the 10th minute. From there, the game was shameful.

Both nations actually stopped playing, refusing to get the ball forward for most of the clash.

In Algeria the clash is known as the Anschluss — a reference to the unification of Austria and Nazi Germany in 1938.

One TV commentator from Austria, Robert Seeger, asked viewers to turn their sets off.

West Germany’s ARD TV commentator Eberhard Stanjek at one stage of the match refused to commentate on what his eyes were seeing.

The clash was best summed up in Spain’s daily Gijon-based newspaper El Comercio.

The tabloid printed the match report in the crime section.

The clash however did prompt FIFA to change its regulations with all final round group World Cup matches now played simultaneously.

RE-LIVE THE GREATEST MOMENTS:

DAY ONE: Diego Maradona’s Hand of God goal

DAY TWO: Roy Keane’s epic ‘f*****g” rant

DAY THREE: Luis Suarez’s extraordinary brain explosion

DAY FOUR: The greatest goal celebration in World Cup history

DAY FIVE: The battle of Nuremberg

DAY SIX: The humiliation of Brazil

DAY SEVEN: Escobar’s deadly own goal

DAY EIGHT: The greatest Brazil team ever assembled

DAY NINE: South Korea’s fairytale run at ‘corrupt’ Cup

DAY 10: Tragic tale of Brazil’s most hated man

DAY 11: Dennis Bergkamp’s impossibly perfect touch

DAY 12: Zaire’s free kick madness

DAY 13: France’s mutinous meltdown

DAY 14: The birth of the Cruyff turn

DAY 15: Rossi magic stuns Brazil’s best

DAY 16: Beckenbauer’s pain-defying act of bravery

DAY 17: The drug-fuelled fall of Diego Maradona

DAY 18: The ageless Roger Milla’s 1990 goalfest

DAY 19: England’s greatest humiliation

DAY 20: Rivaldo’s laughably awful dive

DAY 21: The arrival of Pele’s Brazil

DAY 22: Kuwait sheik calls for midgame walk-off

DAY 23: Banks’ greatest save of all time

DAY 24: Toto Schillaci’s World Cup fireworks

DAY 25: Slumber in Seville, the extraordinary 1982 semi-final