Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

match played on 8 August 1936 during the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

at Hertha Platz in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. The match became notable for causing controversy after it was annulled because of a pitch invasion from Peruvian supporters who had assaulted the Austrian players. Peru had three of its five

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

goals disallowed by the referee and ended up winning the match 4–2. After the incidents,

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

ordered the match to be played again without attending. As the Peruvian representatives could not appeal the decision and withdrew without attending the replay (following an order of president Óscar R. Benavides.), Austria were declared winners, advancing to the semifinals.Hace 75 años Perú se retiró de Berlín 36 tras "humillar" a Hitler
on El Comercio, 10 August 2011 In the first stage of the tournament, Peru (whose squad comprised members of Alianza Lima, Universitario de Deportes and 1935 league champions Sport Boys) defeated

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

7–3 (with Lolo Fernández scoring five goals), while Austria beat

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

3–1.

Match

Summary

Walter Werginz opened the scoring for Austria in the 23rd minute, to give the Austrian side a one-goal lead. Shortly after, in the 37th minute of action, Klement Steinmetz put a ball past Peruvian keeper Juan Valdivieso to double Austria's early lead. After 45 minutes of play, the scoreline was 0–2 in favour of the Austrians. Trailing 0–2, with elimination from the tournament at stake, the Peruvians entered the second half with renewed determination. In the 75th minute, they scored their first goal through Jorge Alcalde. Six minutes later, in the 81st minute of play, Alejandro Villanueva scored the equalizer. The remaining minutes of the match saw no further scoring, and the match went to extra time. During extra time, Peru netted the ball five times, but three goals were disallowed by the referee and they went on to win 4–2.

Details

Post-match

The Austrians demanded a rematch on the grounds that Peruvian fans had stormed the field, which then did not meet the requirements for a football game. Austria further claimed that the Peruvian players had manhandled the Austrians and that spectators, one holding a revolver, had "swarmed down on the field." Peru was summoned on this issue but were delayed by a Nazi parade. FIFA accepted that the pitch had been invaded and that an Austrian player had been assaulted. The Peruvian arguments were not heard, the Olympic Committee and

ruled in favour of Austria, ordering a rematch inside closed doors, initially for 10 August, but later rescheduled for 11 August 1936. As a protest against these actions, which the Peruvians deemed as insulting and discriminatory, the entire Olympic delegations of Peru and

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

left Germany. Argentina,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

, and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

expressed their solidarity with Peru. Miguel Dasso, a member of the Peruvian Olympic Committee, stated: "We have no faith in European athletics. We have come here and found a bunch of merchants." The game was awarded to Austria by default. When the Peruvian team and delegation came back to Callao, they were warmly welcomed by thousands of people who acclaimed them as the true champions. In Peru, angry crowds protested against the decisions of the Olympic Committee by tearing down an Olympic flag, throwing stones at the German consulate, refusing to load German vessels in the docks of Callao, and listening to inflammatory speeches which included President Oscar Benavides Larrea's mention of "the crafty Berlin decision." It is popularly believed that

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

and the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

authorities might have had some involvement in this situation, though this was not claimed at the time. Peru was coached by Alberto Denegri, whereas Austria was managed by Englishman James Hogan. Austria won silver in the tournament. Three years later Peru won the 1939 South American Championship.

Legacy

Uruguayan writer

Eduardo Galeano Eduardo Germán María Hughes Galeano (; 3 September 1940 – 13 April 2015) was a Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist considered, among other things, "a literary giant of the Latin American left" and "global soccer's pre-eminent man of le ...

referred to the match as "the history of dignity", stating that the Olympic Committee ruled that the match had to be played again alleging that they could not allow a team formed by ''

mestizo ( , ; fem. , literally 'mixed person') is a term primarily used to denote people of mixed European and Indigenous ancestry in the former Spanish Empire. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturall ...

s'' defeat an

aryan race The Aryan race is a pseudoscientific historical race concepts, historical race concept that emerged in the late-19th century to describe people who descend from the Proto-Indo-Europeans as a Race (human categorization), racial grouping. The ter ...

squad when

nazism Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was fre ...

was in full swing.El día que la selección peruana humilló a Hitler
on BBVA.com by Nelson Alvarado In 2014, it was announced that a 10-part miniseries (named ''Goleadores'') produced by French Michel Gómez and inspired on the match, would be made. Gómez stated that it "was based on real facts because FIFA was under pressure from the nazi government to annull the game. The miniseries was starred by Peruvian and Argentine actors and filmed in

Lima Lima ( ; ), founded in 1535 as the Ciudad de los Reyes (, Spanish for "City of Biblical Magi, Kings"), is the capital and largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rive ...

.Miniserie recrea "mano" de Hitler en Berlín 1936
''Gaceta Mercantil'', 17 Jul 2014

References