Why is there a World Cup third place play-off between England and France?

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The World Cup third place playoff is viewed through many lenses. For some, this is a game that no team wants to play. For others, it’s football’s most famous make-up match, or a chance for players to tinker with statistics.

The two losing semi-finalists from the 2026 tournament, France and England, will face each other for third place, or a pile of bronze medals if you want to up the ante, on Saturday, July 18 (2:00 p.m. PT, 5:00 p.m. ET/10:00 p.m. BST) at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami—one day before the final between Spain and Argentina at MetLife Stadium near New York.

At the previous World Cup in Qatar four years ago, Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 to finish third behind Argentina and France, four years after finishing second to France at Russia 2018, and celebrated accordingly.

But what is the history of this match, how it helped set World Cup records and why is it unpopular with some coaches?

Why does the World Cup have this “bronze final”, as FIFA calls it?

Each additional match of the World Cup final brings additional income to FIFA and the host city, including from ticket sales. The third-place playoff also helps fill the gap in the schedule between the semi-finals and final, giving broadcasters the opportunity to show another high-profile game (and, in many cases, sell commercials).

FIFA’s global rankings should also be taken into account: the third-place play-off carries more weight than any friendly match. So the players need to not only have a chance to win a bronze medal, but also shake off the semi-final disappointment of a few days earlier, because a win could lead to a boost in their country’s world ranking, potentially impacting their Nations League position and qualifying draw for the next World Cup.

The recognition of who will finish third at the World Cup is akin to the other major international sporting event, the Olympic Games, which precedes it and gives one of the teams the chance to finish the tournament on a high.

Was this always the case at the World Championships?

The game for third place was introduced in 1934, at the second World Cup, and that time ended with Germany defeating Austria with a score of 3:2.

At the first World Cup in 1930, the semi-final losers USA and Yugoslavia did not play such a match. It was later announced that the Americans finished third on best goal difference, however, unusually, both team captains received medals.

The match was played again in 1938, but not in 1950 (the next tournament after World War II) as it used a round-robin format. But the playoffs were reinstated in 1954 and have become the norm ever since. Incidentally, the European Men’s Championship abandoned this concept after it was held in 1980.

Records were established in these matches.

In 2002, Hakan Sukur gave Turkey the lead against South Korea after 11 seconds, which remains the earliest goal in World Cup history, while Juste Fontaine scored four goals for France in a 6–3 win over West Germany in 1958, taking his total tally to 13 goals in that tournament, still the most by a player in a single World Cup.

Juste Fontaine (center) scored 13 goals for France at the 1958 World Cup, including four in the third-place play-off (Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

Will you get a trophy for winning this game?

In short: no. But, as mentioned earlier, winning the third place playoff means that the team will be awarded bronze medals. The winner will also earn $2 million more in prize money than the fourth-place team, for a total of $29 million, while the losing team will receive $27 million.

Germany, the four-time world champions, has collected the most bronze medals (four), the last of which was in 2010 (it also finished runner-up four times).

In terms of individual awards, this game provided an additional opportunity for players to break scoring records. Golden Boot winners Eusebio (1966), Toto Schillaci (1990), Davor Suker (1998) and Thomas Müller (2010) added to their tally in the third-place match.

This will be the last chance for Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane to boost their Golden Boot chances this year.

What do managers say about this?

Belgian players celebrate third place after beating England 2-0 in 2018 (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Despite the game’s history, many managers criticized it.

“I think this match should never be played,” then-Netherlands coach Louis van Gaal said in 2014 as his side beat hosts Brazil 3-0 to finish third. “I’ve been saying this for 10 years. It’s not fair. The worst thing is that there’s a chance you’ll lose twice in a row. And in a tournament you did so well in, you’ll go home a loser.”

Current England manager Thomas Tuchel’s predecessor, Gareth Southgate, took a similar view heading into the knockout stages in 2018 after losing to Croatia in the semi-final after extra time, declaring: “This is not a game any team wants to play.”

England lost 2-0 to Belgium, whose then-coach Roberto Martinez described the result as “a real milestone”.

Former England striker turned TV pundit Alan Shearer may have foreseen the defeat, writing X days before the match: “A play-off game for third and fourth places is sheer stupidity. The last thing any player wants. #gethome.”

World Championship third place matches

As a result, not all teams are serious about the playoffs. France, for example, did not play captain Michel Platini in the third-place matches at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, and coaches often change starting lineups after semi-finals and use players who had little playing time earlier in the tournament.

But some teams take great pride in finishing on the podium, such as Sweden in 1994, the last time the tournament was held on US soil. They unexpectedly made it to the semi-finals and then crushed Bulgaria 4-0 in the third-place match.

Croatia’s third-place finish at the former Yugoslav republic’s first World Cup as a new nation in 1998, beating the Netherlands 2-1, was also a celebrated achievement on home soil.

For neutrals looking for a reason to tune into Saturday’s game, the playoffs are typically a goal fest, with two or more goals scored in every event since Poland’s 1-0 win over Brazil in 1974.