Miami: Football fans will be glued to their screens on Miami Stadium in the United States next Saturday evening for the third-place match between England and France in the 2026 World Cup. Both teams will be vying to end their tournament run with a bronze medal.
According to National Iraqi News Agency, England reached the third-place match after losing to Argentina 2-1 in the semi-finals, while France advanced after a 2-0 defeat to Spain. The two teams will meet in a highly anticipated European clash that promises to be just as exciting as the final.
Both teams are aiming to end their 2026 World Cup campaigns by securing third place, before the tournament concludes with the final match between Spain and Argentina next Sunday.
France finished third in 1958 and 1986, while losing the third-place match once, in 1982 against Poland. England, on the other hand, has lost both of its third-place matches in World Cup history, first against Italy in 1990 and then against Belgium in 2018, meaning they will enter the 2026 tournament without a third-place finish.
The third-place match was not part of the inaugural World Cup in Uruguay in 1930, as the United States and Yugoslavia, who lost in the semifinals, did not play a playoff. The United States was later declared third on goal difference, and both captains received medals as an exception.
The match was first included in the 1934 World Cup, the second edition of the tournament. The third-place match was played in 1938, when Germany defeated Austria 3-2. It was absent from the 1950 World Cup, which adopted a final group stage format instead of knockout rounds, but returned in 1954 and has been a regular feature of the tournament ever since. The European Championship, however, abolished this format after 1980.
Third-place matches have witnessed some of the most remarkable records in World Cup history. In 2002, Turkey's Hakan Skr scored after just 11 seconds against South Korea, the fastest goal in the tournament's history to date. France's Just Fontaine scored four goals in France's 6-3 victory over West Germany in 1958, bringing his tournament total to 13 goals, a record for the most goals scored by a single player in one World Cup, an achievement that still stands.
No trophy is awarded to the third-place team, but the winning team receives medals. The bronze medal comes with a $29 million prize, $2 million more than the fourth-place finisher who receives $27 million. Germany holds the record for most third-place finishes in World Cup history, having won the bronze medal four times, most recently in South Africa in 2010. They have also lost the final four times.
This match also presented an additional opportunity for several stars to boost their chances of winning the Golden Boot. Portugal's Eus©bio (1966), Italy's Salvatore "Toto" Schillaci (1990), Croatia's Davor ‚¬¦ uker (1998), and Germany's Thomas Mller (2010) all managed to increase their goal tally in the third-place match before going on to win the tournament's top scorer award. In the 2026 edition, Kylian Mbapp© and Harry Kane will have their final chance to improve their standings in the race for the Golden Boot.