The third-place match: the most bittersweet medal
No one dreams of playing it, yet for some teams it has been their finest page. The story of the match played between two disappointments.
It is the match no one wants to play. Two teams that have just lost their semi-final, the dream of the final shattered only hours earlier, are forced to take the field again to decide who takes the bronze. Welcome to the third-place match.
It has been played since 1934 and has always carried an unkind reputation. For many footballers it is a soulless formality, the consolation prize for a dream that has just vanished. It is not unusual to see teams with their minds elsewhere and an intensity far from that of a semi-final.
And yet, history has shown that third place can be worth a great deal. For several teams it has been, quite simply, the best result in their entire history. Belgium celebrated it in 2018 as an achievement, with what was their golden generation; Croatia, in 2022, turned their bronze into another show of character for a small country.
It has also produced surprising afternoons. In 2002, Turkey and South Korea, the two great revelations of that World Cup, played out a vibrant, uninhibited duel, without the weight of the final on their shoulders. Curiously, freed from pressure, some teams play their loosest football here.
Some call for it to be scrapped as a minor fixture, and some defend it as an extra chance of football and a fair way to recognise the fourth-best team in the world. The debate reopens at every tournament.
Bittersweet or not, that bronze is still a medal. And for more than one set of fans it has been, against all odds, a reason to celebrate.
Source: Wikipedia (FIFA World Cup third place play-off).