World Cup 2026: Third-place play-off - an unwanted tie or a match with a 'golden layer'?

It's a match that has been played at every Fifa World Cup for the past 72 years.

The third-place play-off - known by Fifa as the Bronze Final - and on Saturday it is the turn of England and France.

France head coach Didier Deschamps summed up the mood in his camp before the game in Miami when he said: "The best for France and England would be for this match not to exist."

England manager Thomas Tuchel had a similar view after the defeat by Argentina in Atlanta on Wednesday night, saying: "None of our players and none of the French players want to play this match."

But addressing the media on Friday, Tuchel was more positive about the chance to win bronze. "If we win the game tomorrow, we have the best results of a World Cup in 60 years. It's a perspective to it," he said.

The play-off does give the opportunity for players who have struggled for minutes or are yet to feature at the tournament to have their moment on the pitch. And then there are the fans who have paid for tickets and travel, expecting the teams to put on a show.

England may use the game as an opportunity to introduce James Trafford to World Cup football or give Kobbie Mainoo his first World Cup minutes in an England shirt.

Former France and Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has played 14 minutes for France, in the third group game against a heavily-rotated Norway side - though he is not relishing the prospect of adding to those minutes in Miami.

"Not one of us want to play this game for third place," he said. "But we don't have the choice."

The third-place play-off was first introduced in 1934 and became a regular fixture from 1954.

England have competed in it twice since 1966, losing to hosts Italy in 1990 and to Belgium in 2018 in Russia.

Croatia embraced the match in 2022 despite having gone one better in 2018 when they were runners-up to France - though Morocco head coach Walid Regragui described it as a "booby prize".

Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic said after their 2-1 win over Morocco that the victory meant a lot to the team and country.

"We won the bronze medal and it has a golden layer," he said. "It is like we have won the gold medal tonight."

Croatia's match-winner that night, Mislav Orsic, described his goal as the most important of his career.

But after a record-breaking World Cup for matches played (it will be the 103rd of a 104-match tournament), is a third-place play-off necessary?

Fifa does not publish a long defence of the fixture, but the reasons generally acknowledged around the tournament are:

It decides who receives the bronze medals and who is officially fourth.

It affects the official final standings, historical records and player statistics.

There is a difference in prize money between third and fourth place. This is about $2m (almost £1.5m).

It provides an additional match for spectators, broadcasters and commercial partners (although the tournament has already expanded from 64 to 104 matches this summer).

Well, it has produced several World Cup Golden Boot winners.

Of the seven to have scored goals in the third-place play-off, four of those required the goals they scored in that match to win the award.

Germany's Thomas Muller (2010), Croatia's Davor Suker (1998), Italy's Salvatore Schillaci (1990) and Leonidas of Brazil (1938) all benefited.

Grzegorz Lato of Poland (1974), Portugal great Eusebio (1966) and France's Just Fontaine (1958) also won the award and scored in the third-place play-off.

Harry Kane - the tournament's Golden Boot winner in 2018 - started England's third-place play-off with Belgium but did not score in the match.

The game also tends to produce goals. You will have to go back 52 years to find a match that did not produce at least two goals - 11 of the 12 matches since 1974 have produced more than three.

Before beating Brazil 3-0 in 2014, the Netherlands head coach Louis van Gaal called the match unfair.

He said: "This match should never be played. I've been saying that for 10 years; it's unfair."

The game took place days after the Netherlands' semi-final penalty shootout defeat by Argentina and after Brazil's humiliating 7-1 loss to Germany on home soil.

Van Gaal added: "The worst thing is that there is a chance you are going to lose twice in a row.

"And in a tournament in which you have played so marvellously well you go home as a loser."

Before England's last appearance in the third-place play-off, Gareth Southgate said: "The honest thing is it's not a game any team wants to play in."

But there is no suggestion it will be scrapped anytime soon. The tie gives Fifa a definitive finishing order, and winning a bronze medal can mean a lot for countries who rarely get to that stage of the competition.

The question now is whether it survive a 64-team World Cup that would feature 128 matches played over a six-week period.

In 2014 Brazil lost 3-0 to the Netherlands in their third-place match after a 7-1 thrashing by Germany on home soil