Many sports playoffs and knockout tournaments include a third place playoff, third place match, bronze medal game, or consolation game to decide which competitor or team will be credited with finishing third and fourth. This game is typically competed by the competitors or teams that lost in the semi-finals of the tournament that they competed in. Some tournaments may use the third place playoff to determine who wins the bronze medal, while other tournaments need to hold a third place playoff for seeding purposes if three or all four semi-finalists advance to another tournament. Social psychology studies have found that bronze medalists who had won a third place playoff were significantly happier than silver medalists who had lost a championship final.[1][2]
In tournaments that do not award medals or have the third place finisher advance to something else, a third place playoff is a classification match that serves little more than as a consolation to the losing semi-finalists. A consolation game also allows teams to play more than one game after having invested time, effort and money in the quest for a championship. Third place playoffs held as such consolation games are subject to debate. Many sports tournaments do not have a third place playoff due to a lack of interest. It has been criticised by some who feel that the match serves little purpose, but others see this game as an occasion for the losing semi-finalists to salvage some pride. How seriously the competitors or teams take a third place consolation game may also be mixed: a heavily favoured team that lost in an upset in the semi-final round may not have as much incentive to win as would a "Cinderella" team who was not expected to advance that far.
Olympics
Most sports using a knockout format in the Olympic Games have a third place playoff to determine who wins the bronze medal. As the difference between a bronze medal and no medal is quite significant, competitors still take this seriously.
The martial arts and combat sports events instead award two bronze medals. Since the 1952 Summer Olympics, boxing has automatically awarded bronze medals to both losing semi-finalists, on the grounds that there was not enough time to recover between the semi-final bouts and a third place bout.[3]Judo, taekwondo, and wrestling also award two bronze medals, but these feature two bronze medal matches between the losing semi-finalists and the winners of the repechage.[4]
Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup used to give automatic qualification to all teams in the top three of the ongoing tournament to the one that would follow it four years later thus making the third place playoff game important, but this was later scrapped after the 1999 edition of the tournament allowing teams outside the top three to automatically qualify depending on their IRB co-efficient in the rankings.
FIFA World Cup and other association football tournaments
The 1980 edition was the last UEFA European Championship to have a third place match. That was the only third place match in the tournament's history to be decided by a penalty shootout, where Czechoslovakia defeated hosts Italy 9–8 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
The FIFA World Cup features a third place playoff, usually on the day before the final. It is often there to provide a spectacle as there is often a gap of a few days between the semi-finals and the final. The third place playoff is considered a lower-priority match to organizers, as it is frequently scheduled in one of the smaller stadia; the largest stadium (usually located in the host nation's capital city) is reserved for the final, while the semi-finals occupy the second and third-largest stadia. However, the third place match in the 1994 World Cup did use the Rose Bowl stadium, the same venue that would later host the tournament final, setting a record attendance of 91,500 for a third place playoff in FIFA World Cup history.
The UEFA Nations League also has a third place playoff; this game is played prior to the final on the same day.
The third-place match in the FIFA Women's World Cup has been somewhat more important to the organizers – the 1999, 2003, and 2007 matches were all held in the same stadium as the final. In fact, the 1999 and 2007 third-place matches were both held as the first half of a doubleheader that culminated in the final. The 2011 third-place match returned to the more traditional scheduling of the day before the final in a different stadium. Notably, the 1999 third-place match was the curtain-raiser to the most-attended women's sporting event in history, the 1999 final also held in the Rose Bowl.
The third place match is generally a high-scoring affair, as no men's match has seen fewer than two goals scored since Poland's 1-0 win over Brazil in 1974, with four out of the last seven bronze-medal games, since 1994, seeing four goals or more. For tournament top scorers, the third place match's tendency of attacking football is a great opportunity to win the Golden Shoe, with players such as Salvatore Schillaci (1990), Davor Šuker (1998), and Thomas Müller (2010) getting the goal they needed to take sole possession of the lead.[5] The FIFA Women's World Cup has had only eight editions to date, therefore creating less opportunity for a pattern to form. However, two of the third-place games in that competition have seen fewer than three goals. In 1995, the USA defeated China 2–0. In 1999, the third-place match between Brazil and Norway ended in a scoreless draw and penalty shootout (won by Brazil), as did the final between the USA and China (won by the USA). In 2015, the third place match between Germany and England was the first to go to extra time, and in the second period of extra time, England scored a single penalty and held on to the lead to upset Germany.
How seriously the competing teams take this match is subject to debate. Certain teams, especially ones which had been expected to reach the final, will rest some of their starters to allow some of their reserve team players to participate in a World Cup game. For instance French team captain Michel Platini did not play in either the 1982 or 1986 third place matches, while German goalkeeper Hans-Jörg Butt received his only competitive international appearance in a third place playoff,[6][7] and Michel Vorm came on during injury time of the 3–0 third place play-off win against Brazil in Brasília thus ensuring that all 23 Dutch squad members played at the tournament.[8] By contrast, teams that are not expected to get this far usually take this match seriously, as third place can be a historical achievement. In Sweden "third place playoff" is called "bronze game" and in the 1994 World Cup, the Sweden national team, after the victory in the "bronze game", landed at Arlanda with a fighter escort and were then paraded through the streets of Stockholm to millions live on national TV. Another example of a high-profile third place match was in 1998, when the recently established Croatian football team upset the Netherlands.
If the host nation is involved in the third place match, the team generally uses the match to thank the support of their fans (such as the South Korean football team in 2002, and the German football team in 2006).[5] German goalkeeperOliver Kahn, who had been a reserve to Jens Lehmann during the 2006 tournament, was allowed to retire in the third place playoff by then manager Jürgen Klinsmann. Germany and Portugal fielded strong lineups in that match, after both were narrowly eliminated in their respective semi-finals (Germany and Italy nearly went to penalties,[9] while Portugal was defeated by France[10]). For Brazil, the dismal 3–0 loss to the Netherlands in the 2014 third place match, along with the 7–1 semi-final defeat to Germany, led to coach Luiz Felipe Scolari being dismissed.[11][12] For the Dutch, this was their first bronze medal in the FIFA World Cup.[13]
Germany currently holds the most third-place finishes in the men's World Cup, with four, their most recent in 2010.[14] Sweden has the most third-place finishes in the Women's World Cup, with four.
Professional basketball
The Big3 professional 3-on-3basketballleague features a post-season game for third place; the game is played directly before the league's championship and features the teams who were eliminated in the semifinals. The FIBA World Cup has a third-place game.
Little League World Series
For most of its history, the Little League World Series has featured either a consolation bracket, or consolation games. Currently, the tournament features a single consolation game between the United States runner-up and the International runner-up. Like the championship, the game allows an American team to compete against an International team. All other games are played within their respective American or International pool of eight teams each, except two exhibition games which match the United States teams and International teams which were doubly eliminated, and winless, in their respective brackets (these were eliminated following the 2019 LLWS).
Early season College Basketball Tournaments
Third place games (and consolation games for lower placings) are common in early season college basketball tournaments, as it gives each team an opportunity to play more games before the conference games start in earnest. It also provides the tournament venue with additional games.
Defunct third-place playoff games
Many sports tournaments do not have a third place playoff, mostly due to a lack of interest from the competitors and also from the fans. Several of the most celebrated knockout tournaments did feature the third place game for a period of time, but later abandoned it – for example, the FA Cup third-fourth place matches (1970–1974), the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship (1946–1981) and the UEFA European Championships (1960-1980). The game was usually played immediately preceding the championship game, but was not nationally televised. For most of its years, the NCAA featured consolation games in both regional play and within the Final Four. However, as the field expanded beyond 32 teams, the game lost significance. Eliminating the game also allowed the losing teams to return home rather than remaining in the Final Four city for an additional two days to play a game holding less interest than the championship.
The National Football League had a consolation game, the Playoff Bowl, from 1960 to 1969, which pitted the second-place team in each of the two conferences (based on regular season record from 1960 to 1966) against each other in Miami, Florida. Through the 1966 season, the only scheduled NFL playoff game was the Championship Game (with unscheduled conference tie-breaker games as necessary; only once during the 1960s, in 1965, was this required.
In 1967, the NFL playoff field expanded to four to include a division championship, with its first-round losers going to the Playoff Bowl, which had become increasingly unpopular with participating players, fans and officials. With interest declining for a third-place game, and an eight-team playoff field arriving with the AFL–NFL merger in 1970, the Playoff Bowl was abandoned with minimal objection. One vestige of the Playoff Bowl survived into the 21st century: the losing coaches in each conference championship game coached the respective Pro Bowl squads from 1970-1978, and again from 1982-2008.
The Philippine Basketball Association, from its inception, also had third place games preceding its conferences' playoff finals until this was removed the end of the 2009–10 season.
Criticism of use in the Page playoff system
Third place playoffs are especially controversial when they are used in tournaments that use a Page playoff system since there is only one semi-final game in this format.
Critics argue that in such a formula, the loser of the semi-final should simply be awarded third place, while proponents of the third place game argue that without it, the importance of the medal round is lowered since the top two teams heading into the Page playoff would otherwise be guaranteed a medal: this argument carries less weight in tournaments where medals are not awarded, or are considered of relatively minor importance in comparison to winning the tournament.
Basketball at the 1936 Summer Olympics was the first appearance of the sport of basketball as an official Olympic medal event. The tournament was played between 7 August and 14 August 1936 in Berlin, Germany. 23 nations entered the competition, making basketball the largest tournament of the team sports, but Hungary and Spain withdrew, meaning 21 competed.
Birgit Prinz is a German former footballer, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion and three-time FIFA World Player of the Year. In addition to the German national team, Prinz played for 1. FFC Frankfurt in the Frauen-Bundesliga as well as the Carolina Courage in the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), the first professional women's league in the United States. Prinz remains one of the game's most prolific strikers and is the second FIFA Women's World Cup all-time leading scorer with 14 goals. In 2011, she announced the end of her active career. She currently works as a sport psychologist for the men's and women's teams of Bundesliga club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.
The Sweden men's national football team represents Sweden in men's international football and it is controlled by the Swedish Football Association, the governing body of football in Sweden. Sweden's home ground is Friends Arena in Solna. From 1945 to late 1950s, they were considered one of the greatest teams in Europe.
The Germany women's national football team represents Germany in international women's football. The team is governed by the German Football Association (DFB).
Football at the Summer Olympics, also referred to as the Olympic Football Tournament, has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition sport, except 1896 and 1932. Women's football was added to the official program at the Atlanta 1996 Games.
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, whose winner becomes the tournament champion. Each match-up may be a single match or several, for example two-legged ties in European sports or best-of series in North American pro sports. Defeated competitors may play no further part after losing, or may participate in "consolation" or "classification" matches against other losers to determine the lower final rankings; for example, a third place playoff between losing semi-finalists. In a shootout poker tournament, there are more than two players competing at each table, and sometimes more than one progresses to the next round. Some competitions are held with a pure single-elimination tournament system. Others have many phases, with the last being a single-elimination final stage, often called playoffs.
The Soviet Union national football team was the national football team of the Soviet Union from 1922-1992.
The Canada women's national soccer team represents Canada in international soccer competitions. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Canada.
The Page playoff system is a playoff format used primarily in softball and curling at the championship level, and the Indian Premier League and Pakistan Super League cricket tournaments. Teams are seeded using a round-robin tournament and the top four play a mix of a single-elimination and double-elimination tournament to determine the winner. It is identical to a four-team McIntyre system playoff, first used by the WANFL, SANFL and VFL in Australia in 1931, originally called the Page–McIntyre system, after the VFL delegate, the Richmond Football Club's Secretary, Percy "Pip" Page, who had advocated its use. A form has been adopted in the Canadian Premier League national soccer competition.
The FIFA World Cup was first held in 1930, when FIFA, the world's football governing body, decided to stage an international men's football tournament under the era of FIFA president Jules Rimet who put this idea into place. Jules Rimet was the president of FIFA from 1921 to 1954. Rimet was appreciated so much for bringing the idea of FIFA to life that 1946 the trophy was named the Jules Rimet Cup instead of the World Cup Trophy. The inaugural edition, held in 1930, was contested as a final tournament of only thirteen teams invited by the organization. Since then, the World Cup has experienced successive expansions and format remodeling, with its current 48-team final tournament preceded by a two-year qualifying process, involving over 200 teams from around the world.
The FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, also known as the Basketball World Cup for Women or simply the FIBA Women's World Cup, is an international basketball tournament for women's national teams held quadrennially. It was created by the International Basketball Federation (FIBA). Its inaugural game was in 1953 in Chile, three years after the first men's World Championship. For most of its early history, it was not held in the same year as the men's championship, and was not granted a consistent quadrennial cycle until 1967. After the 1983 event, FIBA changed the scheduling so that the women's tournament would be held in even-numbered non-Olympic years, a change that had come to the men's tournament in 1970.
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The history of the FIBA Basketball World Cup began in 1950, with the first FIBA Basketball World Cup, which was the 1950 FIBA World Championship. The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been held every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1950.
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Eva Sofia Jakobsson is a Swedish professional footballer who plays for San Diego Wave in the National Women's Soccer League. She made her debut for the Sweden women's national football team in 2011 and won her 100th cap in 2019. Jakobsson represented her country in the 2013 edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, as well as at the 2011, 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women's World Cups. She also played at the 2012, 2016 and 2020 Olympic Football Tournaments.
The Sweden women's national football team has represented Sweden at the FIFA Women's World Cup on nine occasions in 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019 and 2023. There were runners up once and four times bronze medalists: in 1991, in 2011, in 2019 and in 2023.
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