Third place playoff

Many sportsplayoffsandknockout tournamentsinclude athird place playoff,third place match,bronze medal game,orconsolation gameto 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 thesemi-finalsof the tournament that they competed in. Some tournaments may use the third place playoff to determine who wins thebronze 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 psychologystudies have found that bronze medalists who had won a third place playoff were significantly happier thansilver medalistswho had lost a championship final.

In tournaments that do not award medals or have the third place finisher advance to something else, a third place playoff is aclassification matchthat 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" teamwho was not expected to advance that far.

Olympics

Most sports using a knockout format in theOlympic Gameshave a third place playoff to determine who wins thebronze 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 the1952 Summer Olympics,boxinghas 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.Judo,taekwondo,andwrestlingalso award two bronze medals, but these feature two bronze medal matches between the losing semi-finalists and the winners of therepechage.

Rugby World Cup

TheRugby World Cupused 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

The1980 editionwas the lastUEFA European Championshipto have a third place match. That was the only third place match in the tournament's history to be decided by a penalty shootout, whereCzechoslovakiadefeated hostsItaly9–8 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.

TheFIFA World Cupfeatures 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, thethird place matchin the 1994 World Cup did use theRose Bowlstadium, 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.

TheUEFA Nations Leaguealso has a third place playoff; this game is played prior to the final on the same day.

The third-place match in theFIFA Women's World Cuphas been somewhat more important to the organizers – the1999,2003,and2007matches 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. The2011third-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, the1999 finalalso 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 asSalvatore Schillaci(1990) andDavor Šuker(1998) getting the goal they needed to take sole possession of the lead.TheFIFA Women's World Cuphas 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, theUSAdefeatedChina2–0. In 1999, the third-place match betweenBrazilandNorwayended 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 betweenGermanyandEnglandwas 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 captainMichel Platinidid not play in either the 1982 or 1986 third place matches, while German goalkeeperHans-Jörg Buttreceived his only competitive international appearance in a third place playoff,andMichel Vormcame on during injury time of the 3–0 third place play-off win againstBrazilinBrasíliathus ensuring that all 23 Dutch squad members played at the tournament.By contrast,teams that are not expected to get this farusually 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 in1998,when the recently establishedCroatian football teamupset 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 theSouth Korean football teamin2002,and theGerman football teamin2006).GermangoalkeeperOliver Kahn,who had been a reserve toJens Lehmannduring the 2006 tournament, was allowed to retire in the third place playoff by then managerJürgen 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,while Portugal was defeated by France). ForBrazil,the dismal 3–0 loss to the Netherlands in the 2014 third place match, along with the7–1 semi-final defeat to Germany,led to coachLuiz Felipe Scolaribeing dismissed.For the Dutch, this was their first bronze medal in the FIFA World Cup.

Germany currently holds the most third-place finishes in the men's World Cup, with four, their most recent in 2010.Sweden has the most third-place finishes in the Women's World Cup, with four.

Professional basketball

TheBig3professional3-on-3basketballleaguefeatures 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. TheFIBA World Cuphas a third-place game.

Little League World Series

For most of its history, theLittle League World Serieshas 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 weredoubly 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

1953 NCAA Basketball Tournamentthird place plaque awarded to players of theWashington Huskies

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, theFA Cup third-fourth place matches(1970–1974), theNCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship(1946–1981) and theUEFA 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.

TheNational Football Leaguehad a consolation game, thePlayoff Bowl,from1960to1969,which pitted the second-place team in each of the two conferences (based on regular season record from 1960 to1966) against each other inMiami,Florida.Through the 1966 season, the only scheduled NFL playoff game was theChampionship Game(with unscheduled conference tie-breaker games as necessary; only once during the 1960s, in1965,was this required.

In1967,theNFL playoff fieldexpanded 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 aneight-team playoff fieldarriving with theAFL–NFL mergerin1970,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 respectivePro Bowlsquads from 1970-1978, and again from 1982-2008.

ThePhilippine Basketball Association,from its inception, also had third place games preceding its conferences' playoff finals until this was removed the end of the2009–10season.

Criticism of use in the Page playoff system

Third place playoffs are especially controversial when they are used in tournaments that use aPage playoff systemsince 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.

See also

• Classification match
• Knockout tournament
• Single-elimination tournament