In the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup, no third place play-off was held. Instead, FIFA ranked the United States third ahead of Yugoslavia based on their overall tournament performance. [1] The first ever third place match in World Cup history was played in the 1934 FIFA World Cup between Germany and Austria, with Germany winning to claim third place.
Contents
Due to World War II, the tournament was not held in 1942 and 1946. It resumed in the 1950 edition, [2] but that tournament featured a final group stage instead of knockout rounds, and no third place match was played. Since then, a third place play-off has been held in every edition of the tournament.
All third-placed teams in World Cup history have come from UEFA and CONMEBOL confederations. Only once has a team from either the AFC or the CAF appeared in a third place match, and in both cases, those teams lost. Germany holds the record for most third place finishes, with four. They are also the only team to finish third in back-to-back tournaments, doing so in 2006 and 2010. Germany is followed by Brazil, Sweden, France, Poland, and Croatia, each with two third place finishes.
The highest-scoring third place match took place at the 1958 tournament, where France defeated West Germany 6–3, with nine goals scored in total. [3] The largest margin of victory in a third place match came in 1994, when Sweden beat Bulgaria 4–0. The only third place match to go to extra time was in 1986, when France defeated Belgium 4–2 after a 2–2 draw in regulation.
