FIFA World Cup 2022: Explained - Third-place play-off match

FIFA World Cup 2022: The third-place play-off game is between the two losing semifinalists, Croatia and Morocco.

We are just two matches away from saying goodbye to the biggest football festival on planet earth. France will meet Argentina on Sunday, at the Lusail Stadium, in a battle for football supremacy that will be watched by more than a billion people across the world.

But there is one more match in the FIFA World Cup 2022 that needs playing, and that is the third-place play-off game between the two losing semifinalists, Croatia and Morocco.

If you're curious about what's at stake, financially, at this point in the World Cup, here's the team payouts:

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Fourth Place -- $25 million
Third Place -- $27 million
Second Place -- $30 million
First Place -- $42 million pic.twitter.com/pk9ip731zC

— Eben Novy-Williams (@novy_williams) December 14, 2022

A bit of history

The FIFA World Cup has always had a playoff game between the two losing semifinalists, which is usually played a day before the big final, and the winner gets the distinction of being the third-best team in the tournament.

However, there have been two instances when the World Cup did not have this fixture in the tournament. The first instance was in the very first FIFA World Cup in 1930, which Uruguay hosted, and the second instance was in the 1950 edition, in Brazil.

The first time the FIFA World Cup organised a third-place play-off match was in the 1934 edition in Italy, where Germany beat neighbouring Austria 3-2 to 'win' third place. The venue for the match was Naples.

The 2018 third-place play-off game was between England and Belgium, who lost to Croatia and France, respectively. The Belgian side came out on top 2-0 thanks to goals from Thomas Meunier and Eden Hazard.

Croatia celebrate third place at France '98. pic.twitter.com/4u7JB3e9h9

— 90s Football (@90sfootball) December 13, 2022

So, what does the third-best team get by winning this fixture?

For starters, the winning team is rewarded with a Bronze medal for their effort but more importantly, there is a huge cash reward for finishing third.

One of Croatia and Morocco will get its hands on $27 million for winning Saturday's match while the fourth-placed team gets $25 million.

Are there other football tournaments that host a third-place play-off?

It is usually international football competitions that have this fixture on their list. Competitions such as the recently-created UEFA Nations League, FIFA Women's World Cup, and Copa America are a few that schedule this game to determine the third place.

However, the UEFA European Championships, the next edition of which is scheduled for the summer of 2024 in Germany, hasn't included this fixture in a long time. The last time the 'Euros' hosted a third-place playoff was in 1980, in Italy, when now-defunct Czechoslovakia beat the host 9-8 on penalties.

we NEED to have this for our atlas lions too this was belgium when they got the third place in 2018 ! pic.twitter.com/DMC0qMEdjZ

— S (@caslov33r) December 15, 2022

Club competitions like the UEFA Champions League, Europea League, the newly-introduced Conference League, and the different European domestic cup competitions such as the FA Cup (England), Copa del Rey (Spain), and more do not have a third-place play-off.

FIFA World Cup 2022

Losing semi-finalists Croatia and Morocco will battle on Saturday, at Khalifa International Stadium in Al Rayyan, at 8:30 pm IST for a chance to win the bronze medal and the $25 million prize money.