While England and Spain prepare for the final of Euro 2024, losing semi-finalists France and the Netherlands would have been expected to be preparing for the third-place play-off
At tournaments throughout football, the losing semi-finalists are forced to stay and play a third-place play-off.
The World Cup, the Copa America and the Africa Cup of Nations all have such a match as a tradition. But a third-place play-off game will not take place at Euro 2024, with France and the Netherlands heading home immediately after their semi-final defeats.
When the European Championships were launched back in 1960, a third-place play-off was a staple of the format. Czechoslovakia beat France 2-0 in the first edition, before UEFA opted to scrap the play-off from the 1984 tournament onwards.
Ironically, the Czechs also won the last-ever third-place play-off to take place at a Euros, beating hosts Italy 9-8 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in normal time. Other third-place winners were Hungary (1964), Belgium (1972) and the Netherlands (1976).
England also won the third-place play-off game in 1968, two years after winning the World Cup on home soil. The Three Lions lost to Yugoslavia in the semi-finals, to set up a bronze medal game against the Soviet Union.
In a game played two and a half hours before that year’s final, at the same Stadio Olimpico venue in Rome, goals from Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst saw England win the bronze medal.
But after 1980’s third-place match, UEFA decided to scrap the games, citing lack of interest both through in-stadium attendance and on television. Instead, they awarded the semi-finals’ losers the bronze medals.
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That happened up until Euro 2016, when UEFA’s rule-makers decided to scrap that tradition altogether. As a result, after their defeats this week, both France and the Netherlands headed straight for home.
Les Bleus were defeated by Spain, after a wondergoal from Lamine Yamal and Dani Olmo’s brilliant strike. Boss Didier Deschamps has faced questions over his future in the aftermath, though he looks set to keep his job.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands were dumped out by England after Ollie Watkins’ last-minute winner. But boss Ronald Koeman was left furious by the penalty from which Harry Kane equalised after VAR spotted a foul on the Three Lions skipper in the box.
“As a former defender myself, what could he do in that position?” Koeman said. “He tried to block the ball … To penalise that is to tell him we cannot play properly football. I think that we cannot play properly football and this is due to VAR. It really breaks football.
“We should be proud because we’ve achieved many things in these weeks and there’s no criticism after seeing how my player fought until the end. We have fought like lions. We just needed a little more balance and the English team did it better than us, so congratulations to them.”
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