By Jonty Colman BBC Sport journalist Published 16 July 2026 Updated 17 July 2026 The World Cup third place play-off match has been a feature at nearly every edition of the tournament - and goals scored by players in the match still count towards their individual goal tally and their race for the Golden Boot.
The fixture was first introduced at the second World Cup in 1934, and has only been missing from three tournaments since then: twice due to the competition being abandoned in 1942 and 1946 because of World War II, along with the 1950 tournament when the competition first resumed, as the final stages were played in a round-robin style. It was reinstated in 1954 and has been a fixture ever since.
It can be a psychologically difficult game for players who are dealing with the disappointment of exiting the tournament, with England manager Thomas Tuchel declaring that 'no one wants to play' in the game.
As goals scored in the match will contribute to a player's tally, the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham can still win the Golden Boot at the 2026 tournament thanks to the upcoming fixture, despite France and England exiting in the semi-finals.
Heading into the final two matches of the tournament, the quartet are among the seven players who have scored five or more goals so far.
England and France face each other in the third-place play-off on Saturday. A day later, Spain take on Argentina in the final.
Mbappe is joint-top for goals with Messi, both on eight each. However, Messi leads the race due to having one more assist than Mbappe at the tournament so far.
Norway's Erling Haaland is next on the list with seven goals, but he will not be able to add to them this weekend after his country's quarter-final exit.
England duo Bellingham and Kane both have six goals each, while France winger Dembele and Spain striker Mikel Oyarzabal have five goals apiece.
The Golden Boot race could well be decided by how strong a side England and France each field for the third-place play-off on Saturday.
When England faced Belgium in the same match in 2018, then-Three Lions boss Gareth Southgate made five changes for the match from the team that lost to Croatia in the semi-finals. Tournament Golden Boot winner Kane did start the match but did not score.
A total of seven previous World Cup Golden Boot winners have scored goals in the third-place play-off. Four of those seven required the goals they scored in that match to win the award.
Germany's Thomas Muller (2010), Croatia's Davor Suker (1998), Italy's Salvatore Schillaci (1990) and Leonidas of Brazil (1938) all benefited from the match, with goals in those games ultimately leading to their Golden Boot awards.
Grzegorz Lato of Poland (1974), Portugal great Eusebio (1966) and France's Just Fontaine (1958) also won the award and scored in the third-place play-off in the same year. However, they would have still won the award regardless of their goals in that match.
Contact form Contact form Top scorers at 2026 World Cup Image source, Getty Images Image caption, Kylian Mbappe is aiming to overtake Lionel Messi to win the 2026 World Cup's golden boot award
Lionel Messi (Argentina) and Kylian Mbappe (France) – 8
Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane (both England) – 6
Ousmane Dembele (France) and Mikel Oyarzabal (Spain) - 5
1974 – Grzegorz Lato (Poland) (would have won without play-off)
1966 – Eusebio (Portugal) (would have won without play-off)
1958 – Just Fontaine (France) (would have won without play-off)
This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
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Sources: BBC Sport
