Football fans are only just now realising there is no third-place playoff at Euro 2024, which would have seen France and the Netherlands face off for a bronze medal in Germany.
A month of footballing action comes to a close on Sunday night with England and Spain set to battle it out at the Olympiastadion for European Championship glory.
A Lamine Yamal-inspired Spain defeated France 2-1, with the 16-year-old becoming the youngest goalscorer ever at a European Championships when he unleashed a strike from distance past Mike Maignan.
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Then, a day later, Gareth Southgate and England broke Dutch hearts by defeating the Netherlands 2-1, with Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins playing the role of super sub, scoring a 90th-minute winner to book the Three Lions place in Sunday’s showcase finale.
However, some football fans might have been expecting there to be two matches of Euro 2024 left; the final, and a third-place playoff, like at the World Cup.
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When the World Cup reaches the final four, there is always a third-place playoff, with the 2022 edition in Qatar seeing Luka Modric’s Croatia beat Morocco 2-1 the night before Lionel Messi and Argentina defeated France on penalties.
England are no strangers to the third-place playoff either, having faced off against Belgium in Russia at the 2018 World Cup, a game which they lost 2-0 in Saint Petersburg.
But when it comes to the European Championships, a third-place playoff is not on the agenda for UEFA, and hasn’t been since 1980, when Czechoslovakia beat Italy 9-8 on penalties.
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UEFA had trialled the third-place match from 1960 to 1980, but ultimately decided to scrap it following Czechoslovakia’s bronze medal triumph over Italy.
Had there been a game this year, football fans could have been treated to a match-up between Kylian Mbappe and Virgil van Dijk. However, with the game essentially meaningless, and players tired after a long-season, it makes sense for there to be no third-place clash.