Sunday July 19, 2026
A game nobody wants to play in but it will happen as France take on England at Miami in the third play off of the 2026 Fifa World Cup.
The French lost to Spain 2-0 in the semi-final while England threw away a goal lead in a painful 2-1 defeat to champions Argentina.
The bronze medal match will see renewal of hostilities between the two nations and it marks the last match for World Cup winning coach and player, Didier Deschamps as France head coach.
Ending an otherwise distinguished France career, Deschamps will at least try to steer Les Bleus to a third World Cup bronze medal from four third-placed playoffs, this being their first since the 1986 edition.
France beat Belgium 4-2 that year to finish on the podium and also trounced West Germany 6-3 in the 1958 third-placed playoff – with Just Fontaine scoring four – but they had to settle for fourth behind Poland in the 1982 edition.
For England, it is an opportunity to earn their second-best finish since winning the trophy in 1966 as the Three Lions’ previous two appearances in the third-placed playoff ended in failure; a 2-0 defeat to Belgium in 2018 and 2-1 loss to Italy at the 1990 edition.
England have won just one of their last nine matches against France, most recently seeing their 2022 World Cup dreams dashed at the hands of Deschamps’s then-holders in the quarter-finals.
Both coaches are expected to ring a few changes to their starting XIs but Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe could feature from the start as they fight for the Adidas Golden boot.
How to watch
All matches will be live on DStv on four dedicated FIFA World Cup Channels in multiple languages. The Channels are FIFA World Cup Central (Channel 222), FIFA World Cup Extra (Channel 223), FIFA World Cup Pass (Channel 225), and FIFA World Cup Swahili (Channel 224).