Is there 3rd place playoff at Euro 2024? England's past playoffs at World Cups & international tournaments

England fans across the country collectively breathed a massive sigh of relief on Saturday, when Trent Alexander-Arnold slammed home the winning penalty against Switzerland to send the Three Lions through to the semi-finals of Euro 2024.

They will take on The Netherlands in the semi-finals of the competition, after they came from behind to beat Turkey by a score of 2-1. Only one of the two teams can reach the final - and there will be no third place playoff game this year.

There has not been a third place playoff at the Euros since 1980, when Czechoslovakia squared off against Italy. In that game, the scores were tied at 1-1 after 90 minutes - Czechoslovakia went on to win 9-8 on penalties.

England have reached the third placed playoff once in Euros history. This came all the way back in 1968, two years after their sole major international tournament victory in 1966. Only four teams partook in this iteration of the competition - England, Italy, Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

England were defeated by a score of 1-0 in the first round by Yugoslavia, who then went on to lose to Italy in the final after a replay. In the playoff, the Three Lions faced off against the Soviet Union - goals from Bobby Charlton and Geoff Hurst secured a 2-0 victory for England.

They also reached the semi-finals in Euro 96, when they were knocked out by Germany on penalties - however, like this year, no 3rd place playoff game took place.

England’s record at the Euros is notoriously below par - their performance in the previous tournament, when they were beaten on penalties in the final by Italy, was the Three Lions strongest performance in the competition to this day. Hopefully, after Wednesday afternoon, Gareth Southgate’s men can right some historic wrongs against The Netherlands.