When is World Cup third place play-off? How to watch Croatia vs Morocco on TV, live stream & previous winners

Football fans across the globe are gearing up for the FIFA World Cup final between Argentina and France on Sunday but there’s still one more game to go before then.

The most overlooked and often forgotten about fixture in international tournaments, the third place play-off, proceeds to the final as the two semi-finalists go head-to-head for the bronze medal. This year it will be Croatia and Morocco who face off for the honour of finishing third and here is everything you need to know about when and where the match is, how to watch and the history of the fixture:

When is the World Cup third place play-off match?

The World Cup third place play-off match between Croatia and Morocco kicks off at 3pm (GMT), which is 6pm local time in Qatar, on Saturday, December 17. The match will be played at the Khalifa International Stadium, Al Rayyan which was last used for the Round of 16 match between the Netherlands and USA.

Croatia played a group stage match at the venue when they beat Canada while Morocco have not yet played there. It will be the seventh match of the tournament to take place at the 45,000 capacity arena. Qatar’s Abdulrahman Al-Jassim is set to referee the fixture having previously taken charge of the group stage match between Wales and USA.

What channel is the World Cup third place play-off match on?

The match will be broadcast live on BBC 1 with build-up starting from 2:30pm. There is also the option to live stream via the BBC Iplayer and BBC Iplayer app, which can be downloaded through most mainstream app stores.

World Cup third place play off previous winners

The FIFA World Cup has always had a third place play-off match where the two losing semi-finalists go head-to-head with the exception of the very first tournament in 1930 and the 1950 edition in Brazil. Last year’s third place play-off saw England lose 2-0 to Belgium with Thomas Meunier and Eden Hazard scoring the goals for the Red Devils.

Here is every FIFA World Cup third place play-off match:

• 1930 - N/A
• 1934 - Germany 3-2 Austria
• 1938 - Brazil 4-2 Sweden
• 1950 - N/A
• 1954 - Austria 3-1 Uruguay
• 1958 - France 6-3 West Germany
• 1962 - Chile 1-0 Yugoslavia
• 1966 - Portugal 2-1 Soviet Union
• 1970 - West Germany 1-0 Uruguay
• 1974 - Poland 1-0 Brazil
• 1978 - Brazil 2-1 Italy
• 1982 - Poland 3-2 France
• 1986 - France 4-2 Belgium
• 1990 - Italy 2-1 England
• 1994 - Sweden 4-0 Bulgaria
• 1998 - Croatia 2-1 The Netherlands
• 2002 - Turkey 3-2 South Korea
• 2006 - Germany 3-1 Portugal
• 2010 - Germany 3-2 Uruguay
• 2014 - The Netherlands 3-0 Brazil
• 2018 - Belgium 2-0 England

Germany have won the match more than any other side with three third place finishes while Brazil, Portugal and France have won twice. In 1950, Spain were awarded third place but that was decided in a round robin format rather than a single match between the two beaten semi-finalists.