Alan Shearer has made his view clear again ahead of France Vs England in the World Cup third-place match: the game should not exist. The former England striker described the bronze-medal fixture as “ridiculous” and “an absurditate totală”, arguing that players who have just been eliminated should not be asked to fly to Miami and compete in 37-38 degree Celsius heat for a match that means so little in football terms.
England arrive in the game after losing 1-2 to Argentina in the semifinal, while France are there after a 0-2 defeat to Spain. The match is scheduled for Saturday, 18 July 2026, and the prize on offer is not a place in the final but a financial gap of about 1.8 million euros between third and fourth place. That, Shearer suggested, is the real reason the fixture survives.
Shearer: the third-place match is unnecessary
Shearer’s argument is simple. In his view, the teams are already out of the tournament, and no player will look back in 20 years and consider finishing third or fourth a career-defining memory. He said: “Ei au fost eliminați și nu se vor uita înapoi peste 20 de ani pentru a spune că au fost mândri de locul trei sau patru.”
He added that everyone knows why the match exists, and that it should be removed. It is a familiar position from him as well. Back in 2018, when England played Belgium in the same fixture, he expressed a similar opinion.
Money versus player welfare
The broader issue is the tension between money and welfare. The third-place match is framed as a bronze-medal game, but the source context makes clear that FIFA continues to discuss player welfare at the same time as it keeps a fixture that sends exhausted squads back onto the pitch for one more game.
For Shearer, that balance is wrong. The players have already been through the pressure of a World Cup semi-final, and the idea of forcing them into another high-temperature match in Miami appears to him to make little sense. If the objective is simply to add another commercial event, he believes that is not a good enough reason.
What England and France are really playing for
This is where the debate becomes bigger than one game. England and France may still have pride on the line, but the competitive edge is not the same as it would be in a final or a knockout tie with progression at stake. Shearer’s point is that teams at this stage should not be measured by a match that neither side truly wanted to be in.
There is also a wider England angle. Shearer linked the national team’s outlook to Euro 2028, which Britain will host, suggesting that the more relevant discussion is what comes next rather than a bronze-medal game that many players would happily skip. In that sense, France Vs England feels less like a celebration of achievement and more like an awkward extra step after disappointment.
Shearer has not changed his mind over time, and his message is likely to resonate with anyone who thinks tournament football should protect players as much as possible. If the World Cup third-place match remains, the debate around its place in the calendar is not going away.
