<P> Many tournaments use the third place playoff to determine who wins the bronze medal . In some tournaments, a third place playoff is necessary for seeding purposes if three or all four semi-finalists advance to another tournament . </P> <P> In tournaments that do not award medals or have the third place finisher advance to something else, a third place playoff is a classification match that serves little more than as a consolation to the losing semi-finalists . A consolation game also allows teams to play more than one game after having invested time, effort and money in the quest for a championship . Third place playoffs held as such consolation games are subject to debate . Many sports tournaments do not have a third place playoff due to a lack of interest . It has been criticised by some who feel that the match serves little purpose, but others see this game as an occasion for the losing semi-finalists to salvage some pride . How seriously the competitors or teams take a third place playoff, may also be mixed: a heavily favoured team that lost in an upset in the semi-final round may not have as much incentive to win as would a "Cinderella" team who was not expected to advance that far . </P> <P> Most sports using a knockout format in the Olympic Games have a third place game to determine who wins the bronze medal, with the exception being boxing which awards two bronze medals (judo, taekwondo, and wrestling, which also award two bronze medals, both feature two bronze medal matches, between the losing semi-finalists and the winners of the repechage). As the difference between a bronze medal and no medal is quite significant, competitors still take this game seriously . </P> <P> The Rugby World Cup used to give automatic qualification to all teams in the top three of the ongoing tournament to the one that would follow it four years later thus making the third place playoff game important, but this was later scrapped after the 1999 edition of the tournament allowing teams outside the top three to automatically qualify depending on their IRB co-efficient in the rankings . </P>

Who plays for third place in world cup