Repechage (French, pronounced re-pe-shage, literally re-fishing) is a practice amongst ladder competitions that allows participants that failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round.

In track athletics, automatic qualification for the next round is given to the best competitors in each heat. Other competitors with the best times may also qualify for the next round indirectly as "fastest losers" as a result of the repechage. If a particular heat was significantly faster than the others, the repechage spots can be all taken by athletes from that heat. A womens 400 metre hurdles race on a typical outdoor red rubber track. ...

In field athletics, automatic qualification for the next round depends on meeting or surpassing a specified minimum result. The remaining qualification spots (if any) are given in order to the best results.

In the 24-team version of the FIFA World Cup, the best four teams in third place progressed to the knockout stage. This is similar to the Wild Card berths that would be awarded to teams in the NFL with the best records outside of the division winners. The FIFA World Cup Trophy, which has been awarded to the world champions since 1974. ... In North American professional sports leagues, the term wild card refers to a team that qualifies for championship playoffs without winning their specific subdivision (usually called a conference or division) outright. ... NFL logo For other uses of the abbreviation NFL, see NFL (disambiguation). ...

It is also used in rowing. Often only the first one or two boats in a race will qualify automatically for the next round, and all of the other boats must race again in one or more special heats (known as the repechage) to qualify. Because conditions such as wind vary between the heats, often significantly affecting a competititor's time, rowing's repechage system allows the "fastest losers" to qualify independent of the variable conditions in the opening heats. A coxless pair which is a sweep-oar boat. ...

In rugby union, the qualification process for the Rugby World Cup uses a repechage system, as does the Air New Zealand Cup, New Zealand's professional domestic competition. General phase play in rugby union. ... The Rugby World Cup trophy, the William Webb Ellis Trophy. ... The Air New Zealand Cup (also referred to by its previous name of the National Provincial Championship, its abbreviation of NPC, or for sponsorship reasons as the Air New Zealand NPC) is New Zealands professional domestic rugby union competition. ...

Some, generally high level, fencing tournaments also use repechage, specifically USFA Division I tournaments. Russian Ivan Tourchine and American Weston Kelsey fence in the second round of the Olympic Mens Individual Épée event at the Helliniko Fencing Hall on Aug. ... The United States Fencing Association (USFA) is the regulatory body that governs the sport of fencing in the United States. ...