The wording is confusing and I hope u/foxhoundfps can clarify. But me and my friends have interpreted it as “win a game of FFA or finish top 3 in FFA, or Win a game of Fireteam or place top 3 in a game of Fireteam” X amount of times” but now that you’ve made this point I can see how you would read it the other way.
I agree with you though that either the wording is poor, or the challenge is bugged but i doubt it would be bugged for 4 months but nothing’s impossible.