Ousmane Dembélé has become the third player to score a hat-trick for France in the World Cup. Previously, Just Fontaine scored two hat-tricks in the 1958 World Cup, and Kylian Mbappé achieved a hat-trick in the 2022 tournament. On June 27, in Kathmandu, following Dembélé’s hat-trick, France defeated Norway 4-1 in the final group match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers. Securing their third consecutive win, France emerged as the winners of Group I. Both France and Norway, already qualified for the knockout stage, faced off in a decisive game to determine the group winner.
With this victory, France completed the group stage with a perfect record, having previously beaten Senegal 3-1 and Iraq 3-0. Norway, returning to the FIFA World Cup after 28 years, advanced as group runners-up into the knockout rounds. France will next face a third-placed team from either Group F or G, while Norway will meet Ivory Coast, the runner-up of Group E. The match was held at Boston Stadium in the United States, where Dembélé completed his hat-trick within the first 32 minutes of the first half.
Norway rested their key scorer Erling Haaland for this match. Norway made 10 changes to their lineup from their first-choice squad and challenged France, but missed the opportunity to convert a penalty during the second half. Dembélé opened the scoring in the 7th minute, giving France an early lead, and doubled the advantage with his second goal in the 20th minute. Just one minute later, Norway’s Thelo Asgaard scored to bring them back into contention. However, Dembélé netted his third goal in the 32nd minute, completing his hat-trick and extending France’s lead to 3-1. This marked the third hat-trick of the current World Cup qualifiers, following those by Argentina’s captain Lionel Messi and Canada’s Jonathan David.
Dembélé is now the third French player to score a World Cup hat-trick. Earlier, Just Fontaine recorded two hat-tricks in 1958, and Kylian Mbappé scored one in 2022. Norway missed multiple goal-scoring opportunities in the second half. Jørgen Strand Larsen failed to convert a penalty in the 50th minute, with France’s goalkeeper Mike Maignan making the save. France’s Dayot Upamecano added a fourth goal in the fourth minute of injury time in the second half, finalizing the score at 4-1.
