Ousmane Dembélé scored the first hat-trick of his international career as France thrashed Norway 4-1 on Friday, completing a perfect Group I campaign at the FIFA 2026 World Cup.
Both teams had already secured places in the Round of 32, so only top spot mattered. Norway boss Ståle Solbakken made 10 changes and rested stars Erling Haaland and Martin Ødegaard — and France happily took full advantage.
The 2025 Ballon d’Or winner struck in the 7th, 20th and 32nd minutes to register his first hat-trick for Les Bleus and move to four goals in the tournament. His treble was the first first-half World Cup hat-trick since Russia’s Oleg Salenko scored three of his five against Cameroon in 1994, and the second-fastest from kick-off in World Cup history behind Austria’s Erich Probst in 1954.
France, led by assistant coach Guy Stéphan after Didier Deschamps returned home following the death of his mother, dominated from the start. Dembélé opened the scoring after Kylian Mbappé won the ball high and teed him up to beat goalkeeper Egil Selvik. He then doubled the lead with a clinical finish on a lightning-fast counter-attack.
Norway threatened briefly when Rangers forward Thelo Aasgaard scored just 79 seconds after France’s second goal, capitalising on a defensive lapse. Dembélé restored the two-goal cushion before half-time with a lovely left-foot curl to complete his treble. He was taken off in the 65th minute, and PSG teammate Désiré Doué added a fourth in stoppage time as France finished the group stage with maximum points.
