FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Ahead of the knockout round of the World Cup, French star Ousmane Dembélé announced himself as a top contender for the tournament’s Golden Boot with a historic first-half hat trick that lifted defending champion France to a 4-1 victory over Norway in the final Group Stage match Friday.
Dembélé found the back of the net three times in just 25 minutes of the first half, striking in the 7th, 20th, and 32nd minutes. His performance marks the first first-half World Cup hat trick in 30 years; the last such achievement came from Russian forward Oleg Salenko, who netted three first-half goals as part of his iconic five-goal game against Cameroon at the 1994 United States World Cup.
The match opened with a near-immediate chance for France: Kylian Mbappé broke down the right flank just 21 seconds after kickoff, firing a powerful strike that rattled the crossbar past Norwegian backup goalkeeper Egil Selvik. Dembélé opened his scoring tally soon after, slotting a right-footed shot past Selvik off a perfectly placed feed from his Paris Saint-Germain teammate Mbappé. He doubled his lead 13 minutes later, creating space between three Norwegian defenders at the top of the 18-yard box and curling a left-footed shot beyond Selvik’s diving save attempt.
Norway quickly pulled one back, as Thelo Aasgaard scored just 14 seconds after the restart following Dembélé’s second goal. But Dembélé restored France’s two-goal advantage less than nine minutes later, completing his first-half hat trick before the break. France rounded out the scoring with a late injury-time goal from young substitute Désiré Doué, capping a dominant performance that pushed the side’s total goal tally to 10 through three group matches.
Both sides had already secured their spots in the World Cup round of 32 heading into Friday’s match, and Norway head coach Ståle Solbakken made the call to rest 10 regular starting players, including star striker Erling Haaland, to keep his squad fresh for knockout round play. Solbakken explained that the short turn-around between matches made the decision to rest key starters an obvious one.
“The break that we had from the last game to this game was the shortest of any team. … So it’s a no-brainer,” Solbakken said. “The fans around Norway and also in the arena would have liked to see Erling. But that is not really the issue. We want to proceed as long as we can in the tournament.”
For France, the match carried an undercurrent of emotion: head coach Didier Deschamps missed the fixture after the recent passing of his mother, Ginette Deschamps, returning to France to be with his family. Assistant coach Guy Stéphan stepped in to lead the side, and fans in attendance displayed a large banner reading “AVEC TOI DIDIER” — “With you Didier” — to show their support for Deschamps. Stéphan confirmed after the match that Deschamps would rejoin the team for training Saturday ahead of the knockout round.
Dembélé, who claimed the 2025 Ballon d’Or as European football’s top player and now has four goals at this year’s World Cup, was subbed off in the 65th minute to rest, replaced by Bradley Barcola. In his post-match comments, the 28-year-old played down his individual achievement, emphasizing that the team’s focus remains locked on knockout round success.
“It is a unique moment,” Dembélé said. “But the most important was to finish first of the group in the group stage, and we are focused on the round of 32, which is the most important.” He added: “We want to win all our matches, but we remain focused.”
Historically, Dembélé’s hat trick ranks among the fastest in World Cup history. The record for the fastest tournament hat trick belongs to Hungarian striker Laszlo Kiss, who scored three goals in just 7 minutes 42 seconds as a substitute against El Salvador at the 1982 Spain World Cup. For hat tricks from the opening kickoff, the record is held by Austrian striker Erich Probst, who netted three goals in 24 minutes against Czechoslovakia at the 1954 Switzerland World Cup.
Looking ahead, both teams will begin their knockout round campaigns on the same day next week. Norway will square off against Ivory Coast on Tuesday in Arlington, Texas, while France will face off against one of the top third-place finishers from the 2026 tournament group stage in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
In addition to Dembélé’s three goals, Mbappé extended his strong World Cup form: the French captain now has 16 career World Cup goals and four assists across 17 tournament matches, having already scored two goals in each of France’s prior group wins against Senegal and Iraq, entering the knockout round as one of the tournament’s top offensive threats.