Ousmane Dembélé was the great figure in France’s 4-1 win over Norway by signing a hat trick that not only led to the victory of the French, but also allowed him to inscribe his name among the great individual performances in the history of the World Cups.
The current Ballon d’Or winner opened the scoring at minute 7, extended the lead at minute 20 and completed his hat-trick at minute 32. With that performance, the Paris Saint-Germain attacker signed the second fastest hat-trick in the history of the World Cups, only behind the Austrian Erich Probst, who achieved the mark in Switzerland 1954.
In addition, Dembélé became the first footballer to score three goals in the first half of a World Cup match since 1994, a sign of the dominance that France exerted from the start of the match.
With his performance against Norway, the Frenchman also joined the list of players with a hat trick in the 2026 World Cup, along with Lionel Messi and Jonathan David.
In the history of the French team, Dembélé is only the third player to score a hat-trick in a World Cup, after Just Fontaine and Kylian Mbappé.
The winger, who had had a discreet performance in previous tournaments with the senior team, is now going through one of the best moments of his career. With the three goals against Norway he has four goals in his two most recent games with Les Bleus.
Beyond the records, Dembélé unbalanced the match with his speed, dribbling ability and forcefulness in front of goal. His performance was decisive for France to close the group stage with a resounding victory and strengthen its candidacy for the 2026 World Cup title.
The triplet of the reigning Ballon d’Or not only boosted the French team, but was also included among the most outstanding individual performances of the current World Cup.