World Cup 2026: Dembélé scores sensational hat-trick as France beat Norway to top group

France forward Ousmane Dembélé scored a first-half hat trick, including one off a feed from Kylian Mbappé, to power Les Bleus to a 4-1 win over Norway at the World Cup.

Read more World Cup 2026: Group standings

Dembélé's goals came in the seventh, 20th and 32nd minutes. It was the first first-half hat trick at the World Cup since Russia forward Oleg Salenko scored three of his five goals in the opening 45 minutes against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

Désiré Doué scored France's final goal in second-half injury time.

Dembélé, who has now scored four goals at this year's World Cup, left the game in the 65th minute. He was replaced by Bradley Barcola. Dembélé won Ballon d'Or as Europe's top player in 2025. Dembélé celebrates after scoring the opener.

Thelo Aasgaard got Norway on the scoreboard after Dembélé's second goal, finding the back of the net only 14 seconds after the restart. But Dembélé added his third goal less than nine minutes later to push the lead back to two, and Norway later fluffed a penalty and a number of other chances to get back in the game.

(FRANCE 24 with AP)