Dembélé scores fastest World Cup hat trick in 72 years, France routs Norway

Ousmane Dembélé struck three times in 25 minutes and France beat Norway 4-1 in Boston, a first-half burst that produced the fastest World Cup hat trick in 72 years. The win sent France to the top of Group I and strengthened the case that this squad can hurt opponents from several angles, not just by leaning on Kylian Mbappé.

Dembélé scored in the 7th, 20th and 32nd minutes at Boston Stadium, with Thelo Aasgaard briefly pulling Norway level in the 21st before Désiré Doué added France’s fourth goal in stoppage time, the 90+4 minute. FIFA’s match report framed the night around the long-anticipated Dembélé-Mbappé matchup, but the game quickly became a showcase for Dembélé’s finishing and movement between the lines.

Norway’s decision to leave Erling Haaland out of the starting lineup shaped the match before kickoff. Ståle Solbakken defended the rotation as “a no-brainer,” and Norway’s approach reflected a calculation about the knockout stage rather than a direct bid to take the game to France. The result, though, made the absence look costly against a France side that attacked with speed and depth from the opening whistle.

Dembélé’s hat trick was the first first-half World Cup treble since Russia’s Oleg Salenko scored three against Cameroon in 1994. FIFA described the performance as historic, and the numbers backed that up: France’s winger reached four goals in three games at the tournament, a striking return for a player who arrived after helping Paris Saint-Germain win the UEFA Champions League in 2025 and 2026.

The night also carried broader weight for France. The victory gave Les Bleus three wins from three in World Cup group play for the first time since they won the trophy in 1998, a marker that fits the scale of this tournament, which features 48 teams and 104 matches. France’s depth showed again late, when Doué scored after Dembélé had already taken the match out of reach.

For Dembélé, who was part of France’s 2018 World Cup-winning squad and the 2022 runner-up team, the performance was a turning point as much as a statistic. He called it “a unique moment,” and France now leave Boston looking less like a side built around one star than one with multiple match-winners ready for the rounds ahead.