Ousmane Dembélé joins elite World Cup hat-trick club | OneFootball

Ousmane Dembélé struck a hat-trick against Norway on Friday night, becoming the third Frenchman to do so at a World Cup. His treble was the 57th in the tournament’s history.

Norway goalkeeper Egil Selvik was beaten three times by the France No 7, who joins Lionel Messi and Jonathan David as the hat-trick scorers at the 2026 World Cup.

Among the previous 54, six were four-goal hauls. They came from Ernest Wilimowski in a 5-6 loss to Brazil, Ademir in a 7-1 win over Sweden in 1950, Sandor Kocsis in an 8-3 win over West Germany in 1954, Just Fontaine in a 6-3 win over West Germany in 1958, Eusébio against North Korea in 1966 and Emilio Butragueño against Denmark in 1986. There was also a five-goal feat, Oleg Salenko for Russia against Cameroon in 1994, a 6-1 win.

The first World Cup hat-trick was by American Bert Patenaude in 1930 against Paraguay, 3-0. In 1938, Brazil 6-5 Poland after extra time featured hat-tricks from Leonidas and Wilimowski, and Sweden 8-0 Cuba saw Harry Andersson and Gustav Wetterström do likewise.

At the 1954 finals, Switzerland led Austria 3-0 by 19 minutes, trailed 4-5 at half-time, Theodor Wagner then completed his hat-trick before Josef Hügi replied. Austria won 7-5, the highest scoring match in World Cup history.

In 1954, Kocsis also hit a hat-trick against South Korea then four against West Germany. Only four players have more than one World Cup hat-trick, a club that includes Just Fontaine, who did three against Paraguay then four against West Germany in 1958.

Two hat-tricks came in finals, Geoffrey Hurst in 1966 and Kylian Mbappé in 2022. Hurst’s treble delivered England’s 4-2 extra-time win over West Germany, Mbappé’s two penalties and a famous volley could not prevent France losing to Argentina, 3-3 then 4-2 on penalties.

Source: L'Équipe