Ousmane Dembele's hat-trick is the second fastest in the entire history of the World Cup.

Ousmane Dembele etched his name into 2026 FIFA World Cup history after becoming the third player to score a hat-trick at the tournament. The French national team forward's three goals carried Les Bleus to a 4-1 victory over Norway in the final Group I fixture, securing an unbeaten progression through to the Round of 32.

Dembele follows the footsteps of Lionel Messi and Jonathan David, who both registered hat-tricks earlier in the 2026 World Cup. Messi achieved the feat during Argentina's 3-0 win against Algeria, while Jonathan David inspired Canada to a 6-0 thrashing of Qatar.

Dembele was the defining difference from kickoff. The Paris Saint-Germain star netted all three of his goals inside the first half, scoring in the 7th, 20th and 32nd minutes to wrap up France's convincing group stage campaign with the 4-1 win.

Dembele's clinical performance earned praise from Norway national team head coach Stale Solbakken, who admitted his side failed to contain the 29-year-old's exceptional display.

"Today quite simply was one of those days for Dembele where every single touch on the ball was perfect, and that made things incredibly difficult for us. We could not provide cover for our left back Fredrik Andre Bjorkan. Two of Dembele's finishes were absolute world class. We really should have prevented that third goal," Solbakken stated, as quoted on FIFA's official website.

Dembele's hat-trick also set another historic milestone: he is the first player to score a World Cup hat-trick in the first half since Oleg Salenko achieved the same for Russia against Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup.

Additionally, this haul ranks as the second fastest hat-trick in the entire history of the FIFA World Cup. The all-time fastest record remains held by Austria's Erich Probst, who scored three goals in just 24 minutes against Czechoslovakia at the 1954 World Cup.

With these three goals, Dembele now has four total goals at the 2026 World Cup. His first goal of this tournament came during France's 3-0 group stage victory against Iraq in their second group fixture.

Across his full international career, Dembele has now scored 11 goals from 62 senior appearances for France, having made his debut in a September 2016 friendly match against Italy.

Next, Dembele's goalscoring form will be tested when Les Bleus face Sweden in the Round of 32, kicking off in the early hours of Wednesday 1 July WIB at the New York New Jersey Stadium, United States.