Some players show up for big moments. Ousmane Dembélé apparently decided the 2026 FIFA World Cup was the right venue to have the best 32 minutes of his career.
Playing at Boston Stadium on June 26, the Paris Saint-Germain winger scored three goals before halftime to power France to a 4-1 victory over Norway, cementing the defending favorites’ place at the top of Group I.
The hat-trick that rewrote the record books
Dembélé opened the scoring in the 7th minute, doubled it in the 20th, and completed the hat-trick by the 32nd. That 32-minute span from first goal to third makes it the second-fastest hat-trick in World Cup history.
It is also the first first-half hat-trick at a World Cup since 1994, which puts Dembélé in some genuinely rare company.
