Ousmane Dembélé scored a first-half hat-trick to lead France to a commanding 4-1 victory over Norway on Day 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The performance marked a significant turnaround for Dembélé, who had not scored in 19 previous major international tournament games before France's last match.
France secured the top spot in Group I and will advance to face a third-place team from Group F or G. Norway finished as the runner-up in their group and is set to play Ivory Coast on June 30. This marks the second time in France's World Cup history, after 1998, that they have won all three of their group matches. It is also the fourth consecutive tournament in which France has topped its group.
Dembélé's hat-trick is the first in the World Cup since 1994 and the second-earliest in the tournament's history. He joins Just Fontaine and Kylian Mbappé as the only French players to score a hat-trick in a men's World Cup. France is the first team since Poland in 1974 to have two players, Mbappé and Dembélé, score four or more goals in a single group stage. Mbappé, with his 15th World Cup start, became the youngest player to reach this milestone at 27 years and 188 days old.
In other matches, Spain drew with Uruguay to win Group H with seven points. Spain's draw extended their unbeaten streak to 33 games, the second-longest in team history. This marks the first time in World Cup history that Spain has completed the group stage without conceding a goal.
Senegal, with goals and assists from Ismaïla Sarr, Pape Gueye, and Iliman Ndiaye, defeated Iraq 3-0. Sarr became the first Senegal player to both score and assist in a World Cup match. Gueye contributed three goal contributions as a substitute. Ndiaye also made history by being the first player to score and assist as a substitute, record five touches in the opposition box, and make five dribbles in a single World Cup match.
Cape Verde advanced to the knockout stage as a debutant, becoming the smallest nation by population to ever reach this stage of the World Cup. Goalkeeper Vozinha became the third goalkeeper over 40 to record multiple World Cup clean sheets. Saudi Arabia was eliminated.
Belgium secured the top position in Group G with a victory over New Zealand. Kevin De Bruyne became the first Belgian player to score in three different World Cups, and Romelu Lukaku surpassed Marc Wilmots as Belgium's all-time leading World Cup scorer. Elijah Just scored for New Zealand, becoming their all-time leading World Cup goalscorer.
Egypt finished as the runner-up in Group G, advancing to the knockout stage for the first time outside of the 1934 tournament which lacked a group stage. Iran's draw means they will await potential advancement as one of the best third-place teams. Emam Ashour scored his second career goal for Egypt in the tournament, while Ramin Rezaeian of Iran now holds the record for most goal contributions by an Iranian player in World Cup history with four.