England beat France 6-4 as Saka's hat trick seals World Cup third place

England beat France 6-4 in the World Cup 2026 third-place play-off on Saturday, 18 July, in the highest-scoring match at a finals since 1982. Bukayo Saka was the outstanding figure, scoring a hat trick to fire the Three Lions to a memorable victory.

Saka opened and closed the hosts' scoring, while Jude Bellingham capped the contest in stoppage time with his seventh goal of the tournament — the most ever by an England player at a single World Cup. For England it is their best finish at the finals since the title of 1966, a result that salvages a broadly positive campaign.

For France, Kylian Mbappé struck twice after the break to surpass Lionel Messi's all-time World Cup record and move onto 22 career goals at the tournament. Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembélé supplied the other French goals in an end-to-end contest rich in entertainment but light on defensive control.

The ten goals combined represent the most ever in a third-place match. The open, free-flowing encounter thrilled until the final whistle and underlined the explosive attacking level of this expanded 48-team World Cup. For France, runners-up at the last finals, fourth place closes a tournament below expectations despite their talisman's individual numbers, on what proved to be Didier Deschamps' final match as coach after 14 years in charge.

England, for their part, leave the World Cup smiling, having beaten the reigning European champions on a night to remember.

Sources

• AP News — Saka's hat trick lifts England past Mbappé and France 6-4 in wild World Cup third-place game: https://apnews.com/article/world-cup-england-france-third-place-score-52f94eda6ff6d268d38aaefbc446c525