England secured third place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, edging out France 6-4 in a breathless third-place play-off in Miami on Saturday — the country’s best World Cup finish since their 1966 triumph.
Bukayo Saka was the star of the show, becoming only the second England player ever to score a hat-trick in a World Cup knockout match, after Geoff Hurst’s feat in the 1966 final.
England raced into a commanding lead through Declan Rice after just two minutes of play before and Ezri Konsa headed in a corner inside 18 minutes.
Saka added two more before the break to put the Three Lions 4-0 up.
France, without the injured composure they’d hoped for, hit back hard after the interval.
Kylian Mbappe scored twice either side of a Bradley Barcola strike, and in doing so became the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history, moving to 22 goals and one clear of Lionel Messi.
Saka restored England’s cushion with an 87th-minute penalty, and though Ousmane Dembele pulled another back late on, substitute Jude Bellingham sealed the win with a composed finish in stoppage time.
The result also marked the end of Didier Deschamps’s 14-year reign as France coach, while for England it offered some redemption after Wednesday’s semi-final heartbreak against Argentina.
Bellingham’s goal made him England’s highest scorer at a single World Cup or European Championship, with seven goals for the tournament.
It was a record-breaking night as Michael Olise surpassed legendary Pélé as the player with the most assists – 7 – in a single World Cup tournament.
