Contact Us

England take World Cup third place with 6-4 win against France

England beat France 6-4 in a high-scoring World Cup third-place playoff thanks to a hat-trick from Bukayo Saka while Kylian Mbappe became the highest scorer in the tournament's history.

Reuters SPORTS
Published July 19,2026 02:11 AM
Subscribe

England claimed third place at the World Cup by beating France 6-4 on Saturday, while Les Bleus' captain Kylian ⁠Mbappe became the ⁠tournament's all-time top scorer with 22 goals on coach Didier Deschamps' last game after 14 years ⁠in charge.

England scored four in the first half through Declan Rice, Ezri Konsa and a Bukayo Saka double

Saka completed his hat-trick with an 87th-minute penalty

Mbappe scored two, either side of Bradley Barcola's goal in the second half, to take his ⁠tally ⁠to 10 at this World Cup

Ousmane Dembele netted France's fourth six minutes into stoppage before Jude Bellingham added a sixth for England

Mbappe leads the Golden Boot standings with two more goals than Argentina ⁠forward Messi

The 27-year-old also leads Messi, who is preparing to play in Sunday's final against Spain, by one goal in the all-time World Cup scoring charts

Michael Olise has a World Cup ⁠record ‌of ‌seven assists, ahead of Pele's ⁠six in 1970

France ‌recovered from a shambolic start after Deschamps brought in Dayot ⁠Upamecano and Lucas Digne ⁠to reinforce a disoriented back four

Deschamps ⁠leaves France after 185 matches.