France 4-6 England: the highest-scoring game of the 2026 World Cup was the bronze match
The highest-scoring game of the 2026 World Cup was neither a final nor a semi-final, but the third-place play-off. France and England served up a ten-goal spectacle (4-6) in which England went 4-0 up, France fought back and Saka completed a hat-trick. We review the bronze fest, the tournament's goal-scoring madness.
Third-place play-offs tend to have a reputation as formalities, but the 2026 World Cup's was exactly the opposite: the highest-scoring game of the whole tournament. France and England, the two sides who fell at the final hurdle, bowed out with a ten-goal fest that ended 4-6 to England.
The game had everything. England went 4-0 up by half-time with a Declan Rice strike, an Ezri Konsa header and two from Bukayo Saka, in a crushing first half. But France, far from giving up, came out transformed in the second: a Kylian Mbappé brace and a Bradley Barcola goal cut the deficit to 4-3. The drama was on.
Saka settled the nerves by completing his hat-trick from the penalty spot (5-3), and in stoppage time there was still room for more goals, from Ousmane Dembélé and Jude Bellingham, setting the final 4-6. Ten goals, a hat-trick and a Mbappé brace —who with those goals secured the Golden Boot— in a relentless game.
England took bronze and France finished fourth, but the big winner was the spectacle. In a World Cup with 308 goals, the wildest of all came when there were no titles left to play for. See the tournament's biggest wins and the match page on our site.