Jude Bellingham became the first England player to score seven goals at a single FIFA World Cup after finding the net in the closing moments of the Three Lions’ 6-4 victory over France in Saturday’s third-place play-off.
The Real Madrid midfielder started on the bench before replacing Morgan Rogers in the 79th minute. With the match deep into stoppage time, Bellingham collected the ball near the halfway line, surged towards the France penalty area, skipped past a defender and calmly swept his finish into the bottom corner with the final kick of the game.
The goal lifted the 23-year-old clear of Harry Kane and Gary Lineker, who had each scored six goals in a single World Cup for England. Lineker reached that mark at the 1986 tournament in Mexico, while Kane matched it at the 2018 World Cup before scoring another six goals during England’s run at the 2026 finals.
Bellingham’s record-breaking strike came only minutes after he had turned down the opportunity to add to his tally from the penalty spot. England were awarded a late penalty after Djed Spence was brought down, but the midfielder immediately encouraged Bukayo Saka to take it instead, allowing the Arsenal winger to complete his hat-trick.
Saka later revealed there had never been any doubt over who would take the spot-kick.
“No, Jude was never taking it,” Saka told BBC One after the match. “He was the first one to say, ‘Go and get your hat-trick’, so none of them came to distract me. I was always going to take it.”
While Saka claimed the headlines with the first World Cup hat-trick by an England player since Geoff Hurst in 1966, Bellingham’s late goal ensured he left the tournament with a place in the record books. His seventh strike established a new benchmark for an England player at a single World Cup and rounded off the Three Lions’ highest finish at the competition since lifting the trophy on home soil 60 years ago.
Read more – England player ratings vs France: Saka steals the show in World Cup thriller
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