England claimed the bronze medal at the 2026 FIFA World Cup after surviving a spirited second-half fightback from France to seal a pulsating 6-4 victory in Saturday’s third-place playoff at Miami Gardens, Florida.
The Three Lions appeared to be cruising towards an emphatic victory after racing into a 4-0 first-half lead, only for France to launch a remarkable comeback that threatened to overturn the contest before England struck late to secure their best World Cup finish in six decades.
England took the lead inside three minutes when captain Declan Rice unleashed a powerful strike from outside the penalty area beyond French goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Defender Ezri Konsa doubled the advantage in the 18th minute, heading home from a Rice corner before Bukayo Saka took centre stage.
The Arsenal winger netted twice before the break to leave France shell-shocked and England firmly in control at 4-0.
France manager Didier Deschamps responded by making four substitutions at half-time, introducing Ballon d’Or holder Ousmane Dembélé alongside Lucas Digne, Dayot Upamecano and Bradley Barcola.
The changes immediately sparked life into Les Bleus.
Kylian Mbappé pulled one back three minutes after the restart, scoring his ninth goal of the tournament to move ahead of Argentina captain Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot.
Barcola added France’s second shortly afterwards before Mbappé struck again in the 66th minute to reduce the deficit to 4-3.
The brace also saw the French captain score his 22nd career World Cup goal, setting a new all-time record by moving ahead of Messi.
Michael Olise also etched his name into the record books after providing assists for both Mbappé goals, taking his tournament tally to seven to surpass Pelé’s previous record for the most assists in a single World Cup.
With both sides creating numerous chances, goalkeepers Dean Henderson and Maignan were called into action repeatedly to keep their teams in the contest.
England restored their two-goal cushion in the closing stages after Djed Spence was brought down inside the penalty area by Malo Gusto.
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Saka calmly converted the resulting spot-kick to complete his hat-trick, becoming only the fourth England men’s player to score three goals in a World Cup match.
France refused to surrender, with Dembélé scoring deep into stoppage time to make it 5-4 and set up a tense finale.
However, Jude Bellingham put the result beyond doubt moments later, finishing clinically after coming off the bench to make it 6-4 and seal England’s bronze-medal triumph.
The victory gave England their highest World Cup finish since lifting the trophy in 1966, ending their campaign on a positive note after missing out on a place in the final.
Meanwhile, France were left to settle for fourth place despite an impressive second-half resurgence led by Mbappé.
