Olise's Hat-Trick Against Northern Ireland: An Unprecedented Performance Since Platini at Euro 1984

Michael Olise scored all three goals for the French national team in their 3-1 victory over Northern Ireland in Lille on Monday evening, in their final warm-up match before the World Cup. A performance that places the Bayern Munich winger in a very exclusive category in French football history.

Four days after their defeat to Côte d’Ivoire, France returned to winning ways thanks to this hat-trick from a player who does not play as a striker. You have to go back more than forty years to find a comparable precedent: Michel Platini, at Euro 1984, achieved this feat twice in the group stage, against Belgium and then against Yugoslavia — with a right-footed goal, a left-footed goal and a header each time.

Since that Euro 1984 which Platini dominated throughout with nine goals in five matches, all players who scored a hat-trick wearing the French shirt were strikers: Dominique Rocheteau against Luxembourg in 1986 (6-0), David Trezeguet against a FIFA selection in 2000 (5-1), Olivier Giroud against Paraguay in 2017 (5-0), and Kylian Mbappé on several occasions — against Argentina in 2022, Gibraltar in 2023, not forgetting his four-goal haul against Kazakhstan in 2021.

Expanding to the entire history of the French national team, there are now only four non-strikers who have scored a hat-trick wearing the French shirt. Alongside Olise and Platini are midfielder Edouard Crut, who scored a hat-trick against Latvia (7-0) at the 1924 Olympic Games, and winger Ernest Vaast against Portugal (4-2) in 1947.

This 3-1 victory allows France to end their preparation on a positive note before their World Cup campaign begins.