Tauranga residents holidaying in France have found themselves in the thick of the celebrations after France beat Croatia in the final of the Football World Cup.

Speaking to SunLive from Uzes, a small town in the south of France, Tauranga real estate agent and former SunLive general manager Ross Brown says the atmosphere is electric.

'The amount of people in the town square is unbelievable. There are hooters and bangers going off, everyone is so happy.”

Ross, who has been in France for the past six weeks, says the face paint on people is amazing.

He says there are people from as young as two years old to granddads celebrating France's win.

'The passion is quite amazing. It just needs to be seen. It's quite a life experience.”

France beat Croatia 4-2 in a thrilling World Cup Football final which featured a series of firsts, including an own goal and a penalty awarded after a video review.

France led 2-1 at half time and extended the lead to 4-1 with goals from Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe in the 59th and 65th minutes before Mario Mandzukic pulled one back for the Croatians in the 69th following an error from goalkeeper Hugo Loris.

France had taken the lead in the 18th through Mario Mandzukic's own-goal - the first in a Fifa World Cup final and a record 12th in the tournament - off an Antoine Griezmann freekick, before Croatia's Ivan Perisic equalised with a fierce left-foot strike 10 minutes later.
The passion and excitement can be seen in the video from Ross above.