World Cup Hat Tricks: How Many Times Has a Player Netted 3 Goals in a World Cup Game?

It is a few minutes to commencement of Quater finals of FIFA World Cup 2022 with Croatia taking on Brazil at Education stadium, Al Rayyan.

Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos is the latest player to score a hat trick on the World Cup

Goncalo Ramos scored the first hat trick of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar against Switzerland in the second half of the round of 16 clash.

Before Qatar, England’s Harry Kane was the last player to score a hat trick at the World Cup. His three strikes came on June 24, 2018, as the Three Lions defeated Panama 6-1 during the group stage of the Russia 2018 World Cup.

The FIFA World Cup is one of the biggest soccer tournaments in the world, and a soccer player completing a “hat trick” at the World Cup is one of the biggest accomplishments in a player’s career.

Since the World Cup was first held in Uruguay back in 1930, a total of 48 players have struck a hat trick on the global soccer stage with such famous names as Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo and Just Fontaine on the list. 

Portugal striker Goncalo Ramos is the latest player to score a hat trick on the World Cup stage. Ramos scored the first hat trick of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 against Switzerland in the second half of the round of 16 clash at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar on Wednesday.

Also read: World Cup Qatar 2022: A Look at Group Stages and Round of 16

Here’s a look at the history of the “hat trick” in the World Cup and the players who have scored the three thrilling goals in a World Cup game:

What is a hat trick in football?

A “hat trick” is the scoring of three goals in a game by one player 

How many hat tricks have occurred in World Cup history?

While 48 players have previously scored a hat trick at the World Cup, in total 52 hat tricks have been scored. 

Here’s a list of all the hat tricks scored at the World Cup:

Year	Player	Team	Opponent	Stage	Final Result
2022	Goncalo Ramos	Portugal	Switzerland	Round of 16	W 6-1
2018	Harry Kane	England	Panama	Group	W 6-1
2018	Cristiano Ronaldo	Portugal	Spain	Group	D 3-3
2014	Xherdan Shaqiri	Switzerland	Honduras	Group	W 3-0
2014	Thomas Muller	Germany	Portugal	Group	W 4-0
2010	Gonzalo Higuain	Argentina	South Korea	Group	W 4-1
2002	Pauleta	Portugal	Poland	Group	W 4-0
2002	Miroslav Klose	Germany	Saudi Arabia	Group	W 8-0
1998	Gabriel Batistuta	Argentina	Jamaica	Group	W 5-0
1994	Oleg Salenko	Russia	Cameroon	Group	W 6-1
1994	Gabriel Batistuta	Argentina	Greece	Group	W 4-0
1990	Tomas Skuhravy	Czechoslovakia	Costa Rica	Round of 16	W 4-1
1990	Michel	Spain	South Korea	Group	W 3-1
1986	Emiliano Butrageuno	Spain	Denmark	Round of 16	W 5-1
1986	Igor Belanov	Soviet Union	Belgium	Round of 16	L 3-4 (aet)
1986	Gary Lineker	England	Poland	Group	W 3-0
1986	Preben Elkjaer	Denmark	Uruguay	Group	W 6-1
1982	Paolo Rossi	Italy	Brazil	Second Group	W 3-2
1982	Zbigniew Boniek	Poland	Belgium	Second Group	W 3-0
1982	Karl-Heinz Rummenigge	West Germany	Chile	Group	W 4-1
1982	Laszlo Kiss	Hungary	El Salvador	Group	W 10-1
1978	Teofilo Cubillas	Peru	Iran	Group	W 4-1
1978	Rob Rensenbrink	Netherlands	Iran	Group	W 3-0
1974	Andrzej Szarmach	Poland	Haiti	Group	W 7-0
1974	Dusan Bajevic	Yugoslavia	Zaire	Group	W 9-0
1970	Gerd Muller	West Germany	Peru	Group	W 3-1
1970	Gerd Muller	West Germany	Bulgaria	Group	W 5-2
1966	Geoff Hurst	England	West Germany	Final	W 4-2 (aet)
1966	Eusebio	Portugal	North Korea	Quarterfinals	W 5-3
1962	Florian Albert	Hungary	Bulgaria	Group	W 6-1
1958	Just Fontaine	France	West Germany	Third place match	W 6-3
1958	Pele	Brazil	France	Semifinals	W 5-2
1958	Just Fontaine	France	Paraguay	Group	W 7-3
1954	Josef Hugi	Switzerland	Austria	Quarterfinals	L 5-7
1954	Theodor Wagner	Austria	Switzerland	Quarterfinals	W 7-5
1954	Max Morlock	West Germany	Turkey	Group	W 7-2
1954	Burhan Sargin	Turkey	South Korea	Group	W 7-0
1954	Sandor Kocsis	Hungary	West Germany	Group	W 8-3
1954	Carlos Borges	Uruguay	Scotland	Group	W 7-0
1954	Erich Probst	Austria	Czechoslovakia	Group	W 5-0
1954	Sandor Kocsis	Hungary	South Korea	Group	W 9-0
1950	Ademir	Brazil	Sweden	Final Group Stage	W 7-1
1950	Oscar Miguez	Uruguay	Bolivia	First Group Stage	W 8-0
1938	Harry Anderson	Sweden	Cuba	Quarterfinals	W 8-0
1938	Gustav Wetterstrom	Sweden	Cuba	Quarterfinals	W 8-0
1938	Leonidas	Brazil	Poland	Round of 16	W 6-5 (aet)
1938	Ernst Wilimowski	Poland	Brazil	Round of 16	L 6-5 (aet)
1934	Oldrich Nejedly	Czechoslovakia	Germany	Semifinals	W 3-1
1934	Edmund Conen	Germany	Belgium	Round of 16	W 5-2
1934	Angelo Schiavio	Italy	USA	Round of 16	W 7-1
1930	Pedro Cea	Uruguay	Yugoslavia	Semifinals	W 6-1
1930	Guillermo Stabile	Argentina	Mexico	Group	W 6-3
1930	Bert Patenaude	USA	Paraguay	Group	W 3-0

Has a player ever scored more than one hat trick in a World Cup?

Since the World Cup debut in 1930, only four players have scored more than one hat trick:

Sandor Kocsis  – Hungary (2) 

Hungary’s Sandor Kocsis of Hungary scored two different hat tricks in two World Cup group stages. His first came during the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland in a 9-0 win over South Korea and the second came in an 8-3 victory against West Germany.

Just Fontaine  – France (2)

Just Fontaine was the second player to score two World Cup hat tricks during the same tournament. In the 1958 Sweden World Cup, Fontaine netted his first hat trick in a 7-3 victory over Paraguay in the group stage and then struck four goals in the third-place match vs. West Germany.

Gerd Muller  – West Germany (2)

Just 12 years after Fontaine’s hat tricks in Sweden, West Germany’s Gerd Muller became the third player to score multiple World Cup hat tricks. Both of his three-goal performances came during the 1970 Mexico World Cup during consecutive group-stage outings. The first was scored in a 5-2 win over Bulgaria and the second in a 3-1 victory against Peru.

Gabriel Batistuta  – Argentina (2)

Argentina’s Gabriel Batistuta is the only player on the list who has scored more than one hat trick in two different World Cup editions. The Argentine striker netted his first against Greece during the 1994 World Cup group stages in the USA and his second came four years later in a 5-0 demolition of Jamaica in Paris at France in 1998. 

Which nation has scored the most hat tricks in the World Cup?

Throughout World Cup history, no nation has produced more hat tricks than Germany (7).