The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia was the 21st edition of what has become the world’s largest sporting event. During that time, over 800 matches have been played, but only 52 hat-tricks have ever been scored. Now, if I asked you to name as many of those 52 as possible, how many do you think you’d get?
I suspect Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick against Spain is still fresh in a lot of people’s minds, given that it was only 18 months ago and it was in arguably the game of the tournament. Those of you with even more impressive powers of recollection may recall that Harry Kane scored the only other hat-trick at the most recent World Cup against Panama, and given that a large contingent of this channels viewership are English, many of you will also know – if not recall – that Geoff Hurst is the only man to bag a hat-trick in a World Cup final back in 1966.
Now, those are some obvious ones, but I’ve been asked to take a look at some less obvious ones from over the years. Now, I could just name the first seven, all scored between 1930 and 1938, since most people – unlike me, don’t give a monkeys about football from those early years, but that wouldn’t make for a particularly interesting video. There will be some earlier ones, but also some recent ones, with some where I suspect people will remember them but only once reminded of them.
Here are 7 players you didn’t know or that you forgot scored World Cup hat-tricks:
7. Oleg Salenko
Brazilian superstar Romario won the Golden Ball as the best player at the 1994 World Cup, but two players beat him to the Golden Boot, his Barcelona teammate Hristo Stoichkov and Russian striker Oleg Salenko. Salenko didn’t just score a hat-trick at the 1994 World Cup in the United States, he didn’t even score four, he scored a record breaking five goals in a single game as Russia demolished Cameroon. He added a sixth from 12 yards out against Sweden to tie with Stoichkov for the Golden Boot, despite the fact that Russia went out in the group stages.
6. Tomáš Skuhravý
Tomas Skuhravy from Czechoslovakia on the field against Germany during the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
Italia ‘90 is often heralded as one of the all time great World Cups, but there were only two hat-tricks scored at the finals in Italy, and I’ll doff my cap to you if you can remember either of them. Michel scored one for Spain against South Korea, but the hat-trick which makes this seven is Tomáš Skuhravý’s in the round of 16 against Costa Rica. The 6’4” target mans goals fired Czechoslovakia into the quarter-finals, where they lost to eventual winners West Germany, but it was at least enough to earn Skuhravý a transfer to Genoa.
5. Gonzalo Higuain
It must be a bit frustrating being Gonzalo Higuain, who scored 31 goals for Argentina to put him just three goals behind Diego Maradona in the nation’s all time scoring charts including a hat-trick at a World Cup, to be predominantly remembered in international football for two big misses in two big finals. Well, forgotten no longer Gonzalo, since we fondly look back on your trio of goals against South Korea in 2010 in this seven. Higuain was just 22 at the time, and he had only scored two goals in total for Argentina prior to that hat-trick.
4. Edmund Conen
(Eingeschränkte Rechte für bestimmte redaktionelle Kunden in Deutschland. Limited rights for specific editorial clients in Germany.) Länderspiel Deutschland – Ungarn (2:2) vor 100.000…
We take a sizable step back in terms of time in fourth place, all the way back to the 1934 World Cup in Italy. Now, you may think that was so long ago that obviously most people aren’t familiar with Edmund Conen’s hat-trick against Belgium in the group stages, but perhaps more people ought to be. Only two teenagers have ever scored hat-tricks at the World Cup, Pele in 1958 and Conen in 1934. Conen was just 19 at the time, and his goals inspired West Germany to finish third at the finals, but he was ruled out for over three-and-a-half years through illness just a year later. He returned to international duty in 1939 and retired with a record of 27 goals from 28 caps.
3. Xherdan Shaqiri
Now, this is one of those that I suspect most of you won’t have remembered when I pondered how many of the 52 World Cup hat-tricks you could remember in the introduction, but may be going ‘oh yeah…’ now that I bring it up in third place. Of course, if you did remember it then well done to you. Xherdan Shaqiri was just 22 himself at the time of his World Cup hat-trick for Switzerland against Honduras in the 2014 World Cup group stages. Thomas Muller was the only other player to net three times in a single game at the finals in Brazil, and Shaqiri’s heroics ensured Switzerland qualified from their group ahead of Ecuador.
2. Dusan Bajevic
Coach Dusan Bajevic of Atromitos Athens attends a training session, on the eve of their UEFA Europa League play-off match against Newcastle United FC, at The Sports Direct Arena on August…
Not only is Dujan Bajevic’s World Cup hat-trick unknown to most people, so too is the player himself, and that’s a crying shame when discussing someone as supremely talented as the former Yugoslavia star. Bajevic was a brilliant all-round centre-forward born in modern day Bosnia, and he was lethal with both his right boot and with his head. He starred for both Velez in Yugoslavia and AEK Athens in Greece, being named as top scorer in both country’s top flights. He proved his class up against admittedly woeful opposition at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, as Yugoslavia thrashed Zaire 9-0 in the group stages.
1. Laszlo Kiss
Hungarians have scored four of the 52 World Cup hat-tricks, the most recent of which was scored by Laszlo Kiss. There were four hat-tricks scored at the 1982 World Cup in Spain, which is more than most, and the other three were all scored by huge names within the world of football, namely Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Zbigniew Boniek and Paolo Rossi. Laszlo Kiss’ name is undoubtedly less known than those three greats, but his World Cup hat-trick is the best to remember when it comes to World Cup trivia. Kiss is the only substitute to have scored a hat-trick in the history of the World Cup, and he also scored the quickest hat-trick in the history of the finals, with just seven minutes between the first and the last of his three goals against El Salvador. Kiss joined Montpellier a year later, and he played his 33rd and last game for Hungary in 1984 having scored 11 goals for his country.
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