Since the World Cup was first held in Uruguay back in 1930, a total of 48 players have struck a hat trick on the biggest stage in global football.
With such famous names as Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo and Just Fontaine on the list, scoring three goals in a single game at the World Cup is amongst the highest feats a player can achieve during their career.
This time around at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, more players could add their names to this illustrious list, especially as for the first time, the game’s biggest stars will be entering the tournament in mid-season form — given the competition is being played in an unfamiliar November-December slot — a distinct advantage over previous editions of the tournament.
More: World Cup Golden Boot winners, the complete list from 1930-2018
List of all World Cup hat tricks
While 48 players have previously scored a hat trick at the World Cup, in total 52 hat tricks have been scored.
The edition that has seen more hat tricks than any other to this point was the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, when eight were struck. That included two in the same match, Austria 7-5 Switzerland, from opposing players Theodor Wagner and Josef Hugi.
Through World Cup history, only one edition of the tournament has failed to see a hat trick netted, the 2006 World Cup which was held in Germany.
The first-ever hat trick at a World Cup was scored by an American, Bert Patenaude at the Uruguay 1930 tournament.
List of all hat tricks scored at the World Cup
| Year | Player | Team | Opponent | Stage | Final Result |
| 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 |
Most hat tricks in World Cup
Despite there being 21 editions of the World Cup since its debut in 1930, only four players have netted more than one World Cup hat trick. They are:
Sandor Kocsis — Hungary (2)
The first of the players to net two separate World Cup hat tricks was Sandor Kocsis of Hungary. During the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, the forward twice had three-goal performances in the group stage, one in a 9-0 win over South Korea and one in an 8-3 victory against West Germany.
Just Fontaine — France (2)
France’s famous star Just Fontaine was the second player to score two World Cup hat tricks and again, he managed to net both during the same tournament. In the 1958 edition held in Sweden, Fontaine secured his first in a 7-3 victory over Paraguay in the group stage before he then struck four goals in the third-place match vs. West Germany, on his way to a still tournament-record 13-goal haul.
Gerd Muller — West Germany (2)
Just 12 years after Fontaine’s goalscoring form in Sweden, West Germany’s Gerd Muller became the third player to score multiple World Cup hat tricks. Both of his three-goal hauls came during the 1970 competition held in Mexico and they came in 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)
The final player on the list is Argentina’s Gabriel Batistuta. Known throughout his playing career as ‘Batigol’ in reference to his goalscoring prowess, the former Fiorentina striker netted his first hat trick against Greece during the 1994 World Cup group stages in the USA. Unlike the other three players on this list though, he remains the only player to net hat tricks in different World Cup editions, as his second came four years later in a 5-0 demolition of Jamaica in Paris at France 1998.
Which nations have scored and conceded the most hat tricks?
In terms of team-specific hat tricks, throughout the history of the World Cup no nation has produced more than Germany, who have scored seven.
Ironically, Germany are also jointly the team to have conceded the most overall hat tricks in World Cup tournaments with 4, alongside South Korea.
Who had the last World Cup hat trick?
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 Tottenham striker struck two first-half penalties before a long-range strike in the 62nd minute deflected off him, which completed his only World Cup hat trick to this point. In notching his treble, he became the third Englishman to achieve that feat alongside Gary Lineker (1986) and Geoff Hurst (1966).
World Cup Golden Boot winners with hat tricks
The following players have all scored a hat trick and won the Golden Boot or Golden Shoe at the same World Cup tournament.
| Year | Player | Nation | Amount of goals |
| 1930 | Guillermo Stabile | Argentina | 8 |
| 1934 | Oldrich Nejedly | Czechoslovakia | 5 |
| 1938 | Leonidas | Brazil | 7 |
| 1950 | Ademir | Brazil | 8 |
| 1954 | Sandor Kocsis | Hungary | 11 |
| 1958 | Just Fontaine | France | 13 |
| 1962 | Florian Albert | Hungary | 4 |
| 1966 | Eusebio | Portugal | 9 |
| 1970 | Gerd Muller | West Germany | 10 |
| 1982 | Paolo Rossi | Italy | 6 |
| 1986 | Gary Lineker | England | 6 |
| 1994 | Oleg Salenko | Russia | 6 |
| 2018 | Harry Kane | England | 6 |