Hat tricks in the World Cup: Full list of all players to score three goals in the history of FIFA tournament

By | November 14, 2022

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

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