World Cup hattrick chronicles: From Patenaude to Batistuta, Ronaldo and Mbappe

In nearly a century of FIFA World Cup history, hattricks have always carried a special thrill. From the tournament’s inception in 1930 to the most recent edition at Lusail Stadium in 2022, the storybook of World Cup hattricks is both rich and diverse. Some have symbolised royal dominance on football’s grandest stage, while others have become timeless tales tinged with regret.

With both well-known and lesser-known statistics, this feature takes a closer look at the fascinating world of World Cup hattricks. Let us explore some intriguing questions about these remarkable feats.

How many hattricks have been scored in FIFA World Cup history?

Across 22 editions of the World Cup, football fans have witnessed 54 hattricks so far.

Sunday has earned a reputation as the ideal day for hattricks. A record 23 hattricks have been scored on Sundays in World Cup history, while Saturday ranks second with 11.

Although hattricks have occurred on almost every day of the week, Monday remains the only exception, with just one instance so far. That came during the group stage of the 2002 World Cup, when Portugal’s Pauleta scored a hattrick against Poland.

Who scored the first hattrick in World Cup history?

For many years, Argentina centre-forward Guillermo Stabile was believed to have scored the first World Cup hattrick. He achieved the feat against Mexico during the group stage of the inaugural 1930 tournament on July 19.

However, the true story is slightly different. Two days earlier, on July 17, United States forward Bert Patenaude scored three goals against Paraguay in a group-stage match.

So where did the confusion arise?

Patenaude scored in the 10th, 15th and 50th minutes at the Estadio Gran Parque Central in Montevideo. Yet for decades, FIFA’s official records credited the second goal to US captain Tom Florie, while the football statistics organisation RSSSF listed it as an own goal by Paraguay’s Aurelio Gonzalez.

Patenaude never received official recognition during his lifetime. It was only 32 years after his death in 1974 that the matter was settled. Following extensive research and verification, FIFA officially recognised Patenaude as the first World Cup hattrick scorer on 10 November 2006, ending a 76-year-old historical debate.

Which World Cup had the most hattricks?

Surprisingly, the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland produced eight hattricks -- the highest in a single tournament.

Of the total 54 hattricks in World Cup history, 26 came in the first eight editions. In contrast, despite the significant increase in matches in the following 14 tournaments, only 28 hattricks were scored.

This suggests that the early years of the tournament, when attacking football dominated, were far more conducive to hattricks than the modern era with its greater tactical emphasis on defence.

The only exception came in Germany 2006, which remains the only World Cup in history without a single hattrick.

Who are the youngest and oldest hattrick scorers?

The record for the youngest hattrick scorer in World Cup history still belongs to Brazil’s legendary Pele. When he achieved the feat against France in the 1958 semifinal in Sweden, he was just 17 years and 244 days old.

Only one other teenager has managed a World Cup hattrick: Germany striker Edmund Conen, who scored three goals against Belgium in the Round of 16 of the 1934 tournament in Italy at the age of 19 years and 198 days.

The oldest hattrick scorer is Portugal legend Cristiano Ronaldo. He scored three goals against Spain in the group stage of the 2018 World Cup in Russia at the age of 33 years and 130 days.

Interestingly, it was Ronaldo’s 51st career hattrick for club and country -- and coincidentally the 51st hattrick in World Cup history as well.

How many players have scored multiple World Cup hattricks?

Only four players have scored two hattricks each in World Cup history.

They are:

Hungary’s Sandor Kocsis (1954 vs South Korea and West Germany)

France’s Just Fontaine (1958 vs Paraguay and West Germany)

West Germany’s Gerd Mueller (1970 vs Bulgaria and Peru)

Argentina’s Gabriel Batistuta (1994 vs Greece and 1998 vs Jamaica)

Interestingly, both Kocsis and Fontaine scored four goals against West Germany, while Kocsis and Muller recorded their two hattricks in consecutive matches within four days.

Batistuta remains the only player to score hattricks in two different World Cups. His achievements also share some remarkable coincidences:

Both hattricks came on the same date -- June 21

Both were against teams making their World Cup debut

In both matches, the hattrick was completed with a penalty

Who scored the fastest hattrick in World Cup history?

Hungarian striker Laszlo Kiss produced the fastest hattrick in World Cup history during the 1982 tournament in Spain.

Coming on as a substitute against El Salvador, he completed his hattrick in just 7 minutes and 42 seconds, scoring in the 69th, 72nd and 76th minutes.

If measured from the start of the match, the quickest hattrick belongs to Austria’s Erich Probst, who scored within 24 minutes (4th, 21st and 24th minutes) against Czechoslovakia during the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.

Who has scored hattricks in World Cup finals?

In the 96-year history of the World Cup, only two players have scored hattricks in the final:

England’s Geoff Hurst (1966 vs West Germany)

France’s Kylian Mbappe (2022 vs Argentina)

The two hattricks, however, were very different in nature.

Hurst’s remains the longest-spanning hattrick in World Cup history. After scoring in the 18th minute, his other two goals came in extra time (98th and 120th minutes).

Mbappe’s in the 2022 final was one of the most dramatic moments in modern football. He scored his first two goals within 97 seconds (80th and 81st minutes), before completing the hattrick in extra time in the 118th minute.

Who scored the most goals in a single World Cup match?

Even beyond hattricks, the record for the most goals in a single World Cup match belongs to Russia’s Oleg Salenko, who scored five goals against Cameroon during the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

Six players have scored four goals in a match:

Ernst Wilimowski (Poland, 1938 vs Brazil)

Ademir (Brazil, 1950 vs Sweden)

Sandor Kocsis (Hungary, 1954 vs West Germany)

Just Fontaine (France, 1958 vs West Germany)

Eusebio (Portugal, 1966 vs North Korea)

Emilio Butragueno (Spain, 1986 vs Denmark)

More fascinating World Cup hattrick facts

Germany (including West Germany) have scored the most hattricks in World Cup history with seven. However, they also share an unwanted record with South Korea, having conceded the most hattricks — four each.

Only two players have scored a World Cup hattrick entirely with headers:

Tomas Skuhravy (Czechoslovakia vs Costa Rica, 1990) and

Miroslav Klose (Germany vs Saudi Arabia, 2002).

Only one player has experienced the bitterness of losing a match despite scoring four goals, including a hattrick: Ernst Wilimowski. Poland lost 6-5 to Brazil in the Round of 16 at the 1938 World Cup in France.