Top 10 footballers with the most consecutive hat-tricks in football history
The term ‘hat trick’ in soccer refers to a single player scoring three goals in a match. Many might think achieving a hat-trick is easy, especially for incredible scorers like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. This is not the case, as there is only a 3.34% chance of this happening in a football match for a player to collect the goalscoring souvenir of a match ball ultimately. Here is a list of the top 10 footballers with the most consecutive hat tricks in history.
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The phrase hat trick originated from British cricket in 1858 when a bowler was awarded a hat after he retired three batters with three consecutive balls. After soccer borrowed the idea, players have proven to be the best. While iconic names have scored trebles in multiple games, only a few have done it consistently in consecutive fixtures. Here is a list of players who have scored consecutive hat tricks in football history.
10. Erling Haaland
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The Norwegian is playing as a forward for Manchester City Premier League club. In the 2022/23 season, he became the first player to score three successive home game hat tricks in Premier League history in their 6-3 win against the Red devils.
9. Harry Kane
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He is an English striker who plays for Tottenham Hotspur. He is an amazing scorer and has eight hat tricks as of October 2022. However, he is among the great players in the EPL who have scored back-to-back hat tricks twice.
8. Wayne Rooney
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Wayne Rooney has been a masterpiece since he stepped foot on a football pitch. He was an amazing player at his peak while playing for the Red devils. He is among the few EPL stars to hit back-to-back hat tricks consecutively in Premier League games. After an amazing start to the 2011/12 season, he was the fourth player to join this list.
7. Didier Drogba
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Since his debut in professional football in 1998, he has been a masterpiece. Retiring at 40 in 2018, he still stands as one of the club’s veterans and iconic players in the EPL. Adding to his accolades is his title as a scoring machine. He is among the EPL strikers to score back-to-back hat tricks in the league, with an overall total of three.
6. Ian Wright
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Ian Wright was a legendary sniper in the English Premier League back in the nineties. He became the second player to score consecutive hat tricks while playing for Arsenal. The two times were against Ipswich and Southampton in March 1994. He retired in 2000 after two years of club hopping before settling at his last club, Burnley.
5. Les Ferdinand
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He is the first player to achieve back-to-back trebles while playing for the Queens Park Rangers. He achieved his first during the Premier League’s inaugural season during a thrilling 4-3 victory over Nottingham Forest in April 1993. Forty-eight hours later, a 5-3 win was thanks to Les Ferdinand’s hat trick and goals from Andy Impey and David Bardsley.
4. Jack Balmer
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In November 1946, as he was playing for Liverpool FC, Jack Balmer broke the record as the only player to score hat tricks in three consecutive league matches. He attained this feat against England giants, Arsenal, Portsmouth and Derby, scoring ten goals in the three fixtures.
3. Josef Bican
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Josef Bican was a lethal striker for Slavia Praha and is the second-most prolific goalscorer in official matches recorded, with 950 goals scored in 624 matches. Among his accolades include the period scored five consecutive hat tricks in Bohemia and Moravia leagues between 17 November 1939 and 19 March 1940.
2. Ahmed Rizwan
The Eagles striker Ahmed Rizwan plays in the Dhiraagu Dhivehi Premier League. Thanks to his five consecutive hat tricks in five games back in October 2018, he comes second on the list. While he has amazing prowess in the scoring department, he is also praised for his amazing passing skills.
1. Stjepan Lucijanic
Coming first on the list is the all-time great finisher for NK Dračice Dakovo, Stjepan Lucijanic. He scored five hat tricks in five consecutive games in 2016 to tie the record placed by Joseph Bican in 1940. He scored 20 goals in the five matches.
Most consecutive hat-tricks premier league
The Premier League is the most difficult football league in the world. With the stiff competition among clubs and players, you will surely find a few who have netted hat tricks. However, even with the 35 that have scored ‘perfect hat tricks’, only six have managed a consecutive feat of ordinary hat tricks.
The players include Les Ferdinand, Ian Wright, Didier Drogba, Wayne Rooney, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane. While they have scored hat tricks in at least two consecutive league games, players like Thierry Henry have achieved it in consecutive appearances in months apart.
Most consecutive hat tricks in La Liga
La Liga is one of the most followed football leagues. With outstanding players like Lionel Messi, Luiz Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo, one would expect multiple hat tricks from them. However, this is not the case.
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While Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi hit back-to-back hat tricks in 2016/17 and Kareem Benzema in 2021/22, Luiz Adriano outshined them back in 2014/15 when he scored eight goals in Shakhtar’s two matches against BATE Borisov.
What is the shortest time a player has taken to score a hat trick?
Alex Torr, a player in the Sunday League, achieved the status in under 70 seconds. This has since been recorded as the shortest time to manage a hat trick which was confirmed by referee Matt Tyers who said he had never seen anything like that before.
In 2015, Sadio Mane scored the fastest hat trick in Premier League history in Southampton’s game against Aston Villa. He was an upcoming English football talent who set an unforgettable marker in football history. He managed to achieve this in only 176 seconds after his first goal.
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Has there ever been two hat tricks in a single game?
In the Premier League, there have only been three occasions where two players have scored hat tricks in a single game. The first occurred when Arsenal was going against Southampton in May 2003. Jermaine Pennant and Robert Pires were the accomplishers in a 6-1 win for the Gunners.
The second instance came in October 2019 thanks to the amazing duo for Leicester City, Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy. They performed incredibly well to earn a massive 9-0 win. On October 2022, Manchester City was meeting the Red Devils in a Manchester derby that was expected to go either way. However, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden had other plans. They both scored hat tricks, and while Manchester United tried to pull a few goals at the end, it ended in a humiliating 6-3 defeat.
Which player has the most goals in a single game?
Hacene Lalmas holds the record for the most goals scored in a single game in top-flight football. In the 1963/64 Algerian season, the striker scored 14 goals for OM Ruisseau during an 18-0 win over JS Birtouta.
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Hat tricks have occurred severally in professional football, but perfect hat tricks are the rarest to find. While names like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi have not appeared in the top ten footballers with the most consecutive hat tricks, it shows how tough this achievement is.
READ ALSO: Top 10 footballers with the most headed goals in the history of the game
Legit.ng recently published an article on the top 10 footballers with the most headers in history. A good striker can score in every way possible, and with the header as part of his strength, his scoring ability is beyond the average player. However, not most players can score with their heads, and this is why only 17% of the total successful shots scored in the top five football leagues were scored using the header technique. Read more here!
Source: Legit.ng
