What Is a Hat Trick in Soccer (and Where the Name Came From)

Soccer is full of terms that sound obvious until someone asks you to explain them. The offside rule is the classic example, the kind of thing every fan nods along to and quietly hopes nobody questions. The hat trick is the happier cousin. Everyone cheers when a player scores one, but ask what is a hat trick in soccer, or why on earth it involves a hat, and the answers get fuzzy fast.

Here is the simple version. A hat trick is three goals by the same player in one match. That is the whole definition. The interesting part is not the what, it is where the name came from, because it has nothing to do with soccer at all. The story runs through a Victorian cricket pitch, a literal hat, and a tradition that outlived its own origin. Whether your club is still picking team names or chasing silverware, the hat trick is the one individual feat every player dreams about.

The Basic Definition: Three Goals

The hat trick meaning is straightforward: three goals scored by a single player in one game. They do not have to come in a row, and they can be scored any way the rules allow: open play, a penalty, a free kick, or a lucky deflection. All three simply have to come from the same player within the same match, across the full 90 minutes and any stoppage time. One quirk worth knowing is that goals scored in a penalty shootout do not count, since the shootout is officially separate from the match. So in soccer what is a hat trick comes down to one simple formula: one player, three goals, one game.

The Cricket Origin (1858)

This is the part that surprises people. The hat trick was born in cricket, not soccer. In 1858, an English bowler named H.H. Stephenson, playing for the All England Eleven against a local side at a ground in Sheffield, took three wickets with three consecutive deliveries. Dismissing three batsmen in a row was extremely rare, so the crowd passed a hat around, collected money, and bought him an actual hat to mark the feat. That literal hat is the entire reason we say hat trick today. The phrase stuck in cricket through the 1860s, then spread to other sports. By the late 1800s English newspapers were using it for a player who scored three goals in a football match, and the soccer hat trick was born. That cricket story is the soccer hat trick origin most fans never hear, and the name outlasted the hat by more than a century. The timeline shows the journey.

The Perfect Hat Trick: Left Foot, Right Foot, Head

Not all hat tricks are equal. A perfect hat trick, sometimes called a golden hat trick, is when a player scores their three goals one with the left foot, one with the right foot, and one with a header. So when someone asks what is a perfect hat trick in soccer, that is the answer: one of each. It is much harder than a normal hat trick because most players have a clearly stronger foot, and burying a chance with the weaker one under pressure is no small thing, which is part of why players obsess over their technique and their boots. A perfect hat trick is a real flex, the kind of stat that follows a striker around for years.

What Happens to the Match Ball

There is a small tradition tied to the feat. By custom, the player who scores a hat trick gets to keep the match ball. They usually have it signed by teammates after the final whistle, and it becomes a career keepsake, the sort of thing that ends up in a trophy cabinet or a club museum. It is a simple gesture, but it is the closest modern echo of that original 1858 hat. The player did something rare, so they walk away with a physical reminder of it.

Famous Hat Tricks

Plenty of hat tricks have made history, but a few stand out. The most famous of all belongs to Geoff Hurst, who scored the only hat trick ever recorded in a World Cup final, for England against West Germany in 1966, including a controversial goal that bounced down off the crossbar and is still argued about today. The fastest hat trick on record took a barely believable 90 seconds, set by Tommy Ross in Scotland in 1964. In the modern game, hat tricks have become almost a personal statistic for the very best, with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo each piling up dozens across their careers, and Erling Haaland scoring them often enough that the match ball collection has become a running joke. The feat is rare for most players and routine for a special few.

The Four Goal Super Hat Trick Debate

So what do you call four goals? This is where fans argue, and the honest answer is that there is no single agreed term. The most traditional name for four goals is a poker, borrowed from Spanish speaking football culture. Some commentators call it a super hat trick, others just say a haul, and plenty simply say the player scored four. Five goals is rarer still and is sometimes called a glut. The truth is that beyond the hat trick the language gets loose and regional, and no governing body makes any of it official. The table lays out the full scoring lexicon so you know what each one means.

A hat trick is the kind of night a player remembers forever, and the ball is not the only thing worth keeping. A custom jersey with that player’s name and number is the perfect way to mark it, and if you are not sure how numbering works, our guide to jersey rules covers it. We do single jersey orders, so you do not need a full team set to celebrate one player. Our custom soccer uniforms put any name and number on a jersey built to last, so kit one standout or a whole squad in soccer apparel worth keeping.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What is a hat trick in soccer?

A: When one player scores three goals in a single match. The goals can come any way and do not need to be in a row, but penalty shootout goals do not count.

Q: Where did the term hat trick come from?

A: From cricket in 1858. A bowler took three wickets with three straight balls, and fans bought him a hat to celebrate, which gave the feat its name.

Q: What is a perfect hat trick in soccer?

A: Three goals scored one with the left foot, one with the right foot, and one with the head. It is also called a golden hat trick.

Q: What happens to the ball after a hat trick?

A: The player who scored keeps the match ball as a keepsake, usually signed by teammates after the game.

Q: What do you call four goals in a soccer match? A: There is no official term. It is often called a poker, sometimes a super hat trick or a haul. Five goals is sometimes called a glut.