Since the inception of international association football matches in 1872, 59 England male footballers have scored three or more goals (a hat-trick) in a game. The first players to score a hat-trick for England were Howard Vaughton and Arthur Alfred Brown, both Aston Villa players; in a friendly match against Ireland in 1882, they scored nine goals between them. [1] Four players, Vaughton, Steve Bloomer, Willie Hall and Malcolm Macdonald, have scored five goals in one match. Jimmy Greaves has scored the greatest number of hat-tricks, with six. Five players, Albert Allen, Frank Bradshaw, Walter Gilliat, John Veitch and John Yates, have scored hat-tricks on their only international appearance.
In the 1966 FIFA World Cup Final, Geoff Hurst scored a hat-trick, generally considered one of the most famous of all time. [2] [3] [4] The most recent hat-trick was scored by Bukayo Saka in a European Championship qualifier against North Macedonia in June 2023.
England have conceded eleven hat-tricks since 1872, the most recent being scored by Zlatan Ibrahimović who scored four goals in a 4–2 defeat by Sweden in a friendly match in November 2012. Richard Hofmann was the first player from outside the Home Nations to score a hat-trick against England, scoring three times for Germany in a friendly match in May 1930. Previously only the Scottish players John McDougall, George Ker, John Smith, Robert Smyth McColl and Alex Jackson had scored hat-tricks against England.
England have conceded eleven hat-tricks, the first five of which were scored by players from Scotland. England have lost ten of the eleven matches in which they have conceded a hat-trick; the other was a 3–3 draw against Germany in 1930.
The following table lists the number of hat-tricks scored by English
players who have scored two or more hat-tricks. [42]
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Edson Arantes do Nascimento, better known by his nickname Pelé, was a Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he was among the most successful and popular sports figures of the 20th century. In 1999, he was named Athlete of the Century by the International Olympic Committee and was included in the Time list of the 100 most important people of the 20th century. In 2000, Pelé was voted World Player of the Century by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) and was one of the two joint winners of the FIFA Player of the Century. His 1,279 goals in 1,363 games, which includes friendlies, is recognised as a Guinness World Record.
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... probably the most famous hat-trick of all time ...
Possibly the most famous hat-trick in footballing history.
... GeoHurst ran on to seal the most famous hat-trick in history ...