Why is it called a ‘Hat-Trick’—and who has the most in modern football?

The concept of a ‘hat-trick’ has ironically nothing to do with football - the most-followed sport worldwide, as the word derived from another sport, famous in the UK at the start and now across the globe, cricket. Its latest mention was for Argentine great Lionel Messi, who scored three successive goals in a FIFA World Cup 2026 game against Algeria to earn his first ‘World Cup hat-trick’. So, where did this word come from, what does this mean, and who holds the record for the most hat-tricks in modern football?

What is a hat-trick?

A hat-trick in sports is a feat achieved across three successive events; it could be wickets (in cricket) or goals (in football and hockey). In cricket, if a bowler picks up three wickets off three successive deliveries, it will be termed a hat-trick of those events. Similarly, in football, if a player scores three goals in a game, not necessarily consecutively, a hat-trick would be written on his scoring sheet.

So, where did this word come from?

Historians suggest that the hat-trick's first mention was during a cricket match in the UK in 1858.

On September 11, 1858, an All-England Eleven team faced off against a local twenty-two from Hallam (Sheffield) at the Hyde Park Ground. Heathfield Harman (H.H.) Stephenson, representing All-England, bowled three batters on three consecutive deliveries.

At this point, there was no official reward system for exceptional individual play. So, to mark the sheer improbability of three consecutive bowled wickets, a local fan initiated a ‘whip-round’ (a spontaneous crowd collection). The money collected was taken to a local haberdasher (a merchant selling men's clothing items) to buy a physical top hat, which was later presented to Stephenson.

FIFA World Cup 2026 Live on Zee5 Photograph: (WION)

For several years, the concept of ‘tricking a batter to earn a hat’ remained an oral slang among cricketers until its earliest known appearance occurred in the Chelmsford Chronicle in 1865, 12 years before the first-ever international cricket game was played between England and Australia.

Meanwhile, that newspaper used the term to describe a game of cricket, where a bowler took three wickets off three balls, noting that he had performed a hat-trick. However, by the launch of Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack editions in the 1870s, the term was officially codified into the lexicon of English sport.

Hat-trick’s migration to football

As football grew as a sport across the UK (by the late 1800s), later in Europe and elsewhere, fans began using this term for someone who scored three goals in a 90-minute match.

By the mid-20th century, this word entered the ice-hockey arena and soon spread across countless sports, played with and around individual skill.

However, with the passage of time, teams winning three back-to-back matches, events or even tournaments, are also noted as completing a hat-trick.

Who has scored the most hat-tricks in modern-day football?

Modern-day football is completely dominated by two generational icons, Argentina’s Messi and Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Considering the top modern goal-scorers, Ronaldo leads the hat-trick tally against his closest opponent, Messi, sitting at the top with 66 and counting across all competitions.

A prolific goal-scorer, Ronaldo is also inching closer to completing 1000 goals since his professional debut in 2003.

Second is Messi, who has over 59 hat-tricks in all competitions, the latest of which came during his team’s title-defence opener in the ongoing FIFA World Cup. Poland and former Bayern Munich great Robert Lewandowski is third with 33 hat-tricks, while Messi’s former teammate at Barcelona, Luis Suarez, is next with 31.

Meanwhile, should the two (Ronaldo and Messi) proceed further in the tournament, chances of both adding more hat-tricks to their tallies increase.