Has anyone scored 3 hat-tricks in a row? A deep dive into football‘s rarest scoring feat

For any footballer, scoring a hat-trick is the pinnacle of an attacking performance. To score three goals in a single match requires excellence in finishing, positioning and opportunism. But to score consecutive hat-tricks across matches is a whole different level of mastery even the all-time greats rarely achieve.

As a football geek and stats nerd, few things get me more excited than delving into the history and nuances behind hat-trick scoring streaks – one of the rarest and most celebrated feats in football. So strap in as we uncover everything around footballers who‘ve managed to string together multiple hat-tricks in a row.

Why are consecutive hat-tricks so tough?

First, what makes hat-trick streaks across matches so remarkably rare? Scoring goals can be unpredictable even for the best strikers. The multitude of factors impacting scoring – form, fitness, tactics, quality of opposition – have to align perfectly across matches for hat-trick streaks to happen.

Psychologically, the expectations after an initial hat-trick also play a role. The pressure to maintain goal scoring form can get to anyone. And football history shows elite players seeing their scoring streaks ended by overthinking or eagerness.

Defenses also get wiser to stop streaking forwards after their first big game. The threat posed by a hot scorer leads to tighter marking, reduced space and focused gameplans to deny goals. Combating these defensive adjustments match after match makes hat-trick streaks exponentially harder.

When all things click – form, fitness, instinct, team dynamics and a bit of luck – the stars align for a striker to go on a hot goal scoring run. But sustaining it is the toughest part, even for the very best.

Longest hat-trick scoring streaks

So who holds the record for most consecutive hat-tricks in competitive football? Here are the longest hat-trick scoring streaks etched in football history:

• 5 – Josef Bican scored 5 straight hat-tricks for FC Slavia Prague in the 1939-40 season, tallying an unreal 19 goals over this streak. This still stands as the undisputed record across leagues and eras.

• 4 – Jimmy McGrory scored 4 hat-tricks on the trot for Celtic FC across 1927-28. He could‘ve extended this streak further but was rested after sealing the league title.

• 3 – Several elite scorers have managed 3 consecutive hat-tricks, including Jimmy Greaves (Tottenham 1961), Ian Rush (Liverpool 1986) and Lionel Messi (Barcelona 2012).

So while a handful have come close, no footballer has surpassed Bican‘s 5-hat-trick streak in over 80 years since. The striker they called ‘Pepi‘ made it look easy during his extraordinary purple patch in 1930s Czechoslovakia. But even Messi in his goalscoring prime couldn‘t breach Bican‘s hallowed record.

Streaks across competitions and seasons

Football statisticians have dug deeper into hat-trick records across seasons and club versus country. Some notable achievements:

• Jimmy Greaves owns another record with hat-tricks in 4 consecutive club matches for Tottenham in 1961. His streak stretched across the end of 1960-61 season and start of 1961-62.

• Tottenham‘s Bobby Smith also scored hat-tricks in 3 consecutive club matches between December 1963 and January 1964.

• Cristiano Ronaldo is the only player to score club hat-tricks in 3 successive matches across two seasons (May 2008, August 2008).

• No player has managed to score 3 consecutive hat-tricks for country in the same season. But Ronaldo does hold the international record with hat-tricks in 5 successive Portugal matches between June 2018 and March 2019.

Virtual hat-tricks

When discussing hat-trick records, ‘virtual‘ hat-tricks often pop up – when a player‘s 3 goals include penalties or own goals attributed to them. How should we treat these?

In my view, scored penalties and own goals do count towards hat-tricks records. It takes skill to convert spot kicks, and own goals involve being in the right position. But there‘s no doubt ‘perfect‘ hat-tricks scored entirely from open play are more commendable.

Here are some instances of virtual hat-tricks during famous streaks:

• Messi‘s incredible run of 5 hat-tricks in 2012 included a virtual one with 2 penalties against Real Madrid.

• Ronaldo‘s hat-trick against Spain at the 2018 World Cup had 2 goals from free kicks, not open play.

• Bican‘s legendary 5 hat-trick streak contained 2 virtual hat-tricks assisted by own goals and penalties.

Comparing hat-trick records by league

This table shows how the La Liga record belongs to Messi while others boast their league‘s record with just 2 consecutive hat-tricks. The German Bundesliga‘s greatest striker Gerd Muller managed a 3-hat trick streak back in 1972. Serie A had Swedish scorer Gunnar Nordahl‘s streak in 1950 for AC Milan.

Individual hat-trick performances for the ages

While hat-trick streaks are rare, some Absolutely unreal individual hat-trick performances have graced football history:

• Robert Lewandowski scored an incredible 4 goals in just 15 minutes after coming on as sub against Wolfsburg in 2015.
• Odion Ighalo netted a record-breaking 5 goals in 6 minutes for Watford in 2014, the fastest hat-trick in Premier League history.
• Australia‘s Archie Thompson holds the world record with 13 goals and 4 hat-tricks scored in a single match in 2001.
• The great Pele memorably scored hat-tricks in 4 consecutive matches at the 1958 World Cup.

These freak individual performances demonstrate how explosive goalscoring potential is hardwired into some footballers‘ DNA. Producing these scoring outbursts on demand across matches is what makes hat-trick streaks so tough.

When streaks ended too soon

We can‘t talk hat-tricks without mentioning instances where players saw their streaks ended in unlikely circumstances:

• Jimmy Greaves was chasing a 5th straight hat-trick for Tottenham in 1961-62 before injury ruled him out of the next match.

• Ruud Van Nistelrooy had scored in 4 consecutive Manchester United games in 2003 before being rested for a League Cup tie.

• Lionel Messi was substituted at half-time after scoring once with Barcelona leading 4-0 to Athletic Bilbao in 2012, losing the chance to extend his record La Liga hat-trick streak.

One can only wonder how much further these legends could have pushed the boundaries. Such is the fine line between creating history and falling tantalizingly short.

The modern game makes streaks harder

There‘s a reason hat-trick streak records were mostly achieved decades ago. Modern football with improved defending, advanced tactics and analytics makes sustaining goalscoring form much harder.

Back in the 20th century, attacking players could exploit more space, less organized defenses and weaker goalkeeping. This led to more goal-fests and opportunities for consecutive hat-tricks.

In today‘s game we see elite forwards like Kane, Salah and Lewandowski consistently among the goals thanks to their excellent movement, finishing and work ethic. But racking up hat-tricks game after game requires exploiting weaknesses that rarely exist now.

Can these rare records be broken?

Looking at how football has evolved, I think the existing hat-trick streak benchmarks could remain untouched. The perfect storm of circumstances that allows a player to score consecutive hat-tricks seems increasingly unlikely today.

Even the phenomenal Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo could ‘only‘ muster runs of 3 consecutive hat-tricks at their free-scoring peak. With defensive systems reaching new levels, I just don‘t see their records being broken anytime soon.

That said, football has an element of unpredictability that allows room for freak occurrences. If any current player could go on a Messi-esque goal blitz and capitalize on luck, perhaps we could witness a new benchmark.

But from a statistical viewpoint, it‘s hard to envision. As a fan, I can only hope the football gods conspire to one day grant us the privilege of watching a modern player etch their name alongside Bican in the annals.