21 Footballers With Most Hat-Tricks in the 21st Century

Scoring a hat-trick is a very tough task – for some, at least. Some of the beautiful game’s most elite strikers go their whole career without netting three goals in a single game. But, contrary to that, there are some that make scoring hat-tricks look like second nature to them.

Take Cristiano Ronaldo as the prime example – the legendary Portuguese has made scoring hat-tricks look easy throughout his illustrious career. He’s taken the match ball home on numerous occasions since making his professional debut and, now in his forties and plying his trade outside of Europe, is still adding to his tally.

He is truly one of the most clinical strikers in football history, but how does his hat-trick record compare to other players in the 21st century? GIVEMESPORT are here to take you through the 21 men who have scored three times in a single match the most frequently since 2000, and it’s a list which includes several modern-day legends.

21

Sergio Aguero (Argentina)

18 hat-tricks

It is unsurprising to see the Argentine forward make it onto this list as he was the talisman at both Atletico Madrid – where he formed a formidable partnership with Diego Forlan – and Manchester City. He is also part of an exclusive list of players to have scored five goals in one game, a feat that he achieved during a Premier League match against Newcastle United.

Sergio Aguero was practically unstoppable at his very best, with the little striker having the capability of finding the net with either foot or with his head. Playing 786 games for club and country, he was forced to retire from football at 33 because of a heart condition. There is every chance he could have scored more hat-tricks had he been cleared to play on.

20

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Netherlands)

18 hat-tricks

The Dutch forward was known as a clinical goalscorer during his long and storied career, with 18 hat-tricks to show for his efforts. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar started his career at PSV before going on to play for the likes of Ajax, Real Madrid, Milan and Schalke. He netted 367 goals at club level – with 158 coming for Ajax and 128 for Schalke. He also scored 42 goals in 76 games for his country.

Huntelaar was never in doubt about where the back of the net was during his long career, as shown by his 18 trebles for club and country. This puts him among some elite company and rightly so, as one of the best finishers of his generation.

19

Mario Gomez (Germany)

18 hat-tricks

Mario Gomez was very much a striker in the same mould as Huntelaar, which was shown to such an extent that the pair both scored the same number of hat-tricks throughout their time in the game. The German was at his most deadly when leading the line for Bayern Munich, where he managed to net 113 times in 174 games for the German giants.

He was just as clinical for his national team too, leading the line as they finished third in the 2010 World Cup. The 2014 success came just too late for the striker as he missed out on the squad for the tournament in Brazil. Gomez went on to play his final years at Stuttgart after a spell in Italy with Fiorentina.

18

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Sweden)

20 hat-tricks

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is right up there as one of the most impressive strikers of his generation, with the massive Swede being impossible to deal with both physically and technically. He only announced his retirement in 2023, after scoring vast amounts of goals for the likes of Inter Milan, AC Milan, Barcelona and Manchester United.

The Swedish forward was a revelation that scored a vast array of goals, from bicycle kicks to left-footed screamers – he was someone who could do it all. Ibrahimovic is one of the top goalscorers of the 21st century, and it’s only right that he makes it into this list.

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17

Firas Al-Khatib (Syria)

20 hat-tricks

The Syrian played for a variety of clubs in Kuwait, as well as spending some time playing in Iraq and China. This means the quality of the football can once again be brought into question, but to get 20 hat-tricks is still a strong accomplishment.

Al-Khatib was a stand-out performer in these leagues, as he is the only player from them to make it onto this list. Winning cups and leagues with Al-Arabi, Al-Qadsia, and Kuwait SC during a career which spanned two decades, he also managed to represent Syria at senior level, becoming the country’s record goalscorer (36 goals in 72 games).

16

Greg Draper (New Zealand)

20 hat-tricks

A lesser-known name among some of the world’s best, there is an argument to be made that Greg Draper was playing against lower-quality opposition throughout his career as he played for The New Saints in Wales. Whatever you make of the teams he faced, the striker did find the net 163 times in the league from 252 games, and that is an impressive record by anyone’s standards.

More hat-tricks to his name than Aguero, Gomez, and Huntelaar is a nice stat to be able to tell his kids and proves his clinical nature. Fans of the club will remember him forever and we are sure he would have it no other way.

15

Kylian Mbappe (France)

21 hat-tricks

One of the most devastating forwards of the modern era is Real Madrid and France superstar Kylian Mbappe. In the grand scheme of things, the 26-year-old is still a relative newcomer and has plenty of years on the clock to climb this list and usurp those on the podium spots – and given the rate he seems to bulge the net at, you cannot put it past him.

At his tender age, the Frenchman notched his 21th career hat-trick, and his second for Real Madrid, in Los Blancos’ defeat to fierce rivals Barcelona in May 2025. You would be naive to bet against the Frenchman rising up this list at a sharp pace now he is fully firing at the Spanish giants.

14

Neymar (Brazil)

21 hat-tricks

It might come as a shock that the Brazilian star makes it so high up on this list purely because he is the first name on this list that is not a striker, having played the majority of his games as a left-winger. He did play as a striker at times during his younger years in Brazil, and this earned him his big move to Barcelona. Neymar is an incredibly impressive player to watch, but he obviously contributes a significant number of goals too.

One of Brazil’s greatest-ever players, he has now re-joined Santos and that could present an opportunity for even more hat-tricks going forward, as the standard of football in the division is not the same level as Europe’s top leagues.

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13

Sebastian Tagliabue (UAE)

21 hat-tricks

South America and the Middle East are the regions the Argentine-born forward has played in during his career. Al-Wahda in Abu Dhabi was the most clinical stint in his career as Tagliabue found the net 152 times in 157 UAE Pro League games between the years of 2013 and 2020.

Playing for the likes of Al-Ettifaq and Al-Shabab too, the striker represented the United Arab Emirates 19 times, scoring five goals in the process. Having the same number of trebles as Neymar and Mbappe is no mean feat for the striker, and is a commendable achievement despite the level of opposition he was facing.

12

Aleksandar Duric (Singapore)

22 hat-tricks

Duric played for almost three decades, as the lethal striker played all the way until 2019, retiring at the age of 49 after a career that saw him play for 18 clubs. 22 hat-tricks shows the ability and goalscoring touch that he possessed during his extensive time in the game.

Spending so long playing is likely to have helped his case as he had more time to get the hat-tricks than his peers. Longevity doesn’t always equate to success in football, but Aleksandar Duric made his years in the game count when it comes to netting hat-tricks, and for that, we salute him.