What is a hat-trick in football? Brace and perfect hat-trick

Follow Blue 9's individual tally, rather than counting every time the ball enters either net. Each example is a separate fictional match with the goal decisions supplied. Only an awarded match goal credited to Blue 9 adds to that player's settled total.

A pending goal decision and an unresolved scorer are different problems. In the first, it is not yet settled whether the team has scored; in the second, the goal stands but the individual credit is unclear. Neither should silently become a confirmed third goal or a final total of two.

Both terms describe an individual scorer in one match. If Blue 9 scores twice, that is a brace. A third credited goal completes a hat-trick. Three different players scoring once each does not give any of them a hat-trick, even if their team wins 3-0.

The goals do not need to be consecutive, arrive in the same half or come from open play. A teammate or opponent can score between them. You cannot combine two goals on Saturday with another the following week: that is three goals across two matches, not a hat-trick.

A fourth goal does not undo the achievement, but the final total should still say four. Cole Palmer provides a useful Premier League example: against Everton on 15 April 2024, he completed a perfect hat-trick before adding a second-half penalty. Describing only the hat-trick would leave out part of his performance.

It is the combination of three finishes: left foot, right foot and head. The order is not prescribed. Peter Crouch's perfect hat-trick against Arsenal in March 2007 went right foot, header, left foot; Palmer's against Everton went left foot, header, right foot.

Three right-footed goals or three headers still make a hat-trick. They do not make a perfect one. 'Perfect' is a particular description of how the goals were scored, not a judgment that all three were spectacular, that none involved a deflection, or that the player made no mistakes.

A penalty during the match can supply one of the footed goals. A perfect hat-trick does not have to contain three open-play goals. But the times of a player's three goals cannot establish it: the record must also identify the finishing body parts. If one is missing, the hat-trick can be confirmed while the perfect-hat-trick claim remains unproven.

An awarded penalty scored during the match counts as a goal for its scorer. A player could therefore complete a hat-trick with three penalties. Added-time goals also count, as do goals in extra time when the competition uses it. Premier League matches do not have an extra-time period; the cup examples here explain the wider football meaning.

A penalty shoot-out is different. IFAB Law 10 places it after the match has ended. Scoring twice in the match and converting a shoot-out kick leaves the player with two match goals, not a hat-trick. Keep the shoot-out tally separate from the match score and player-goal total.

The 2022 World Cup final is a real illustration. Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick for France, including a penalty in extra time, and then converted a shoot-out kick. FIFA still describes his match achievement as a hat-trick, not four match goals. It also shows why a hat-trick does not guarantee victory: Argentina won the shoot-out.

An own goal benefits the opposing team, but it is not a normal scoring goal credited to an attacker on that team. If Blue 9 already has two goals and then a cross is recorded as Gold 4's own goal, Blue 9 remains on two. Forcing an own goal and scoring a third goal are different records.

Do not decide attribution from the last touch alone. A deflected shot can still be credited to the shooter; an own-goal decision credits the defending player instead. Opta publishes a separate goal/own-goal category and explains that disputed attribution follows its rules and, where applicable, the relevant competition or governing body's decision.

A disallowed effort does not count towards a brace or hat-trick. While a goal review is unresolved, describe the apparent milestone as provisional. Once the goal is ruled out, remove it from the tally. A settled scorer correction can also change an individual's milestone even if the team's score stays the same.

Separate the time between the first and third goals from the time on the clock when the third was scored. A player completing a hat-trick early in a match has not necessarily taken the shortest interval to score all three.

The Premier League's records page, checked on 12 October 2026, lists Sadio Mane's Southampton hat-trick against Aston Villa on 16 May 2015 at two minutes and 56 seconds. That is a league-specific record, not a claim about every level of football worldwide.

A match feed showing goals at 18, 19 and 21 minutes does not supply the seconds needed for an exact record calculation. Nor should 45+2 be treated as a decimal or mixed with second-half minute labels as though no half-time occurred. Use an official timed record for a fastest claim; the teaching timeline above deliberately makes no such calculation.

Start with the correct fixture and its recorded scorers. Count only the goals credited to the player in that match, check penalties versus shoot-out kicks, then look for disallowed efforts or later scorer corrections. A headline score such as 3-1 does not establish anyone's individual milestone.

On Match XI, choose a completed Premier League fixture from Results and inspect its recorded events and linked player profiles where available. Missing event or body-part detail means the claim cannot be established from that page alone; it is not evidence that a player scored zero or that a hat-trick was not perfect.

To follow that player into the next match, move to the team's lineup page. A hat-trick describes the completed performance. It does not guarantee selection in the next fixture, and a predicted starting place remains different from the official team sheet.