Just eight hat-tricks have been scored at the European Championship, with only one of those coming post-2000. We look back at all the hat-trick scorers in Euros history.
Dieter Müller – West Germany vs Yugoslavia (17 June 1976)
Dieter Müller became the first player to score a hat-trick at the UEFA European Championship when he scored three of West Germany’s four goals in their 4-2 extra-time semi-final win over Yugoslavia in June 1976 in Belgrade.
With this the first hat-trick in the competition, it means none were scored in the first four tournaments (1960, 1964, 1968 and 1972), although only 17 games were played across those editions.
At 22 years and 77 days old when scoring this hat-trick, Müller also remains the youngest player to net a treble at the Euros.
After Yugoslavia had raced into a 2-0 lead inside the opening half hour of this game, West Germany scored twice in the second period via Heinz Flohe and Müller to take the match to extra-time. Müller completed his hat-trick with goals in the 115th and 119th minutes.
The German striker scored another goal in the final to take his tournament tally to four and finish as the Euro 1976 top scorer. These four goals were 44% of his total tally for West Germany, as he only scored five more at full international level.
Klaus Allofs – West Germany vs Netherlands (14 June 1980)
Klaus Allofs finished as the top goalscorer at the 1980 edition of the UEFA European Championship, with all three of his goals coming in a single match versus Netherlands.
West Germany’s 3-2 group stage win over the Dutch came thanks to Allofs’ goals in the 20th, 60th and 65th minutes of the match before their opponents scored twice late on to reduce the deficit.
The striker’s treble in Naples was his only hat-trick for Germany at full international level and he wouldn’t add to his tally at the European Championship but did score twice at the 1986 World Cup.
Michel Platini – France vs Belgium (16 June 1984)
Michel Platini was undeniably the player of the tournament at Euro 1984, with his nine goals the most scored by a single player at any edition of the European Championship.
Three of those goals came in his second appearance versus Belgium, after he’d scored the only goal in France’s 1-0 win over Denmark to kick-off the tournament. He opened the scoring against the Belgians early on, before adding two more in the in the second half in Nantes.
Michel Platini – France vs Yugoslavia (19 June 1984)
Not only is Platini the only player in European Championship history to score more than one hat-trick, but he did so in the space of just four days. His second hat-trick on 19 June 1984 came against Yugoslavia.
This treble helped France top the group ahead of Denmark after Yugoslavia had taken a 1-0 lead into half-time. Platini then scored three goals in the space of 18 minutes (59th, 62nd and 77th) to turn the game around in France’s favour before a late Dragan Stojković penalty reduced the deficit in Saint-Étienne.
Just as impressive as scoring two hat-tricks in the space of four days is that both of Platini’s Euro 1984 trebles were ‘perfect hat-tricks’ with each seeing a right-foot goal, a left-foot goal and a header. Magnifique.
Marco van Basten – Netherlands vs England (15 June 1988)
After a 1-0 defeat to the Soviet Union in their opening game of the 1988 European Championship, Netherlands needed a good result against England on MD 2 to help them progress to the knockout stage. Marco van Basten was their inspiration, netting all three goals in a 3-1 win in Düsseldorf.
After opening the scoring just before half-time, the Dutch striker added two more goals in the final 20 minutes having seen England equalise through Bryan Robson. This was Van Basten’s first hat-trick for the Netherlands, and he would add just one more for his national side before retirement – a five-goal performance in Malta in December 1990, which is one of only three instances of a player scoring five goals (or more) in a European Championship qualifier.
Euro 1988 was the fourth successive European Championship tournament to see a hat-trick scored, but the last until 2000.
Sérgio Conceição – Portugal vs Germany (20 June 2000)
Sérgio Conceição became the first, and so far, only, Portuguese player to score a hat-trick at the European Championship – something Cristiano Ronaldo will no doubt attempt to change at Euro 2024.
Conceição’s hat-trick came in Portugal’s final group stage match of Euro 2000, with the midfielder scoring all three of their goals in a 3-0 win over a poor Germany side. This result saw Portugal top Group A as Germany finished bottom.
This was his first ever start in a European Championship game after he’d had to make do with substitute appearances in Portugal’s first two games of the tournament. Of course, this hat-trick helped him force his way into their starting XI as he started their following two games in the knockout stages but couldn’t find any more goals.
Patrick Kluivert – Netherlands vs Yugoslavia (25 June 2000)
Conceição’s hat-trick was the first scored at Euro 2000, but it wasn’t the only one. Netherlands striker Patrick Kluivert added a treble of his own in the 6-1 thrashing of FR Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals, to help his nation progress to the semis.
The Dutchman scored their first, second and fourth goals of the game to take his tournament tally to five – a total that was enough to share the top scorer award with Yugoslavia forward Savo Milošević, who netted their consolation goal in injury time of this match.
As well as scoring five times at Euro 2000, he also scored once at the 1996 tournament in England – that means no Dutch player has ever scored more European Championship goals than Kluivert, which is a record he shares with Ruud van Nistelrooy.
David Villa – Spain vs Russia (10 June 2008)
David Villa scored Spain’s first three goals in their 4-1 tournament opener against Russia at Euro 2008. The striker’s hat-trick in Innsbruck accounted for 75% of his tournament goal total, which was enough to secure the Golden Boot.
Villa’s hat-trick also meant he became just the second player in European Championship history to score a treble on his debut at the tournament after Dieter Müller for West Germany in 1976.
Spain went on to win the tournament – their second European Championship title after 1964 – but Villa didn’t play any part in the final win over Germany, as he was an unused substitute.
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