What is a hat-trick, and a perfect hat-trick?
A hat-trick is three goals scored by the same player in the same match. They don't have to come one after another. A perfect hat-trick is a popular but unofficial phrase, usually meaning one goal with each foot and one with the head.
Team FootyMetrics
Updated Jul 2026 ยท 5 min read
- A hat-trick is three goals by one player in one match. They don't need to be consecutive, and another player can score in between.
- A perfect hat-trick is a popular phrase, not an official one. The most common version is one goal with each foot and one with the head.
- A penalty scored in the match counts fully towards a hat-trick, for the stat and for betting. Only shootout penalties don't count.
- An own goal never counts towards a hat-trick. Only goals the player scores themselves count.
That's the short version. The bit people get wrong is assuming the three goals have to arrive in one unbroken burst. They don't. Here's the full definition, the "perfect hat-trick" and why it isn't one fixed thing, and how it all plays out in betting markets.
What is a hat-trick?
Three goals scored by the same player in the same match. That's the whole rule. It doesn't matter if the goals come in the 10th, 40th and 75th minute with two other goals scored by different players mixed in. As long as one player finds the net three separate times in one game, it's a hat-trick.
This is worth being precise about, because some assume a hat-trick needs to be an unbroken run with nothing in between. It doesn't. Goals 1, 3 and 5 of a match by the same scorer count exactly the same as three goals scored one straight after another.
There is a specific term for three goals scored one after another with nobody else scoring in between: a natural hat-trick. It gets pointed out by commentators because it's rarer, but it's a flourish on top of the hat-trick, not a stricter version of it. A hat-trick with gaps and other scorers mixed in counts just the same.
The perfect hat-trick
This is where the definition gets less tidy. "Perfect hat-trick" isn't a term set by FIFA, the IFAB laws of the game, or any single governing body. It's a phrase that grew out of football writing and punditry, and it gets used slightly differently depending on who you ask.
The version you'll see most often: one goal with the left foot, one with the right foot, and one with the head, all in the same match. The idea is that it shows a player finishing three genuinely different ways, which is rarer than it sounds given how many forwards lean on one preferred foot.
A second version also shows up in football writing: one goal from open play, one penalty, and one free kick. This one is about the method of the goal rather than the body part, and it's less common than the foot and head version, but it's out there too.
Perfect hat-trick has no single official definition
Do penalties and free kicks count?
Yes. Any goal a player scores during the match counts towards their hat-trick, whatever the method: open play, penalty, free kick, header, it makes no difference. There's no rule that discounts a penalty from a hat-trick, and the same goes for betting. A player to score a hat-trick bet settles on that player's full match goal tally, penalties and free kicks included, unless a specific market says otherwise.
The one thing that genuinely doesn't count is a penalty scored in a shootout after extra time. A shootout isn't part of the match goal tally under Opta's settlement rules, which FootyMetrics and most bookmakers use, so those goals never touch a player's hat-trick, their goal count, or anything else tracked as a match goal.
Does an own goal count?
No. An own goal is credited to the defender who put the ball into their own net, not to any attacking player. A hat-trick only counts goals the player scores themselves, so an opponent's own goal never adds to it. If a striker has two goals and the opposition then puts one in their own net, the striker still has two, not three.
Hat-trick betting markets
Player to score a hat-trick sits alongside anytime scorer and player to score two or more as a standard prop at most bookmakers. It's a longer-odds market than anytime scorer for an obvious reason: needing a player to find the net three times in one game is a much bigger ask than needing them to score once. Even a forward with a strong record for anytime goalscorer bets will have a far lower hit rate for hat-tricks across a season, and the market prices that in with longer odds and a lower strike rate than the single-goal market.
Player goals trends
How often a player scores, and how many, filtered by home, away and opponent, across recent games.
FootyMetrics tracks every player's goals across 115+ leagues, so it's worth checking a player's actual multi-goal record before backing a hat-trick market, rather than going off reputation alone. The same goes for teams: the goals leaderboard shows which sides and players are finding the net most often right now.
Hat-trick FAQs
Do the three goals in a hat-trick need to be consecutive?
No. The three goals just need to be scored by the same player in the same match. It makes no difference if another player scores in between, or if there's a long gap between each one. Three goals scored back to back with nobody else scoring in between has its own name, a natural hat-trick, but that's a bonus label, not a requirement for a hat-trick.
What is a perfect hat-trick?
There is no single official definition. The most common version is one goal with the left foot, one with the right foot, and one with the head, in the same match. A second version some writers use is one open-play goal, one penalty, and one free kick. Both describe three goals scored in three distinct ways, but which three ways counts depends on the source, since no governing body has fixed the term.
Does a penalty count towards a hat-trick?
Yes. A penalty scored during the match is a goal like any other, and it counts fully towards a hat-trick, for the stat and for betting markets. The only penalties that don't count are ones scored in a penalty shootout, because a shootout isn't part of the match goal tally at all.
Does an own goal count towards a player's hat-trick?
No. An own goal is credited to the defender who scored it, not to any attacker. A hat-trick only counts goals a player scores themselves, so an opponent's own goal never adds to it.
Is a natural hat-trick different from a normal hat-trick?
A natural hat-trick is three goals scored one after another by the same player with nobody else scoring in between. It's still a hat-trick either way. The natural hat-trick is just the tidier version, worth pointing out because it's rarer, not a stricter rule.