TOP LEAGUES - PENALTY HAT-TRICKS
Penalty hat-tricks in top leagues
On 30 November, Justin Kluivert (picture) became the first player in the English Premier League history since its foundation in 1992 to score a hat-trick of penalties. The 25-year old Dutch forward did it for Bournemouth against Wolves (4-2).
*All three these spot kicks were won by same player, Evanilson, who set thus his own record becoming the first player to win 3 penalties in a single Premier League game.
*Remarkably, Kluivert's record came in the same season as Harry Kane scoring the first and unique penalty hat-trick in the Champions League, for Bayern Munich vs Dinamo Zagreb (9-2).
*During the Premier League existence, Wayne Rooney and Matt Le Tissier made something close to the Kluivert Jr. feat.
Each of them has scored a dead-ball hat-trick: a treble comprised of penalties and free-kicks.
*The last who scored a penalty hat-trick in top English football (in all competitions) was a Danish playmaker Jan Mølby: in a League Cup game on 26 November 1986 for Liverpool vs Coventry (3-1).
*Considering the whole history of the English top flight, since 1888, Justin Kluivert is the 4th player with such a feat.
The last before him to do it was Ken Barnes back in 1957, for Manchester City against Everton.
Others two are Billy Walker (1921) and Charlie Mitten (1950).
*The first penalty hat-trick scorer in the league football of England (any division) was William McAulay (for Walsall in 1900, in a 7-1 win against Bradford).
*Overall, 11 players in the history of English league (all divisions) have scored this rare hat-trick, and 5 more in the Cup games.
*Michael Nushöhr from Stuttgart wrote Bundesliga history in the game against Hannover in 1986; he is so far the only player to ever manage 3 penalty goals in a Bundesliga game. Curiously, these goals were his first goals in the Bundesliga.
*José Altafini scored a unique Serie A penalty hat-trick in 1967, for Napoli against Spal.
Simone Inzaghi, now coach of Inter, came close to equaling Altafini in Piacenza vs Bologna game on 27 February 1999. Then young Piacenza striker took 3 penalties, but missed the 2nd of them (he subsequently scored another goal from open play completing a hat-trick).
*11 players have achieved a hat-trick penalty is the history of top 5 European leagues; all details are in the table.
*One of those 11, and one of 3 to do it in La Liga, a Croatian striker Alen Peternac, managed to score even 4 penalties in a single game. He did it for Valladolid vs Oviedo (8-3) in 1996.
Having achieved this, Peternac is still jointly holding the world record in top level football.
| TOP FIVE | EUROPEAN | LEAGUES | PENALTY | HAT-TRICKS | |||
| Player | Nation | Goals | Date | Team | Game | League | |
| 1 | Billy Walker | England | 3 | 12/11/1921 | Aston Villa | Bradford 7-1 | England |
| 2 | Charlie Mitten | England | 3 | 08/03/1950 | Manchester United | Aston Villa 7-0 | England |
| 3 | Ken Barnes | England | 3 | 07/12/1957 | Manchester City | Everton 6-2 | England |
| 4 | Alfredo di Stéfano | Spain | 3 | 20/04/1958 | Real Madrid | Celta 5-0 | Spain |
| 5 | Claude Brény | France | 3 | 18/09/1965 | Sedan | Cannes 3-1 | France |
| 6 | José Altafini | Italy | 3 | 05/02/1967 | Napoli | Spal 4-1 | Italy |
| 7 | Michael Nushöhr | Germany | 3 | 08/02/1986 | Stuttgart | Hannover 7-0 | Germany |
| 8 | Leonardo Rodríguez | Argentina | 3 | 18/11/1992 | Toulon | Nancy 4-2 | France |
| 9 | Alen Peternac | Croatia | 4 | 19/05/1996 | Valladolid | Oviedo 8-3 | Spain |
| 10 | Carlos Soler | Spain | 3 | 08/11/2020 | Valencia | Real Madrid 4-1 | Spain |
| 11 | Justin Kluivert | Netherlands | 3 | 30/11/2024 | Bournemouth | Wolverhampton 4-2 | England |