MULTIPLE POKERS IN A YEAR
Multiple pokers for national team in a year
Yemen’s striker Nasser Al-Gahwashi (picture) has produced two super-scoring matches for his national team in 2025: he notched 5 goals against Brunei and 4 against Bhutan.
This is the 5th such feat (multiple pokers in one calendar year in a national team jersey) over the current century and 18th in the entire history. They are listed below.
*Libya’s Mohammed Ali Al-Biski is the only one who did it twice.
*Two players managed to score as many as three pokers in a single year: Vivian Woodward in 1909 and Ali Daei in 1996.
*Woodward accomplished his triple poker, playing for two teams that then existed in parallel: England (the first of them) and England Amateurs (the following two).
*Al-Gahwashi’s achievement is even more impressive considering that his pokers came in two consecutive Yemen games. Five other players have also managed to do so.
*The first 4 players who registered multiple pokers for the national team in a single year were only Europeans. In the subsequent period, only one European player, Gerd Müller (in 1972), has achieved this feat.
| NATIONAL | TEAMS | ||||
| MULTIPLE | POKERS | IN A SINGLE YEAR | |||
| Player/Country | Dates | Games | Comp. | Goals | |
| 1 | Vivian Woodward | 31/05/1909 | Hungary 8-2 | F | 4 |
| England | 20/05/1909 | Switzerland 9-0 | F | 4 | |
| England Amateurs | 11/12/1909 | Netherlands 9-1 | F | 6 | |
| 2 | Poul "Tist" Nielsen | 05/10/1913 | Sweden 10-0 | F | 6 |
| Denmark | 26/10/1913 | Germany 4-1 | F | 4 | |
| 3 | Anton Schall | 24/04/1932 | Hungary 8-2 | F | 4 |
| Austria | 11/12/1932 | Belgium 6-1 | F | 4 | |
| 4 | Gunnar Nordahl | 05/08/1948 | Korea 12-0 | OG | 4 |
| Norway | 19/09/1948 | Norway 5-3 | NC | 5 | |
| 5 | Mohammed Ali Al-Biski | 02/09/1965 | Oman 15-1 | PAG | 4 |
| Libya | 06/09/1965 | North Yemen 16-1 | PAG | 4 | |
| 6 | Mohammed Ali Al-Biski | 03/04/1966 | Oman 21-0 | ANC | 7 |
| Libya | 06/04/1966 | North Yemen 14-0 | ANC | 5 | |
| 7 | Kwasi Owusu | 17/08/1969 | Niger 6-0 | CANQ | 5 |
| Ghana | 21/09/1969 | Niger 9-1 | CANQ | 4 | |
| 8 | Kunishige Kamamoto | 12/07/1972 | Kampuchea 4-1 | MC | 4 |
| Japan | 16/07/1972 | Sri Lanka 5-0 | MC | 5 | |
| 9 | Gerd Müller | 26/05/1972 | Soviet Union 4-1 | F | 4 |
| Germany | 15/11/1972 | Switzerland 5-1 | F | 4 | |
| 10 | Ali Daei | 10/06/1996 | Nepal 8-0 | ACQ | 4 |
| Iran | 12/06/1996 | Sri Lanka 7-0 | ACQ | 5 | |
| 16/12/1996 | South Korea 6-2 | AC | 4 | ||
| 11 | Kazuyoshi Miura | 22/06/1997 | Macao 10-0 | WCQ | 6 |
| Japan | 07/09/1997 | Uzbekistan 6-3 | WCQ | 4 | |
| 12 | Jassem Al-Houwaidi | 02/11/1998 | Qatar 6-2 | GC | 5 |
| Kuwait | 01/12/1998 | Mongolia 11-0 | AG | 4 | |
| 13 | Bashar Abdullah | 14/02/2000 | Bhutan 20-0 | ACQ | 8 |
| Kuwait | 18/02/2000 | Nepal 5-0 | ACQ | 5 | |
| 14 | Esala Masi | 07/04/2001 | American Samoa 13-0 | WCQ | 4 |
| Fiji | 16/04/2001 | Tonga 8-1 | WCQ | 4 | |
| 15 | Kevin Parsemain | 05/09/2012 | British Virgin Islands 16-0 | CCQ | 6 |
| Martinique | 07/09/2012 | Montserrat 5-0 | CCQ | 4 | |
| 16 | Ali Ashfaq | 02/09/2013 | Sri Lanka 10-0 | SAFF | 6 |
| Maldives | 04/09/2013 | Bhutan 8-0 | SAFF | 4 | |
| 17 | Ahmed Khalil | 03/09/2015 | Malaysia 10-0 | WCQ | 4 |
| UAE | 12/11/2015 | Timor Leste 8-0 | WCQ | 4 | |
| 18 | Nasser Al-Gahwashi | 14/10/2025 | Brunei 9-0 | ACQ | 5 |
| Yemen | 18/11/2025 | Bhutan 7-1 | ACQ | 4 |
OG =Olympic Games
NC =Nordic Championship
PAG =Pan Arab Games
ANC =Arab Nations Cup
CANQ =Cup of African Nations (Qualification)
MC =Merdeka Cup
AC =Asian Cup
ACQ =Asian Cup (Qualification)
WCQ =World Cup (Qualification)
GC =Gulf Cup
AG =Asian Games
CCQ =Caribbean Cup (Qualification)
SAFF =SAFF Championship
F =Friendly