In his illustrious career Lionel Messi has currently scored 59 hat-tricks* for club and country (up to and including his most recent one on October 19, 2024, which is his only one so far for Inter Miami).
*The count includes all competitive hat-tricks; it does not include club friendlies, but does include international friendlies.
The first hat-trick was for Barcelona and came in the El Clasico against Real Madrid in 2007. He then had to wait 1 year and 10 months for the next hat-trick (none were scored in 2008) but after that, they are pretty common. In fact, 9 were scored in the calendar year 2012!
Here are the details of four of them, picked for their skill, opponent and tournament.
Lionel Andres Messi was born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Argentina and, since his debut for Barcelona aged just 17 in 2004, has become one of the players that can truly call himself the GOAT.
Up to the end of the Club World Cup held in the USA in June 2025, he has now scored 870 goals in all competitions, including 627 for Barcelona, 32 for Paris St Germaine and (so far) 42 for Inter Miami.
Internationally he plays for Argentina for whom he has scored 112 goals in 193 international appearances.
He has appeared at 5 World Cup tournaments (tied for the record), played in 26 World Cup games (a record, ahead of Germany’s Lothar Matthaus on 25 and Miroslav Klose on 24) and scored 13 goals in those 26 games.
Those 13 World Cup goals are the focus of this blog, starting with the first in a 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro in 2006 and ending with two in the 2022 World Cup Final.
Lionel Andres Messi was born on 24 June 1987 in Rosario, Argentina and, since his debut for Barcelona aged just 17 in 2004, has become one of the players that can truly call himself the GOAT.
His awards include 8 Ballon d’ors (World Player Of The Year) and trophies include 12 league titles (10 with Barcelona and 2 with PSG), 4 Champions League wins (with Barcelona) and, finally in 2022, a World Cup.
Internationally he plays for Argentina, making his first appearance for his country in a friendly against Hungary on 17 August 2005, aged just 18. He came on as a 63rd minute substitute but was incredibly sent off after just two minutes for a flailing arm that Vilmos Vanczák claimed had hit him. Since then he has become both their most capped player and goal scorer with 112 goals from 193 appearances.
The focus here, however, is to write about Messi’s appearances at the FIFA World Cup.
It’s a trophy that Argentina have won three times, first under the captaincy of Daniel Passarella (1978), then Diego Maradona (1986) and finally Lionel Messi himself in 2022.
Born in Madeira on 5th February 1985, the Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo can lay claim to many records and has statistics that any other player can only dream of owning.
He’s the most capped player in the world, having made 221 appearances for Portugal
He’s scored more senior goals than any other player, with a total of 938
He’s scored more international goalsthan any other player with 138 in his 221 games
He’s won the Champions League 5 times with two different clubs; one with Manchester United and four with Real Madrid. (Only three players have won it 6 times; all with Real Madrid)
Up to (and including) the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, there have been 22 World Cup tournaments with a total of 964 games. Of these games, 19 were won by a score-line of 6 goals or more.
Scoreline
Year
Result
Stage
9 goals
1953
Hungary 9 – 0 South Korea
Group Stage
1974
Yugoslavia 9 – 0 Zaire
Group Stage
1982
Hungary 10 – 1 El Salvador
Group Stage
8 Goals
1938
Sweden 8 – 0 Cuba
Quarter Final
1950
Uruguay 8 – 0 Bolivia
Group Stage
2002
Germany 8 – 0 Saudi Arabia
Group Stage
7 Goals
1954
Uruguay 7-0 Scotland
Group Stage
1954
Turkey 7-0 South Korea
Group Stage
1974
Poland 7-0 Haiti
Group Stage
2010
Portugal 7-0 North Korea
Group Stage
2022
Spain 7-0 Costa Rica
Group Stage
6 Goals
1934
Italy 7-1 United States
Round of 16
1938
Hungary 6-0 Dutch East Indies
Round of 16
1950
Brazil 7-1 Sweden
Second Group phase
1978
West Germany 6-0 Mexico
First Group Phase
1978
Argentina 6-0 Peru
Second Group Phase
1986
Soviet Union 6-0 Hungary
Group Stage
2006
Argentina 6-0 Serbia & Montenegro
Group Stage
2014
Germany 7-1 Brazil
Semi Final
Here are the details of every game at the World Cup Finals where the scoreline was a win by 6 goals or more. The order of the list is first by scoreline and then chronological order, with the oldest listed first.
This list aims to show the most shocking upsets in FIFA World Cup tournament games.
Up to (and including) the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, there have been 22 World Cup finals and a total of 964 games. A total of 80 countries have made appearances at the final tournament but only eight different countries have won the World Cup in that time (Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Italy, France, Uruguay, Spain and England).
As a result, when these teams are knocked out of a tournament by another country, then an upset is often caused and every game in this list (with the exception of one) features one (or even two!) of these eight teams.
The format of the tournament is also of interest. With the exception of the 1934 and 1938 finals, each tournament opens with a Group phase where typically 3 or 4 countries will play each other once and the resulting tables will allow teams to advance to either a second Group phase or to the knockout rounds. Most of the the games in this list are Group phase games, but there are some that see the favorites knocked out in the later rounds.
Obviously, this is subjective, and other games might be considered for this list, but the following matches have been selected based on several criteria, included where the match was played (i.e. did the favored team lose at home or on their continent), in which stage of the tournament the match was played (did a team go out early as a result of the loss, or did they still make progress) and the recent history of the teams involved.
As a result of the subjectiveness, the order of the list is in chronological order, with the oldest listed first.
So with the introduction out of the way, here are 14 of the biggest upsets in the World Cup Finals:
The FIFA World Cup makes several awards after each tournament to both teams and players, one of which is The Golden Ball, anaward that goes to the best player in each tournament.
First handed out in 1982, it has been won by 10 different players during the 11 tournaments that have been held since then. It is voted on by representatives of the tournament media from a shortlist provided by FIFA’s technical committee.
The first recipient in 1982 was the Italian striker Paolo Rossi.
The most recent, and current holder of the title, is Argentina striker Lionel Messi who won it for the second time in 2022.
The full list of results are made available following each tournament,and the two runners-up in the voting receive the Silver Ball and Bronze Ball respectively.
The current World Cup Trophy, held by champions Argentina, has a history of its own but is, in fact, the second trophy awarded to the World Cup Winners.
The first trophy, named the Jules Rimet Trophy, was awarded for the first time in 1930 and then at every tournament until 1970 when Brazil were allowed to keep it permanently after their third World Cup win.
The current trophy, officially called the FIFA World Cup Trophy, has been awarded every four years since 1974 and has been held by six different countries in that time with the current champions Argentina lifting it in 2022.
But let’s start back in 1930, with the first World Cup and the first World Cup trophy.
The FIFA World Cup makes several awards after each tournament to both teams and players, one of which is The Golden Boot award that goes to the highest scoring player in each tournament.
First awarded in 1982, the winners received the Golden Shoe award until it was renamed the Golden Boot in 2010. However, with a complete set of records available for the World Cup the top scorer for the tournaments leading up to 1982 is known, and that is why this list also includes the leading scorers in those first 11 World Cups.
As of 2022 there have been 22 FIFA World Cup Tournaments, resulting in 28 Top Scorer winners. There have been 20 outright winners, with the award being shared on two occasions; 6 players took home the award in 1962 and two players top-scored in 1994.
The first World Cup tournament was held in 1930 where the award was (retrospectively) won by the Argentinian Guillermo Stábile with 8 goals.
The most recent, and current holder of the title, is Frenchman Kylian Mbappe after scoring 8 goals in 2022.
The player with most goals in a single tournament is the French striker Just Fontaine who, in 1958, scored 13 goals in just 6 games.
Almost anywhere you are in the world, you can find soccer to watch. You might be watching a Sunday pub league, high school JV match, or pick-up game in the street, but soccer is everywhere. Finding truly great soccer to watch, on the other hand, isn’t quite as easy.
Even in the professional ranks, the level of play varies wildly depending on what league you’re watching. The global growth of the game has raised the quality of play everywhere, but the European leagues still draw the most talent, have the most valuable teams, and boast the most prestigious competitions in the world. The gap between the top European soccer leagues and the rest may be smaller, but there is still a gap. They’re called the big five for a reason!
So which countries have the best soccer leagues in the world in 2025?
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