List of Scotland national football team hat-tricks

Denis Law, who scored three hat tricks for Scotland, pictured here in a statue outside Old Trafford.

Since Scotland's first international association football match on 30 November 1872,^[1] 30 players have scored three goals (a hat-trick) or more in a game. The first player to do so was John McDougall,^[2][3] in a match against England on 2 May 1878.^[1] The most goals scored by a single player in a match is four, which has occurred on eleven occasions, although some sources credit Hughie Gallacher with a fifth goal in the 1929 British Home Championship match against Ireland on 23 February 1929.^[4][5] Denis Law is the only player to have scored four goals in a single match more than once. Robert Smyth McColl, Law and Gallacher are tied for the most number of hat-tricks for Scotland's international team, with three hat-tricks each.

The last player to score a hat-trick for Scotland was Robert Snodgrass, in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Malta on 4 September 2016.^[6] Steven Fletcher scored two hat-tricks in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying matches against Gibraltar on 29 March 2015 and 11 October 2015.^[7][8] The first of these hat-tricks ended a long wait for a Scotland hat-trick, as the previous one was registered when Colin Stein scored four goals in the 8–0 1970 FIFA World Cup qualifying win over Cyprus on 17 May 1969.^[7][9]

Scotland have conceded seven hat-tricks in total, with the first one scored on 2 April 1955 by Dennis Wilshaw in a 1955 British Home Championship match against England.^[10] Scotland had not conceded a hat-trick for the first 83 years of international matches, a total of 244 matches.^[a] Nico Claesen of Belgium was the first player from outside the Home Nations to score a hat-trick against Scotland, in the UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying match on 1 April 1987.^[11] Scotland had only conceded four hat-tricks until the 2003–04 season when hat-tricks were scored against them in two successive matches, first by Ruud van Nistelrooy in a UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying playoff match against the Netherlands, and then by Robert Earnshaw in a friendly against Wales.^[12]

Hat-tricks for Scotland

Key

Table

Wartime internationals, not regarded as official matches, are not included in the list. The result is presented with Scotland's score first.

Date	Goals	Player	Opponent	Venue	Competition	Result	Ref[a]
2 March 1878	3	John McDougall	England	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Friendly	7–2	[1]
13 March 1880	3	George Ker	England	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Friendly	5–4	[1]
12 March 1881	3	John Smith	England	Kennington Oval, London	Friendly	6–1	[13]
14 March 1885	3	Alex Higgins	Ireland	Hampden Park, Glasgow	1885 British Home Championship	8–2	[13]
23 March 1885	3	Joseph Lindsay	Wales	Acton Park, Wrexham	1885 British Home Championship	8–1	[13]
20 March 1886	3	Charles Heggie	Ireland	Ulster Ground, Belfast	1886 British Home Championship	7–2	[13]
24 March 1888	4*	William Dickson	Ireland	Solitude Ground, Belfast	1888 British Home Championship	10–2	[13]
9 March 1889	3	Willie Groves	Ireland	Ibrox Park, Glasgow	1889 British Home Championship	7–0	[13]
22 March 1890	4*	William Paul	Wales	Underwood Park, Paisley	1890 British Home Championship	5–0	[13]
18 March 1893	3	John Barker	Wales	Racecourse Ground, Wrexham	1893 British Home Championship	8–0	[14]
18 March 1893	4*	Jake Madden	Wales	Racecourse Ground, Wrexham	1893 British Home Championship	8–0	[14]
19 March 1898	3	James Gillespie	Wales	Fir Park, Motherwell	1898 British Home Championship	5–2	[14]
18 March 1899	3	Robert Smyth McColl	Wales	Racecourse Ground, Wrexham	1899 British Home Championship	6–0	[14]
25 March 1899	3	Robert Smyth McColl	Ireland	Celtic Park, Glasgow	1899 British Home Championship	9–1	[14]
7 April 1900	3	Robert Smyth McColl	England	Celtic Park, Glasgow	1900 British Home Championship	4–1	[14]
23 February 1901	4*	Sandy McMahon	Ireland	Celtic Park, Glasgow	1901 British Home Championship	11–0	[15]
23 February 1901	4*	Robert Hamilton	Ireland	Celtic Park, Glasgow	1901 British Home Championship	11–0	[15]
1 March 1902	3	Robert Hamilton	Ireland	Grosvenor Park, Belfast	1902 British Home Championship	5–1	[15]
14 March 1908	4*	Jimmy Quinn	Ireland	Dalymount Park, Dublin	1908 British Home Championship	5–0	[15]
27 February 1926	3	Hughie Gallacher	Ireland	Ibrox Park, Glasgow	1926 British Home Championship	4–0	[4]
27 February 1928	3	Alex Jackson	England	Wembley Stadium, London	1928 British Home Championship	5–1	[4]
27 October 1928	3	Hughie Gallacher	Wales	Ibrox Park, Glasgow	1928 British Home Championship	4–2	[4]
23 February 1929	4*	Hughie Gallacher[b]	Ireland	Windsor Park, Belfast	1929 British Home Championship	7–3	[4]
26 May 1929	3	Alec Cheyne	Norway	Brann Stadion, Bergen	Friendly	7–3	[4]
26 May 1932	3	Neil Dewar	France	Stade Olympique, Colombes	Friendly	3–1	[16]
1 October 1949	3	Henry Morris	Ireland	Windsor Park, Belfast	1950 British Home Championship / 1950 FIFA World Cup qualifying	8–2	[17]
1 November 1950	4*	Billy Steel	Ireland	Hampden Park, Glasgow	1951 British Home Championship	6–2	[17]
20 May 1951	3	George Hamilton	Belgium	Stade Heysel, Brussels	Friendly	5–0	[10]
30 April 1952	3	Lawrie Reilly	United States	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Friendly	6–0	[10]
8 May 1957	3	Jackie Mudie	Spain	Hampden Park, Glasgow	1958 FIFA World Cup qualification	4–2	[18]
7 October 1961	3	Alex Scott	Northern Ireland	Windsor Park, Belfast	1962 British Home Championship	6–1	[19]
7 November 1962	4*	Denis Law	Northern Ireland	Windsor Park, Belfast	1963 British Home Championship	5–1	[19]
4 June 1963	3	Denis Law[c]	Norway	Brann Stadion, Bergen	Friendly	3–4	[19]
7 November 1963	4*	Denis Law	Norway	Hampden Park, Glasgow	Friendly	6–1	[19]
17 May 1969	4*	Colin Stein	Cyprus	Hampden Park, Glasgow	1970 FIFA World Cup qualification	8–0	[9]
29 March 2015	3	Steven Fletcher	Gibraltar	Hampden Park, Glasgow	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying	6–1	[7]
11 October 2015	3	Steven Fletcher	Gibraltar	Estadio Algarve, Faro	UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying	6–0	[8]
4 September 2016	3	Robert Snodgrass	Malta	Ta' Qali National Stadium, Ta' Qali	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification	5–1	[6]

Hat-tricks conceded by Scotland

Wartime internationals, not regarded as official matches, are not included in the list. The result is presented with Scotland's score first.

Scotland have conceded seven hat-tricks, four of which have been scored by players from the Home Nations.

Date	Goals	Player	Opponent	Venue	Competition	Result	Ref[a]
2 April 1955	4*	Dennis Wilshaw	England	Wembley Stadium, London	1955 British Home Championship	2–7	[10]
15 April 1961	3	Jimmy Greaves	England	Wembley Stadium, London	1961 British Home Championship	3–9	[19]
19 May 1979	3	John Toshack	Wales	Ninian Park, Cardiff	1979 British Home Championship	0–3	[20]
1 April 1987	3	Nico Claesen	Belgium	Stade Constant Vanden Stock, Brussels	UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying	1–4	[11]
19 November 2003	3	Ruud van Nistelrooy	Netherlands	Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying playoff	0–6	[12]
18 February 2004	3	Robert Earnshaw	Wales	Millennium Stadium, Cardiff	Friendly match	0–4	[12]
27 May 2012	3	Landon Donovan	United States	EverBank Field, Jacksonville	Friendly match	1–5	[21]

Notes

References

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General