What is a Hat Trick in Soccer?

A hat trick is something that requires tremendous skill and the ability of the player to play so well that they are able to not just score a goal in soccer, very hard I may say, but be able to do it three times.

It seems like whenever a soccer player scores a goal, it sparks a tremendous celebration by the crowd and the player is seen as a heroic warrior. The fact that a player scores three goals in a game has to only heighten this type of emotion and cause the player's feat to be celebrated for years to come.

@cardsfan27 - I played soccer a couple years at a local level and felt like it was near impossible for anyone to make a hat trick.

I know looking at it from a larger scale, it probably happens all the time, but one still has to play at a high level, no matter what type of competition they are playing, and they have to be gifted in order to score three goals in a single game, let alone be able to get a "golden hat trick."

@Izzy78 - Although I do agree that there is more scoring in hockey, a hat trick in soccer happens a lot more often than you think.

Although it is still a rare occurrence at the elite professional level, it is not that rare of an occurrence at local clubs or even in small to mid level professional clubs.

Usually hat tricks almost never occur at large scale events where the best players in the world play simply because the defense is too good and it is hard for a single player to outshine everyone else on the field at that high level of play.

Like soccer, hockey is usually low scoring, but the sport does produce slightly more scoring, enough for it to allow a hat trick to be an uncommon, but not necessarily really rare occurrence.

Soccer, on the other hand, almost never produces hat tricks, as it is an achievement for an entire team to score three goals in a match, let alone a player.

A hat trick is rare in professional soccer but definitely not unheard of. Do you guys have a favorite, or one that sticks out in your mind for being truly amazing?

I played soccer in high school and over the course of my career I had three hat tricks. I was young and cocky and pretty full of myself so I figured, hat trick? No big deal, anyone can do this, or at least I can.

Then I went on to college and played for four years and never had more than one goal a game. And a game with a goal was rare. So that did a lot to cut down my ego. In the end it was probably a good thing.

Unfortunately, cricket isn't popular around the world. It's well known only by three developed nations (England, Australia and New Zealand). Most people don't know about cricket but the Cricket World Cup is the third most popular international tournament in the world. These comments show that most people don't know about cricket. It's true that the term "hat trick" originated from cricket in 1858 in England.

1) hat trick comes from cricket.

2)soccer is the best sport and the most watched sport. it's not stupid.

this is so wrong. "hat trick" came from hockey, the most awesome sport in the world. it was because when a player scored three goals in one game, everyone would throw their hats onto the ice, and it still happens today. hat tricks are awesome! sad that other stupid sports stole the saying and don't throw hats out when it happens.

You might want to do some research of your own. Hockey in anything remotely resembling its modern form, dates from the nineteenth century.

Cricket, on the other hand, first appears in the sixteenth century. The likelihood of "hat trick" originating three hundred years after cricket was already on the scene instead of the other way around seems pretty remote. Cheers.

Please do some research into the origins of hat trick. Ironically you will find its roots in ice hockey. -Cheers