The UEFA Nations League has produced some memorable individual performances since the competition was introduced in 2018, with several of Europe’s leading forwards finding the net three or more times in a single match.
Among the players to achieve the feat are Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo, Norway striker Erling Haaland and Sweden forward Viktor Gyökeres. UEFA records show that 18 different players have scored hat-tricks in the competition, although some went beyond three goals in their respective matches.
Finland’s Joel Pohjanpalo became the latest player to join the exclusive group when he scored four times during his country’s 7-0 victory over San Marino in September 2026.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Ronaldo produced one of the competition’s most significant hat-tricks when Portugal faced Switzerland in the semi-final of the inaugural Nations League edition in June 2019.
The forward scored three times as Portugal secured a 3-1 victory and booked a place in the final. His achievement remains particularly notable because UEFA says he is the only player to score a hat-trick in the Nations League finals tournament.
Erling Haaland
Haaland has registered two Nations League hat-tricks during his international career.
His first came in October 2020 when Norway defeated Romania 4-0, with the Manchester City striker responsible for three of his team’s goals.
Four years later, Haaland repeated the achievement against Kazakhstan, scoring three times in Norway’s 5-0 win in November 2024.
The Norwegian has also established himself as the competition’s leading scorer. UEFA’s latest figures put him on 22 Nations League goals, ahead of Serbia’s Aleksandar Mitrović and Ronaldo.
Viktor Gyökeres
Gyökeres also enjoyed a remarkable night for Sweden against Azerbaijan in November 2024.
He scored four goals during Sweden’s 6-0 victory, making him one of the few players to score more than three times in a Nations League match. UEFA marks his performance with an asterisk because he went beyond the traditional hat-trick figure.
The Swedish striker also finished the 2024/25 Nations League campaign as the competition’s leading scorer with nine goals.
Other players who have scored hat-tricks
The list of Nations League hat-trick heroes extends well beyond the biggest names in European football.
Armenia’s Yura Movsisyan was the first player to score three times in a Nations League match when he found the net against Gibraltar in November 2018. He was followed shortly afterwards by Switzerland’s Haris Seferović and Scotland’s James Forrest.
Kosovo’s Arber Zeneli also scored a hat-trick during the opening edition of the tournament, doing so against Azerbaijan.
Israel’s Eran Zahavi and Slovenia’s Haris Vučkić added their names to the list in 2020, while Spain’s Ferran Torres scored three against Germany later that year.
Montenegro’s Stefan Mugoša became another hat-trick scorer in 2022, before Serbia’s Mitrović achieved the feat against Sweden later that year.
The 2024 edition produced several more standout performances. Slovenia’s Benjamin Šeško scored three against Kazakhstan, while Türkiye’s Kerem Aktürkoğlu and Northern Ireland’s Isaac Price also recorded trebles.
Montenegro’s Nikola Krstović and Kosovo’s Vedat Muriqi subsequently joined the group, with Muriqi scoring three against Iceland in March 2025.
Full list of Nations League hat-trick scorers
According to UEFA’s historical records, the players who have scored hat-tricks in the competition include:
- Yura Movsisyan – Armenia
- Haris Seferović – Switzerland
- James Forrest – Scotland
- Arber Zeneli – Kosovo
- Cristiano Ronaldo – Portugal
- Erling Haaland – Norway
- Eran Zahavi – Israel
- Haris Vučkić – Slovenia
- Ferran Torres – Spain
- Stefan Mugoša – Montenegro
- Aleksandar Mitrović – Serbia
- Benjamin Šeško – Slovenia
- Kerem Aktürkoğlu – Türkiye
- Isaac Price – Northern Ireland
- Viktor Gyökeres – Sweden
- Nikola Krstović – Montenegro
- Vedat Muriqi – Kosovo
- Joel Pohjanpalo – Finland
UEFA notes that Movsisyan, Gyökeres and Pohjanpalo went beyond three goals, scoring four times in their respective matches.
The record could expand further as the Nations League continues, with several established goalscorers still active in the competition. Haaland, Ronaldo, Gyökeres and other prolific forwards remain capable of adding more memorable individual performances to the tournament’s history.
