, since the 1992 inception of the top level Croatian

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

competition, the

Prva HNL The Hrvatska nogometna liga () ( en, Croatian football league), also known as HNL or for sponsorship reasons the SuperSport HNL, is the top Croatian professional football league competition, established in 1992. Previously, it was called Prva H ...

, 132 players have scored three goals (a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

) or more in a single match. Including players repeating the accomplishment, the feat has been achieved 195 times. The first player to achieve the feat was

Dean Ljubančić Dean Ljubančić (born 13 October 1969 in Rijeka) is a retired Croatian football player who played for Rijeka in the Yugoslav First League, Rijeka, Pazinka and Orijent in the Croatian First Football League, and Oldenburg in German Regionalliga ...

, in May 1992, who scored three times for

Rijeka Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...

in a 3–0 victory over Istra. Eighteen players, on a total of 21 occasions, have scored more than three goals in a match: Marijo Dodik holds the record for most goals in a match, netting six times for

Slaven Belupo Nogometni klub Slaven Belupo ( en, Slaven Belupo Football Club), often referred to as NK Slaven Belupo, Slaven Belupo or simply Slaven, and known internationally as NK Slaven Koprivnica, is a Croatian professional football club based in the city ...

in a 7–1 victory over Varteks, in October 2000;

Goran Vlaović Goran Vlaović (born 7 August 1972) is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a striker. Club career Born in Nova Gradiška, Vlaović started his professional career with Osijek in 1989 and moved to HAŠK Građanski in 1992, before goi ...

scored more than three goals in three different games (twice in 1993, once in 1995), while

Mate Dragičević Mate Dragičević (born 19 November 1979) is a Croatian retired association football, football Striker (association football), striker. Club career He has enjoyed successful stints at several clubs, with Croats, Croatian giants Hajduk Split and ...

achieved it in two different games (both in 2002). In January 1994, both

and

Igor Cvitanović Igor Cvitanović (; born 1 November 1970) is a Croatian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the head coach of Dinamo Zagreb II in the Druga HNL. He is currently the 2nd all-time goalscorer of the Croatian F ...

scored hat-tricks for Croatia Zagreb twice in a week, against

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

in an 8–2 victory and a week later against

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

in a 7–1 win. In April 2008, Rijeka's

Radomir Đalović Radomir Đalović ( sr-Cyrl, Радомир Ђаловић; born 29 October 1982) is a Montenegrin professional football coach and a former player. He is an assistant coach with Croatian club Rijeka. In international competition, he represented ...

and Zadar's

Želimir Terkeš Želimir Terkeš (born 8 January 1981) is a Bosnian-Herzegovinian retired football striker who last played for Zadar. He previously played for NK Zadar, NK Zagreb, HNK Čapljina, HŠK Zrinjski Mostar, NK Inter Zaprešić, Chongqing Lifan and P ...

scored opposing hat-tricks in a match that Rijeka won 5–3; of the 195 total hat-tricks, Terkeš' was the first, and one of only four total, scored by a player on the losing club. The July 2009 fixture between

and Lokomotiva saw Rijeka's brothers

Ahmad Ahmad ( ar, أحمد, ʾAḥmad) is an Arabic male given name common in most parts of the Muslim world. Other spellings of the name include Ahmed and Ahmet. Etymology The word derives from the root (ḥ-m-d), from the Arabic (), from the ve ...

and

Anas Sharbini Anas Sharbini ( ar, أنس الشربيني; born 21 February 1987) is a retired Croatian professional footballer. He played as an attacking midfielder or winger, and was best known for his dribbling and crossing skills. Club career Rijeka Born ...

both score a hat-trick for the home team. Eighteen players have score more than one hat-trick, of which four players have each accomplished the feat six different times:

Igor Pamić Igor Pamić (born 19 November 1969) is a Croatian former professional footballer and current manager. He made five appearances for the Croatia national team during his playing career. Playing career Club He was born in the village of Žminj ...

and

Davor Vugrinec Davor Vugrinec (born 24 March 1975) is a Croatian former professional footballer. He primarily played as a striker, but also operated as an attacking midfielder or a second striker. He is all-time top scorer of the Croatian First Football Leagu ...

. Four players have each scored hat-tricks for at least three clubs: Igor Pamić (Istra, Pazinka, Osijek), Davor Vugrinec (Varteks, Rijeka, Dinamo Zagreb, NK Zagreb),

Zoran Zekić Zoran Zekić (; born 29 April 1974) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is the current manager of NK Osijek in the Croatian Football League. Managerial career In 2010 Zekić was appointed ...

(Zadar, Kamen Ingrad, Cibalia) and

Ivan Krstanović Ivan Krstanović (born 5 January 1983) is a Bosnian Croatian professional footballer who plays as a striker who for Slaven Belupo in the Croatian First Football League. He became known in Croatia when he became the top scorer of the Prva HNL i ...

(NK Zagreb, Rijeka, Zadar).

Hat-tricks

Multiple hat-tricks

The following table lists the number of hat-tricks scored by players who have scored three or more hat-tricks. Bold denotes players still playing in the Prva HNL, ''italics'' denotes players still playing professional football.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Croatian Football League Hat-tricks Association football in Croatia lists Lists of association football team hat-tricks hat-tricks