The

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

(SPL) was a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 that operated between 1998 and 2013. During that period, more than 100 players 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. The first player to achieve the feat was

Craig Burley Craig William Burley (born 24 September 1971) is a Scottish former professional footballer and sports television pundit and co-commentator for ESPN. As a player he was a midfielder from 1989 until 2004, notably playing in the Premier League for ...

, who scored three times for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in a 5–0 victory against Dunfermline Athletic on the opening day of the first SPL season. Eight players scored more than three goals in a match; of these, three players, Kris Boyd (twice), Gary Hooper and Kenny Miller scored five. Three matches featured two hat-tricks in the same game. The first two came in the same week of the 1999–2000 season.

Henrik Larsson Edward Henrik Larsson (born 20 September 1971) is a Swedish professional football coach and former player, formerly an assistant manager of Barcelona. Playing as a striker, Larsson began his career with Högaborgs BK. In 1992, he moved to Hels ...

and Mark Viduka both scored three goals each in Celtic's 7–0 win against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on 16 October 1999, then Aberdeen's Robbie Winters and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

's John Spencer both scored hat-tricks in a 6–5 win for Aberdeen at Fir Park four days later. Gary Hooper and

Anthony Stokes Anthony Christopher Stokes (born 25 July 1988) is an Irish professional footballer, who plays as a striker. He was also an Irish international, having played at the under-21, team B and Republic of Ireland national football team. He began hi ...

both scored hat-tricks in Celtic's league record 9–0 win against Aberdeen on 6 November 2010. Larsson and Stokes are the only players who have scored hat-tricks in consecutive matches. Henrik Larsson scored three or more goals twelve times in the Scottish Premier League, more than any other player. Larsson, Boyd,

John Hartson John Hartson (born 5 April 1975) is a Welsh former professional footballer, coach and sports television pundit for S4C, Sky Sports, Premier Sports TV and BT Sport. As a player he was a striker, notably for Scottish club Celtic where his time ...

Michael Higdon Michael Higdon (born 2 September 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward. He began his career with Crewe Alexandra where he came through the youth team before making the break into their first eleven in 2003. ...

and Stokes were the only players to have scored more than three hat-tricks in the SPL. Six players scored hat-tricks for two different clubs: Boyd (

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

and

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

), Higdon ( St Mirren and Motherwell),

Gary McSwegan Gary John McSwegan (born 24 September 1970) is a Scottish former professional footballer. A striker, he began his career with Rangers, leaving to join Notts County in England. He returned to Scotland and had spells with Dundee United, Heart of ...

( Heart of Midlothian and Kilmarnock), Colin Nish (Kilmarnock and Hibernian), Stokes (

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

and Celtic) and Kyle Lafferty (Rangers and Kilmarnock)

Hat-tricks

Multiple hat-tricks

Notes

The Scottish Premier League was the top tier of the Scottish football league system. It was formed in 1998 and was disestablished in 2013. The results column shows the home team score first.

References

{{Scottish Premier League Hat-tricks Hat-tricks