List of AFC Asian Cup hat-tricks

This is a list of hat-tricks in the AFC Asian Cup, that being when a player scores three or more goals in a tournament match of the AFC Asian Cup (not including qualification matches). Hat-tricks have occurred nineteen times across the eighteen editions.

Hossein Kalani scored the first hat-trick in the tournament's history, in the 1972 edition.

The first tournament was held in 1956, however no hat-tricks were scored in the first four competitions. The first instance was in 1972, where Hossein Kalani scored three goals for Iran against Iraq in the group stage.[1] Later on in the same tournament again for Iran, Ali Jabbari scored three goals inside nine minutes to defeat Thailand 3–2. The first time a player would score four goals in a match would be 1980, where Behtash Fariba achieved the feat in a 7–0 win for Iran over Bangladesh. After 1980, three tournaments went by without a hat-trick before Ali Daei scored four goals for Iran in a 6–2 win over South Korea in 1996, also marking the first time at least three goals were scored in a match in the knockout stage. Two tournaments later in 2004, another knockout stage hat-trick was achieved by Ali Karimi for Iran in a 4–3 win against South Korea, again in the quarter-finals. In the 2023 tournament, Akram Afif became the first player to register a hat-trick in the final of the competition, scoring all three of Qatar's goals in their 3–1 victory against Jordan; he was also the first player whose hat-trick consisted solely of penalty kicks.

Iran have scored the most hat-tricks with six, while Bangladesh and Uzbekistan have conceded the most, with three each. No player has ever scored multiple hat-tricks in the Asian Cup, and every hat-trick scorer has had their side go on to win their match.

Hat-tricks edit

Key
4Player scored four goals in the match
No.TournamentPlayerTime of goalsRepresentingResultOpponentRoundDateRef.
1 1972Hossein Kalani34', 70', 78'  Iran3–0  IraqGroup stage9 May 1972[1][2]
2Ali Jabbari80', 86', 88'  Iran3–2  Thailand13 May 1972[2]
3 1976Gholam Hossein Mazloumi63', 74', 80'  Iran8–0  South YemenGroup stage8 June 1976[3]
4 1980Behtash Fariba411', 34', 80', 82'  Iran7–0  BangladeshGroup stage22 September 1980[4]
5Choi Soon-ho26', 53', 78' (pen.)  South Korea4–1  United Arab Emirates24 September 1980[5]
6Shen Xiangfu1', 5', 72'  China6–0  Bangladesh25 September 1980
7Xu Yonglai16', 79', 89'
8 1996Ali Daei466', 76', 83', 89' (pen.)  Iran6–2  South KoreaQuarter-finals16 December 1996[6]
9 2000Akinori Nishizawa14', 25', 49'  Japan8–1  UzbekistanGroup stage17 October 2000[7]
10Naohiro Takahara18', 20', 57'
11Lee Dong-gook30', 76', 90+1'  South Korea3–0  Indonesia19 October 2000[8]
12Mohammad Al-Shalhoub35', 78', 86'  Saudi Arabia5–0  Uzbekistan20 October 2000[9]
13 2004Ali Karimi10', 20', 77'  Iran4–3  South KoreaQuarter-finals31 July 2004[10]
14 2011Ismail Abdullatif416', 19', 35', 77'  Bahrain5–2  IndiaGroup stage14 January 2011[11]
15Shinji Okazaki8', 13', 80'  Japan5–0  Saudi Arabia17 January 2011[12]
16 2015Hamza Al-Dardour435', 45+2', 75', 80'  Jordan5–1  PalestineGroup stage16 January 2015[13]
17 2019Almoez Ali49', 11', 55', 60'  Qatar6–0  North KoreaGroup stage13 January 2019[14]
18Vitalij Lux24', 51', 77'  Kyrgyzstan3–1  Philippines16 January 2019[15]
19 2023Akram Afif22' (pen.), 73' (pen.), 90+5' (pen.)  Qatar3–1  JordanFinal10 February 2024[16]

By nation edit

NationHat-tricks
 Iran6
 Japan3
 South Korea2
 China2
 Qatar2
 Jordan1
 Saudi Arabia1
 Bahrain1
 Kyrgyzstan1

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Asian Cup 1972". Inside World Football. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  2. ^ a b "Asia's greatest national teams: IR Iran (1970s)". Asian Football Confederation. 29 April 2020.
  3. ^ "Iran Wins 8-0; To Face Chinese". The Japan Times. 10 June 1976. p. 10.
  4. ^ "Profile: Behtash Fariba". Team Melli. Retrieved 2 August 2020. Fariba continued to be a star of the team and he was the first Iranian footballer to score four goals in an international match which was against Bangladesh in that championship
  5. ^ "아시아축구 韓國(한국) 「아랍에미레이트」 大破(대파) 4대1". 동아일보 (in Korean). 25 September 1980. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  6. ^ "Magical Moments: Ali Daei vs Korea Republic (1996 AFC Asian Cup)". Asian Football Confederation. 6 June 2020.
  7. ^ Himmer, Alastair (19 October 2000). "Japan runs riot over Uzbekistan". The Japan Times.
  8. ^ "Lion King eases South Korea through". BBC Sport. 19 October 2000.
  9. ^ "World Cup - Squad - Mohammed Al-Shlhoub". BBC Sport. 30 May 2002. Few can forget his amazing hat-trick against Uzbekistan at Lebanon 2000.
  10. ^ "Iran wreaks its Asian Cup revenge on S Korea". Independent Online. 31 July 2004.
  11. ^ "India trail 1-4 at half-time against Bahrain". The Times of India. 14 January 2011.
  12. ^ "Okazaki hits hat trick as Japan routs Saudis". The Japan Times. 19 January 2011.
  13. ^ Veo, Valerio (17 January 2015). "Jordan beat Palestine, but how good are they against stronger opposition?". ESPN.
  14. ^ "Almoez Ali makes history as Qatar thump North Korea to reach Asian Cup knockouts". ESPN. 13 January 2019.
  15. ^ Caygill, Graham (16 January 2019). "Vitali Lux's hat-trick puts Kyrgyzstan in good position to qualify for Asian Cup last 16". The National.
  16. ^ "Afif stars as Qatar defeat Jordan to retain title". Asian Football Confederation. 10 February 2024. Retrieved 10 February 2024.