Patrik Schick, Harry Kane, Robert Lewandowski and players to score a perfect hat-trick in the Bundesliga
Left foot, right foot, header - it's a pretty remarkable feat to score one of each in a single game. Bayer Leverkusen's Patrik Schick did so for the second time in November. The likes of Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski have also managed it, but who else has hit a perfect hat-trick in the Bundesliga?
Originally a cricketing term used when a bowler took three wickets in consecutive deliveries and - depending on whom you believe - then received a commemorative hat from his club or passed a hat around for cash donations, 'hat-trick' has made its way throughout the wider sporting world since the early 1900s.
If you're not a cricket buff and none of those terms makes sense to you, don't worry - suffice to say that 'hat-trick' has firmly taken root in the footballing world, where it denotes three (or more) goals by one player in a single match. But even in footballing circles, the term has continued to develop, making its way into some fascinating trans-lingual nooks and crannies.
For example, in German footballing parlance, there is a such a phenomenon as a lupenreiner Hattrick. This is very specific and is used to describe a player scoring three goals in a single half and without any interuption, i.e. another player scoring in between.
But a perfect hat-trick has become universal. It's simply a player scoring three goals in a single game, one with their left foot, one with their right and one with their head. The perfect combination for a complete goalscorer.
Watch: Schick's perfect hat-trick against Heidenheim
And there have been no fewer than 31 perfect hat-tricks in the Bundesliga since official data collection began back in 1992, starting with Karlsruhe's Sergei Kiriakov in 1993 and including such luminaries as Giovane Élber, Claudio Pizarro, Mario Gómez, Chicharito, Lewandowski, Harry Kane and of course Schick.
In fact, since the 2014/15 season, there has been only one campaign - 2022/23 - that failed to produce a single perfect hat-trick. Meanwhile in 2023/24, there were no fewer than four - and two were from the same club (VfB Stuttgart)!
The latest
With Leverkusen winless in three across all competitions, and with star striker Victor Boniface out with a hamstring injury, there was plenty of pressure on Schick heading into Matchday 11's clash at home to Heidenheim. But the Czech striker simply got to work - and showed impressive ambidextrous versatility - as he made it 2-2 with his left foot, 3-2 with his right and 4-2 with his head.
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An impressive performance to fire Leverkusen's impressive comeback from 2-0 down, but it wasn't even Schick's personal best! That honour is reserved for his turn in Die Werkself's 7-1 win over Greuther Fürth back in season 2021/22, when the 6'3" hitman bagged two goals with his left, one with his head and a final one with his right foot (plus one assist).
Watch: Patrik Schick outdoes himself against Fürth
The full English
Record-breaking Bayern Munich striker Kane's phenomenal debut season in the Bundesliga was made that bit more impressive because it included a perfect hat-trick. Locked in a tense title race with Leverkusen heading into the spring, Bayern had to pull out all the stops, and England captain Kane was more than happy to oblige with a fourth hat-trick of the season (plus an assist) when Mainz came calling on Matchday 25.
Fresh from scoring a Champions League double against Lazio, Kane opened the scoring with a right-footed tap-in before slotting home a second with his left boot and nodding home a third from point-blank range as the Bavarians ran out 8-1 winners.
Watch: Harry Kane unstoppable against Mainz
The most
Of course, when it comes to Bundesliga goalscoring records, the name Lewandowski is never long in cropping up, and in this specific domain the prolific Pole is once again exceptional in that he a) has the most perfect hat-tricks of any player, with three, and b) is the only player to have bagged two in a single season.
His first came in 2016/17, his second-successive 30-goal season for Bayern, when Augsburg came calling on Matchday 26. The Polish goal machine made racking up the requisite goals - plus two assists - look easy as the Bavarians ran away with it 6-0, but it wasn't until season 2020/21 that he repeated the feat.
Watch: Lewandowski's 2017 perfect hat-trick against Augsburg
And it was worth the wait. In a campaign that saw him score a division record 41 league goals for Bayern - including three hat-tricks and one four-goal turn - Lewandowski refused to let the empty stadia of the COVID era stop him and he proved 'perfect' in big wins against Eintracht Frankfurt (5-0) and then Stuttgart (4-0).
Watch: Lewandowski stars as Bayern best Stuttgart
The unicorn
As rare as perfect hat-tricks may be, rarer still is the elusive away-day variant, which has only been achieved by seven players in Germany's top flight. Robin Hack for Borussia Mönchengladbach (see below) and Serhou Guirassy for Stuttgart pulled it off last season, while Lucas Alario (Leverkusen) and Ishak Belfodil (Augsburg) managed it in the home stretch of season 2018/19.
Leverkusen's Javier 'Chicharito' Hernández also did it back in 2016/17. Coming off a 17-goal debut season in Germany, the wily Mexico legend cemented his cult status at Leverkusen with an epic performance in Mainz that saw him twice level the score (left foot, right foot) before bagging an injury-time winner... with his head.
Watch: Chicharito's perfect Leverkusen hat-trick
The first recorded perfect away hat-trick, though, came back in the closing weeks of 1996/97 when Cologne's Toni Polster hit three in the second half of a 4-0 win at Hamburg - also a lupenrein. The Austrian actually hit another hat-trick just seven days later, but this one wasn't perfect in a 4-0 win at home to Leverkusen.
The only other man to achieve the feat away from home was Stuttgart's Jonathan Akpoborie in a 3-3 draw at Bochum in 1998/99.
The unluckiest
Sadly, not all perfect hat-tricks are accompanied widespread joy and celebration, as Gladbach winger Hack can attest. The last man to achieve the feat before Schick's recent heroics and one of the seven to do it on the road, Hack is also the only one to manage so and end up on the losing side. In his side's Matchday 30 clash at home to Hoffenheim last season, Hack checked all the boxes: level the score with the left foot, pull one back with a header, level it up with the right foot a minute from time... only for Anton Stach to pull the rug out with an injury-time strike that clinched a dramatic 4-3 win.
Watch: Mixed feelings for Gladbach hero Hack
Full list of perfect hat-tricks in the Bundesliga since 1992
Patrik Schick - Bayer Leverkusen 5-2 Heidenheim, 23 November 2024
Robin Hack - Hoffenheim 4-3 Borussia Mönchengladbach, 20 April 2024
Harry Kane - Bayern Munich 8-1 Mainz, 9 March 2024
Deniz Undav - VfB Stuttgart 5-2 RB Leipzig, 27 January 2024
Serhou Guirassy - Mainz 1-3 VfB Stuttgart, 16 September 2023
Patrik Schick - Bayer Leverkusen 7-1 Greuther Fürth, 4 December 2021
Robert Lewandowski - Bayern Munich 4-0 VfB Stuttgart, 20 March 2021
Robert Lewandowski - Bayern Munich 5-0 Eintracht Frankfurt, 24 October 2020
Lucas Alario - Hertha Berlin 1-5 Bayer Leverkusen, 18 May 2019
Ishak Belfodil - Augsburg 0-4 Hoffenheim, 7 April 2019
Wout Weghorst - Wolfsburg 5-2 Fortuna Düsseldorf, 16 March 2019
Luka Jović - Eintracht Frankfurt 7-1 fortuna Düsseldorf, 19 October 2018
Niclas Füllkrug - Hannover 3-2 Mainz, 13 January 2018
Alfred Finnbogason - Augsburg 3-0 Cologne, 9 September 2017
Robert Lewandowski - Bayern Munich 6-0 Augsburg, 1 April 2017
Chicharito - Mainz 2-3 Bayer Leverkusen, 24 September 2016
Claudio Pizarro - Werder Bremen 4-1 Bayer Leverkusen, 2 March 2016
Bas Dost - Wolfsburg 5-4 Bayer Leverkusen, 14 February 2015
Nils Petersen - Freiburg 4-1 Eintracht Frankfurt, 31 January 2015
Mario Gómez - VfB Stuttgart 4-2 Wolfsburg, 9 May 2009
Luca Toni - Bayern Munich 3-0 Hannover, 17 February 2008
Ebi Smolarek - Borussia Dortmund 3-3 Kaiserslautern, 15 October 2005
Giovane Elber - Bayern Munich 6-2 Arminia Bielefeld, 17 August 2002
Soumaila Coulibaly - Freiburg 4-3 Hamburg, 4 May 2002
Martin Max - 1860 Munich 4-3 Hansa Rostock, 4 March 2000
Jonathan Akpoborie - Bochum 3-3 VfB Stuttgart, 17 April 1999
Olaf Marschall - Kaiserslautern 3-2 Borussia Mönchengladbach, 24 April 1998
Matthias Hagner - VfB Stuttgart 4-2 Arminia Bielefeld, 31 May 1997
Toni Polster - Hamburg 0-4 Cologne, 17 May 1997
Frank Neubarth - Werder Bremen 3-2 Freiburg, 6 April 1994
Sergey Kiriakov - Karlsruhe 3-3 Borussia Dortmund, 27 November 1993
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