Footballers with the most goals in a single international game | OneFootball

Erling Haaland hit the headlines on Tuesday night after scoring five times for Norway against Moldova.

Haaland’s haul was his fifth hat-trick for the national team, but the first time he has scored five goals in a single game for the Norwegians.

The 25-year-old had previously achieved the feat twice at Manchester City and has now done so for the national team. It takes his incredible record to 48 goals in just 45 caps for the Scandinavian nation.

But how does Haaland’s five-star showing compare to the biggest goal hauls in a single international game?

Footballers with the most goals in a single international game

Haaland’s performance still falls significantly short of the record for most goals in a World Cup qualifier. That record belongs to former Australia striker Archie Thompson, who scored 13 goals as the Socceroos thrashed American Samoa 31-0 in 2001.

Incredibly, Thompson has made his Australia debut just two days earlier, scoring against Tongo, before marking his first start for his country with a record-breaking return. It remains a record for the most goals scored in an international match.

Oleg Salenko holds the record for the most goals scored in an official World Cup match. The Russian scored five times in a 6-1 win over Cameroon at the 1994 World Cup in the USA.

Five goals is also the record for an Africa Cup of Nations Match, held by Ivory Coast’s Laurent Poku. He achieved the feat against Ethiopia in the 1970 tournament.

Four different players have scored four goals in a Copa America game, though the most recent occasion came way back in 1957.

In the European Championship, the record for goals in a single game is three. Seven players have scored a hat-trick at the tournament proper, including Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Patrick Kluivert and David Villa.

Read – Five Premier League players who shone in the international break

See more – The biggest shock results of the international break

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