Messi: oldest hat-trick in World Cups
With his hat trick against Algeria, Lionel Messi became the oldest player (38 years and 357 days) in World Cup history to score 3+ goals in a single match.
He surpassed Cristiano Ronaldo (33 years 130 days, hat-trick against Spain in the 2018 World Cup) by more than five years.
*It was Messi’s first World Cup hat-trick. He had 2 braces in the competition before:
25/06/2014 vs Nigeria
18/12/2022 vs France
*Messi’s hat-trick is Argentina’s 5th in World Cups, after:
Guillermo Stábile in 1930 against Mexico,
Gabriel Batistuta in 1994 against Greece and in 1998 against Jamaica,
Gonzalo Higuaín in 2010 against South Korea.
| WORLD CUP | OLDEST | HAT-TRICKS | |||
| Player | Country | Age | Date | Game | |
| 1 | Lionel Messi | Argentina | 38-357 | 17/06/2026 | Algeria 3-0 |
| 2 | Cristiano Ronaldo | Portugal | 33-130 | 15/06/2018 | Spain 3-3 |
| 3 | Rob Rensenbrink | Netherlands | 30-335 | 03/06/1978 | Iran 3-0 |
| 4 | Pedro Cea | Uruguay | 29-329 | 27/07/1930 | Yugoslavia 6-1 |
| 5 | Gabriel Batistuta | Argentina | 29-140 | 21/06/1998 | Jamaica 5-0 |
| 6 | Teófilo Cubillas | Peru | 29-095 | 11/06/1978 | Iran 4-1 |
| 7 | Max Morlock | Germany | 29-043 | 23/06/1954 | Turkey 7-2 |
| 8 | Pauleta | Portugal | 29-043 | 10/06/2002 | Poland 4-0 |