How Many Hat Tricks Has Ronaldo Scored? A Complete Career Breakdown

How Many Hat Tricks Has Ronaldo Scored? The Short Answer Is Staggering

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more than 60 documented hat tricks across his senior club and international career — the precise total depends on which aggregator you trust, but the most conservative tallies still leave him far ahead of any other player in the modern era. The rough breakdown: around 34 for Real Madrid, 10 for Portugal, several for Al-Nassr, and 3 each for Manchester United and Juventus. No other player in football history approaches that volume. It is a number so large it becomes almost abstract until you sit with what it actually means: more than 60 separate occasions on which Ronaldo decided a match was not yet over until he had scored at least three goals.

If you want to see how his statistics compare to players active right now, the ScoreBorg players hub tracks career stats across all major competitions. But first, here is exactly where those hat tricks came from — and what made them remarkable.

Hat Tricks by Club

The overwhelming bulk of Ronaldo's hat tricks came during his nine years at Real Madrid, but even his time at other clubs left its mark.

Manchester United — 3 Hat Tricks

Ronaldo spent six seasons at Old Trafford before scoring his first hat trick for the club. When it arrived — a 6–0 demolition of Newcastle United in January 2008 — it was worth the wait. He finished that 2007–08 campaign as the Premier League's top scorer and PFA Players' Player of the Year, and the Newcastle game was a crystallization of how devastating he had become. He added two more hat tricks before leaving for Madrid, though three in six seasons looks almost modest against what came next.

Real Madrid — Approximately 34 Hat Tricks

This is where the numbers become almost surreal. Across nine seasons in Spain, Ronaldo scored roughly 34 hat tricks — the majority in La Liga, where he systematically dismantled domestic defenses, but the Champions League provided some of his most theatrical trebles.

He became the first player to score three Champions League hat tricks in a single season (2015–16), a feat that has not been matched since. His UCL hat tricks for Madrid ranged from clinical dismantlings of outmatched opponents to the absurdly high-pressure — including a hat trick in the semifinal first leg against Atletico Madrid in 2017, on one of European football's biggest stages.

"He scores hat tricks the way other players score penalties — with a quiet confidence that it is simply what he does." — a sentiment echoed by commentators throughout his time in Spain.

Juventus — 3 Hat Tricks

Ronaldo's time in Serie A produced three hat tricks, and the most memorable arrived under maximum pressure. In March 2019, Juventus trailed Atletico Madrid 2–0 on aggregate in the Champions League Round of 16 second leg. Ronaldo scored all three Juve goals in a 3–0 home win — the last from the penalty spot in the final minutes — to put his side through on aggregate. The white gloves he raised to the Allianz Stadium crowd became one of the iconic images of his career.

Al-Nassr — Several Hat Tricks

Many assumed the move to Saudi Arabia in early 2023 signaled the end of Ronaldo's hat trick habit. It did not. He scored multiple hat tricks for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, demonstrating that even at an age when most strikers have long retired, his instinct for the treble remained intact.

How Many Hat Tricks Has Ronaldo Scored for Portugal? — 10

Ronaldo's international hat trick record stands alone. With 10 hat tricks for Portugal, he is by a considerable distance the most prolific international hat trick scorer in men's football history.

The highlights:

• Sweden, 2013 World Cup play-off: Portugal needed to go through a two-legged tie to reach the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Ronaldo scored a hat trick in Lisbon to settle the aggregate and book Portugal's place. A defining moment for his international legacy.
• Spain, 2018 World Cup group stage: The most dramatic of the lot. In a 3–3 draw, Ronaldo scored all three Portugal goals — a penalty, a tap-in that De Gea could not hold, and a breathtaking injury-time free kick that curled into the top corner. He became the oldest hat trick scorer in World Cup history at 33 years old, and the image of that free kick remains one of the most replayed clips in World Cup history.
• Lithuania, Euro 2020 qualifying (twice): Ronaldo scored hat tricks against Lithuania in back-to-back qualifying matches in 2019 — four goals in a 5–1 away win, then three in a 6–0 home win. Seven goals in two games against the same opponent, both resulting in hat tricks.

Portugal's opponents across his 10 international hat tricks span qualifying opponents and World Cup group-stage giants, which underscores the breadth of his international dominance.

The Champions League Hat Trick Record

Across all clubs, Ronaldo has scored 8 hat tricks in the UEFA Champions League — a figure that, by any measure, stands as one of the most remarkable individual records in European football. The vast majority came for Real Madrid; one came in the famous Atletico Madrid comeback for Juventus in 2019.

To put that in context: most elite strikers finish their careers with zero or one Champions League hat trick. The UCL is the hardest stage in club football, and Ronaldo has scored trebles on it eight times, across multiple clubs, over a span of more than a decade. You can explore the full Champions League record books on the ScoreBorg history pages.

Career Hat Tricks at a Glance

• Manchester United: 3 hat tricks
• Real Madrid: ~34 hat tricks
• Juventus: 3 hat tricks
• Al-Nassr: multiple hat tricks
• Portugal (international): 10 hat tricks
• Career total (documented): 60+

Note: exact club totals vary slightly across sources depending on whether friendly goals and minor cup competitions are included. The figures above use major competitive matches only.

How Does Ronaldo Compare to Other Players?

Ronaldo's closest rival in career hat tricks is Lionel Messi, whose own total is extraordinary by any other comparison yet still trails Ronaldo's by a meaningful margin. Beyond those two, the next tier of all-time prolific scorers — Pele, Romario, Gerd Muller — operated in eras where record-keeping was incomplete, making direct comparisons imprecise. What is not in dispute: no player in the modern era with fully documented statistics approaches Ronaldo's hat trick volume.

In the Premier League alone, hat tricks are genuinely rare events — the competition averages fewer than 20 per full season across all 20 clubs. Ronaldo scored three in that competition, and they were never considered a defining part of his English career. That scale mismatch tells you everything about what he achieved elsewhere.

Check the ScoreBorg standings hub to see how the all-time scoring records look across competitions and eras.

What Makes a Ronaldo Hat Trick Different?

A recurring theme across Ronaldo's hat tricks is variety. He scores with his right foot, his left foot, and his head — sometimes all three in the same match. He scores from the spot, from free kicks, from close range, and from distance. He scores them under pressure (the Atletico comeback with Juventus), in routine demolitions (Newcastle, Lithuania), and on the grandest stages (the 2018 World Cup).

He also scores them late. The free kick against Spain — curling over the wall in the 88th minute with a World Cup game on the line — is not an aberration. Ronaldo's hat trick record reflects a consistent capacity to produce in high-stakes moments, not just comfortable ones.

Want to test how much you know about Ronaldo and other record-breakers? Try the ScoreBorg daily trivia challenge — a new set of timed questions every day. Or put your prediction instincts to the test in the free prediction game, where you earn points for correct picks on live matches.

The Bottom Line

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored more than 60 documented hat tricks across his club and international career. He scored the most in the Champions League of any player in the modern era, set a record by scoring three UCL hat tricks in a single season, and is the oldest hat trick scorer in World Cup history. His nearest rivals in career hat trick volume trail by the equivalent of years of elite production.

The next time someone in a pub debates how many hat tricks Ronaldo has actually scored — the honest answer is: more than anyone else, by a distance.