Footballers With The Most Goals In A Single International Match As Haaland Scores Five Goals For National Team

Erling Haaland once again dominated the headlines on Tuesday night, this time for his extraordinary display with Norway against Moldova. The Manchester City striker produced an incredible five-goal performance, marking his fifth hat-trick for the national team but also the very first time he has netted five in a single game for his country.

At 25, Haaland is already rewriting records. He had previously struck five goals in a match twice for Manchester City, and now he has replicated the feat at international level. His tally for Norway now stands at a staggering 48 goals in just 45 appearances-a strike rate that underlines his status as one of football's most lethal finishers.

Haaland's Display in Historical Context

Despite the brilliance of his five-goal spectacle, Haaland's achievement does not come close to the all-time international benchmark. That honor belongs to Australia's Archie Thompson, who famously scored 13 times in a 31-0 demolition of American Samoa during a World Cup qualifier in 2001. Even more remarkable, Thompson had only made his Socceroos debut two days earlier against Tonga, before starting his first full international match with a record that still stands today.

Other Record-Breaking Goal Hauls

In World Cup history, the highest individual tally in a single match is five, set by Russia's Oleg Salenko. He struck all five in a 6-1 win over Cameroon at the 1994 tournament in the United States.

That same figure of five also remains the benchmark in the Africa Cup of Nations. Ivory Coast legend Laurent Poku hit five goals against Ethiopia at the 1970 edition of the competition.

In South America's Copa América, four goals in a single game is the record, achieved by four different players. Interestingly, none has managed it since 1957.

Meanwhile, the European Championship has a lower ceiling. In the Euros, the most goals scored by a player in one match is a hat-trick. Seven players have reached that milestone over the years, including iconic names such as Michel Platini, Marco van Basten, Patrick Kluivert, and David Villa.

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