England Captain Harry Kane made history by becoming the first player to score four hat-tricks in his inaugural Bundesliga campaign, as Bayern Munich routed lowly ranked Mainz 8-1.
Kane struck after 13 minutes, in first-half stoppage time and 20 minutes from the whistle to take his tally for the season to 30 league goals, in the process equaling Uwe Seeler’s record in a first campaign in Germany’s topflight.
However, Kane’s recent treble is not recognized as a ‘true’ hat-trick in Germany, and he is still searching for his first one under their rules.
It seems standards are much higher in Germany when it comes to hat-tricks. Scoring three in a game just isn’t enough to bag one there.
In England, and most other countries, Kane would’ve officially been awarded the title of scoring his fourth hat trick, but it’s not quite the same in Germany.
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Bundesliga Rules on Hat-trick
To score what is known as a ‘true’ hat-trick, one must score three goals in the same half and score them consecutively.
Also, the three goals must be scored without another teammate getting on the scoresheet in between.
Without that, a player’s three-goal haul is considered among German football fans to be a mere ‘dreierpack’ (literally translated as ‘pack of three’), rather than a bona fide hat-trick.
If the goals are scored without interruption in the same half, it is subsequently billed with the adjective lupenrein, meaning ‘flawless’ or ‘perfect’.
The case happened to Harry Kanes Hat-trick when two players scored in between his second and a third goal.
Kane opened the scoring in the 13th minute before Leon Goretzka made it 2-0.
His second goal was scored in first half stoppage time – before Thomas Muller, Masala and Serge Gnabry got in on the act.
Former Tottenham Spurs’ record goal scorer then made it 7-1 in the 70th minute.
There’s no argument with the fact that a player must score three goals in one match, but it’s the timing and sequence of the goals that is important.
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Harry Kane Previous Hatricks not Counted
Kane has also scored three against VFL Bochum, Darmstadt and Borussia Dortmund in his debut campaign but the strict regulations do not view any of the hauls as proper hat-tricks.
He scored three goals for the first time for Bayern Munich against Bochum in September 2023.
None of the goals were invalidated, none were reassigned to other players upon review, and Kane’s name was marked with a treble in the record for the 7-0 victory against Bochum. However, within Germany, it was not regarded as a hat-trick for Kane.
His first hat-trick was abruptly halted when Bayern Munich players celebrated with dabbing between his first and third goals.
Harry Kane has become the first players in Bundesliga history in October 2023 to score as many as 11 goals within his first nine BL games against Darmstadt after scoring his second hat-trick.
Harry Kane reached his superb third hat-trick, after Bayern Munich’s sensational 4-0 win away to Borussia Dortmund in November 2023.
