During the last game of Group A in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, Norway Women thrashed Philippines Women by 6-0, where Sophie Román Haug recorded the latest-ever hat-trick completion in the tournament history.
It was the must-win game for both Norway Women and Philippines Women to qualify for the Round of 16. The 24-year-old Sophie Román Haug scored the first goal in just six minutes of the game with a sensational volley.
In the 17th minute, Haug’s header made the scoreline 2-0 for Norway Women. Graham Hansen made the scoreline 3-0 in the 31st minute.
Just in the third minute of the second half, Philippines fullback Alicia Barker scored an own goal to make it worse for the team. Guro Reiten then successfully converted a penalty to make the scoreline 5-0 for Norway.
Philippines left-back Sofia Harrison substituted Isabella Flanigan in the 57th minute, but ten minutes later, Harrison got a direct red card for a foul. That card was given after the VAR confirmation.
In the fifth minute of the added time, Haug completed her hat-trick and set the match scoreline to 6-0.
Meanwhile, co-hosts New Zealand Women had a goalless draw against Switzerland Women in another Group A match.
With those results, Norway Women moved up to the second position in the Final Group A points table with four points. While unbeaten Switzerland Women were Group A champions with five points, Norway Women’s giant victory kicked out the co-hosts New Zealand (four points) from the tournament through the goal-difference margin. Philippines Women finished in the fourth or final spot in Group A.
Here, we have brought out some crucial stats of Norway footballer Sophie Román Haug’s hat-trick (6’, 17’ and 90’+5’).
Haug recorded the latest-ever hat-trick completion in the FIFA Women’s World Cup history. She completed the hat-trick in the fifth minute of the added time in the final half of the game. The previous record holder was the Cameroon footballer Gaëlle Enganamouit, who completed her hat-trick with a successful penalty kick in the 90’+4’ against Ecuador Women during the group stage of the 2015 edition.
Haug also equalled the record for the longest time to complete a hat-trick (most time between the first and third goals) in the FIFA Women’s World Cup history. Just like the Norwegian Ann Kristin Aarønes (4’, 21’ and 90’+3’ vs Canada during the 1995 Group Stage), Haug also had 89 minutes gap between her first (6’) and third goal (90’+5’) of a match.
After Brazilian Ary Borges (vs Panama Women), Haug became the second player to score a hat-trick in the ongoing FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
Haug became the fourth Norway footballer to record a hat-trick in the FIFA Women’s World Cup history.
FIFA Women’s World Cup hat-tricks by Norway footballers
Player (Number of goals) | Final scoreline | Opposition | Stage (Year) |
Kristin Sandberg (3) | 8-0 | Nigeria | Group (1995) |
Ann Kristin Aarønes (3) | 7-0 | Canada | Group (1995) |
Ragnhild Gulbrandsen (3) | 7-2 | Ghana | Group (2007) |
Sophie Román Haug (3) | 6-0 | Philippines | Group (2023) |
(Updated till 30 July 2023)
