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Football, the beautiful game, is all about scoring goals and preventing someone from scoring goals. Whoever scores more goals wins a football game; that is why the goal scorers are one of the most important parts of a football team. With Erling Haaland becoming the first since Austria’s Hans Krankl in 1977 to score five goals in a FIFA World Cup qualifying match, the question was raised about who has scored the most goals in an official football match.
Haaland’s five goals in FIFA World Cup qualifiers
Inspired by Haaland’s remarkable accomplishment, scoring five times against Moldova to help Norway win 11-1 in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, we decided to explore records for goal scorers in official matches.
Haaland, who already shares the record for most goals in a UEFA Champions League game (which we’ll discuss soon), looked dangerous from the start. Despite a cut on his face from a bus accident the previous day, he found the net in the 11’, 36’, 43’, 52’, and 83’ minutes at Oslo’s Ullevaal Stadion.
But is this the most goals by a footballer in a FIFA World Cup qualifier match? The answer is NO.
Most goals in a FIFA World Cup qualifier match
Australia’s Archie Thompson holds the record for scoring the highest number of goals in a single FIFA World Cup qualifier match.
In the 2002 qualifying match, Thompson scored 13 goals against American Samoa, as the Aussies recorded a 31-0 win, the biggest victory in an international football match ever.
Read Also: FIFA World Cup 2026: Teams qualified so far.
Has anyone scored five goals in a World Cup match?
Since we are talking about the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, let’s know who has scored the most goals in a FIFA World Cup match.
Actually, only once has someone scored five goals in a FIFA World Cup match. Oleg Salenko of Russia scored five goals in a 6-1 win over Cameroon in the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the USA. This is still the record for the most goals scored in a FIFA World Cup match.
Read Also: 10 Footballers Who Retired And Came Back
Most goals in a UEFA Champions League match
Since we were talking about Haaland scoring five goals in a UEFA Champions League match, let’s get to know who has scored the most goals in a UEFA Champions League match.
Paul Van Himst, Gerd Müller, Claudio Sulser, Søren Lerby, Lionel Messi, Luiz Adriano, and Erling Haaland have the record of scoring five goals in a single UEFA Champions League match, which is the highest in the tournament’s history.
Most goals in an official football match
Now, with any further delay, let’s get into the stat you have come here to know. Who has scored the most goals in a single official match?
The record we will talk about is obviously taking first-class or fully professional matches for the country or club into consideration.
In Men’s football and overall, Yanick Manzizila of Sweden broke the record for the most goals scored in an official match by a player. Manzilila, in 2014, while playing for a club named Kongo United in the 9th division of Swedish football, scored 21 goals as Kongo United defeated Balrog Botkyrka Sodertalje by 30-0.
In Women’s football, Megi Doçi recently scored 16 goals in the 2024–25 Kategoria Superiore Femra on 16 March 2025. While playing for KFF Vllaznia, she surpassed her previous record of 14 goals as her team defeated KFF Lushnja by 23-0.