The Indian Super League (ISL) is the men’s top tier professional league of the Indian Football. The ISL is currently contested by ten teams and each season generally runs from October to March. Each team plays 18 matches during the league stage, with the top four qualifying for the next round. The season then culminates with the ISL Final to determine the champion. The league was inaugurated to grow the sport of football in India and increase its exposure in the country.
Canadian Forward Iain Hume holds the pole position with most hat tricks in ISL
Hume has been one the faces of the Hero ISL ever since the start of this league. The Canadian forward also tops the charts for the most number of hat-tricks by a player (3). Iain Hume netted his first-ever hat-trick against Mumbai in the 2015 edition. His second hat trick came in the very same season against Pune City FC. His most recent treble came in a match for Kerala against Delhi which made him the leading hat-trick scorer in the league’s history.
Iain Edward Hume (born 30 October 1983) is a Canadian professional footballer who plays as a forward. He began his career at Tranmere Rovers in 2000, and six years later moved to Leicester City for an initial £500,000 fee. Three years later he was signed by Barnsley for £1.2 million, where Hume suffered a critical head injury in a match against Sheffield United. After this, he played for Preston North End, Doncaster Rovers and Fleetwood Town as well before moving to the Indian Football.
In 2014, Hume joined Kerala Blasters FC for the inaugural season of Indian Super League. He later moved to Atlético de Kolkata for the next two seasons. Hume also played for Pune City FC in the 2016 edition of Hero ISL.
The Race for Runners-up Position
The second spot for the most hat tricks in ISL is shared by multiple strikers from all over the world. Let’s closely look at each one of them.
Stiven Mendoza
Stiven Mendoza is a Columbian professional footballer who plays as a forward. He made his ISL debut with Chennaiyin FC during the 2014 season. Mendoza came to the limelight in 2015 where he scored two hat tricks for the Chennai-based franchise. His two hat tricks came against FC Goa and Kerala Blasters respectively where his team comfortably won both the matches. The Columbian forward ended the season winning the Golden Boot award for scoring the maximum goals (13).
Dudu Omagbemi
Nigerian footballer Dudu Omagbemi debuted for Pune City FC in the Hero ISL. Dudu’s two hat tricks came for FC Goa and Chennaiyin FC in 2015 and 2016 respectively. He is currently a part of East Bengal FC in the I-League.
Coro
Ferran Corominas Telesia or Coro is a Spanish footballer who plays as a forward for Indian club FC Goa. In the 2017 season, three hat tricks were scored, out of which two came from Coro. Firstly, it came in a 4-3 win against Bengaluru and later against Kerala Blaster in a 5-2 victory. He also won the Golden Boot for scoring 18 goals throughout the season.
Marcelinho
Marcelo Leite Periera aka Marcelinho is a Brazilian footballer who recently signed for Hyderabad FC in the Indian Super League. He has two Indian Super League hat tricks to his name. The first one came in 2016 for Delhi Dynamos in a 5-1 win over FC Goa and the second in the 2017 season while playing for FC Pune City against NorthEast United. He also won the Golden Boot in 2016 for scoring 10 goals throughout the season.
Sunil Chhetri
The current Indian Football Team captain became the first local player to net a hat trick in the 2015 season while playing for Mumbai. He scored his second ISL hat trick during the 2018-19 season while playing for Bengaluru. Chhetri also holds the record of scoring the most hat tricks in ISL by an Indian player.
Bartholomew Ogbeche
Bartholomew Ogbeche is a Nigerian professional footballer who forwards and captains the Kerala Blasters FC in the Indian Super League. Ogbeche scored his first hat trick in the 2018-19 season for NorthEast United against Chennaiyin FC and the second came in the 2019-20 season for Kerala Blasters against the same opponent.
Indian Players with most hat tricks
So far, only three Indian players have been successful in scoring a treble. Since the inaugural season of the ISL, the Indian Football has found some of the best talents across the nation.
In terms of ISL hat tricks, only three Indian players have ever successfully managed to do so. As mentioned earlier, Sunil Chhetri has two hat tricks in ISL and is followed by Thongkhosien Haokip and Seiminlen Doungel. Both of them have a single hat trick to their name in the Indian Super League.
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