What Footballers Have Scored Most of Their Career Goals in a Solitary Game?

“Last month, Watford defender Ngakia scored twice for Watford against Oxford to bring his total career goals to three from 116 professional matches,” wonders Peter Skilton. “Not counting footballers who scored only once, has anybody with 100+ appearances achieved a greater proportion of their total goals in a single match?”

Another reader writes in with the tale of French defender Chalmé. “French right-back Matthieu Chalmé played 362 professional matches during his playing days, primarily with Bordeaux and Lille,” Denis writes. “He scored four career goals, with a hat-trick coming in a single game. He scored all three in Lille’s 3-0 win at AC Ajaccio in 2004, recording the most unlikely of three-goal hauls.”

Those three well-taken goals in Corsica were the only ones he scored in 179 Lille appearances, while in 167 for Bordeaux, he found the net one time. Well, twice if you count his self-scored goal in the 2010 Coupe de la Ligue final against Olympique Marseille. Netting three-quarters of his total goals in a single match takes Chalmé past Ngakia’s percentage (66.7%), but there is a fly in the ointment.

Chalmé retired at Bordeaux in 2014 after a temporary move at Ajaccio, who likely remembered his brief purple patch a ten years prior. He did return to the game with fifth-tier side Lège Cap-Ferret, featuring seven times in half a year – and scoring one goal. That would drop Chalmé’s percentage of goals in one match down to 60%, but it feels harsh to penalise him for a post-retirement jaunt at semi-professional level.

A brief note, too, for a different French defender: Lilian Thuram. Although the query relates to professional club play, plenty of you emailed in to highlight that Thuram made 142 international caps and netted twice in the same match – the 1998 World Cup semi-final against Croatia. Look, when you’re hot, you’re hot.

The Insubordination Files: Part II

Previously in this series we looked at footballers who defied their managers’ instructions. There are some more great stories, so we’re revisiting the Disobedience Records for a second look.

Spurs vs City, Cup semi-final, 1955-56
“The Spurs captain, Danny Blanchflower, altered tactics to the team during the cup match against City while they were losing 1-0,” writes John Tumbridge. “Moving Maurice Norman from defense to up front, Spurs still lost and the coach, Jimmy Anderson [no relation], benched the captain for the next match and stripped him of the armband. Soon after Anderson left, Nicholson took over, the captain returned and the rest is history.”

England v Albania, World Cup 1990 qualifier, April 1989
Adam Clark notes: “Paul Gascoigne netted his maiden international goal in this victory at Wembley after roaming everywhere’, according to manager Bobby Robson. The post-match interview are priceless – a wonderful mixture of frustration, sarcasm and paternal pride.”

Everton v Tottenham, FA Cup semi-final, the 1990s
The Toffees’ most recent silverware was the 1995 Cup, and it couldn’t have happened without a key figure,” begins Jim Hearson. “Coach Royle? No. Goalscorer in the final, Rideout? Almost. Goalkeeping colossus Southall? Nope. That man was mercurial striker Daniel Amokachi, who substituted himself on during the semi-final against Spurs, scoring twice to earn the Toffees a place in the Wembley showpiece against United.”

Telling the tale to the media, Amokachi said: “Rideout got a knock and went down ... I just approached the assistant and told him ‘The gaffer says you need me on’.” The manager was rightly angry at the moment, but more forgiving at the final whistle: “He came into the locker room and embraced me, shook my hand and said: ‘Well done, son, but never try that again.’”

Sporting vs Barça, European match, 2008
“While playing for Guardiola’s Barça against Sporting, Henry decided to switch wings. He soon netted to ensure Barça went in 1-0 up at the break. The coach’s response? He substituted Henry for ignoring his instructions.”

Set-Piece Specialists

“As a West Ham fan, I’m often looking back at past seasons for positive memories,” laments a fan. “While recently doing so, I noticed that Payet netted six set-pieces in the 18 cherished months that we had him. Just wondering if there is a more prolific set-piece expert in a similar time period?”

One comes to mind: Beckham netted 27 direct kicks in his spell with United, including eight over several months between 2000. His most prolific 18-month spell at the club covers the identical timeframe: from May 1999 to November 2000, he scored 10 direct-free-kicks – including two brilliant strikes against the Hammers. Apologies.

For consolation, there’s a player now at West Ham who can better Payet’s statistics: Ward-Prowse. The set-piece maestro enjoyed two purple patches with his former club, netting seven set-pieces between November 2019 and February 2021 across two pandemic-interrupted campaigns. Ward-Prowse then hit another six dead-ball beauties in a ten-month period between 2022-2023.

Historical Trivia

“A Southend-supporting friend claims the club once played a league game at Wembley? Is he joking?” queried a reader in April 2012.

Ludicrously, he wasn’t. The team were one of two teams – the Bees being the other – to face Clapton Orient in Division Three (South) at the stadium back in the 1930s, owing to ground improvement work at Orient’s Lea Bridge Stadium. Their official website explain further:

Following a league match against Torquay (which the O’s won), Torquay representatives objected to the boundary fence being too near to the field. League officials was requested to inspect the ground and agreed that changes were needed before any more games could be held; abruptly the club found themselves homeless. Incredible as it seems, Wembley was proposed and the O’s actually hosted two matches in 1930 against Brentford and Southend United, securing two victories. To this day the club is the sole league team to have hosted matches at the iconic venue!

After that of course, Tottenham followed Orient in playing temporarily at Wembley, albeit in the Premier League. Lately, talk of the Gunners upgrading the Emirates – and relocating to the national stadium while the construction occurs – has emerged.

Your Input Needed

“Aubameyang scored four goals and was sent off in Gabon’s 4-3 win over the Gambia recently,” notes a reader. “Which other players have been dismissed after netting a hat-trick or more?”

“During Austria’s huge win of San Marino, every outfield player who started scored or assisted,” asks another correspondent. “Has any other team achieved this feat?”

“Among all footballers who have a monument outside the ground of their former club, who played the fewest games for that team?” wonders a fan.

“Remarkably, Tomasson is the initial coach to be fired by {Sw