Odafa Okolie tops the list with 13 hat-tricks to his name…
In 2007, the National Football League (NFL) was rechristened to I-League. A whopping 71 hat-tricks have been scored in 13 editions with Odafa Okolie leading the pack. The Nigerian has 13 hat-tricks to his name whereas, Pedro Manzi has the record of scoring most hat-tricks in a season for Chennai City.
Goal takes a look at all those instances.
2007-08
On six occassions a player scored three goals or more in this season. Felix Chimaokwu’s hat-trick for Salgaocar came in a losing cause as the greens went down 5-4 to Mohun Bagan.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
|
Eduardo da Silva Escobar (JCT) |
1-3 |
|
| Odafa Okolie (Churchill Brothers ) | East Bengal | 3-2 |
| Felix Chimaokwu (Salgaocar) | Mohun Bagan | 4-5 |
| Odafa Okolie (Churchill Brothers) | Salgaocar | 1-5 |
| Ranty Martins (Dempo) | Sporting Goa | 4-1 |
| Odafa Okolie (Churchill Brothers) | Mahindra United | 4-2 |
2008-09
In this campaign, Okolie scored two hattricks and in the home match against Vasco, he netted six goals.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Odafa Okolie (Churchill Brothers) | Vasco | 1-4 |
| Mboyo Iyomi (Dempo) | Churchill Brothers | 3-3 |
| Odafa Okolie6 (Churchill Brothers) | Vasco | 9-1 |
2009-10
Out of four hat-tricks this season, Muritala Ali tallied two. While Baljit Sahni became the first Indian to score three goals in a match in I-League.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Baljit Sahni (JCT) | Shillong Lajong | 5-1 |
| Muritala Ali (Mahindra United) | Salgaocar | 4-1 |
| Muritala Ali (Mahindra United) | Air India | 4-0 |
| Odafa Okolie (Churchill Brothers) | Chirag United | 2-4 |
2010-11
10 hat-tricks were scored in this season. In the match between Mohun Bagan and Pailan Arrows, one player from each team scored a hat-trick and the match ended 5-4 in Bagan’s favour. Whereas Ranti Martins and Beto both scored thrice against Air India to thump them 14-0.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Odafa Okolie4 (Churchill Brothers) | Mumbai FC | 1-5 |
| Odafa Okolie5 (Churchill Brothers) | Pailan Arrows | 6-0 |
| Mandjou Keita (Pune FC) | JCT | 4-0 |
| Anil Kumar (Viva Kerala) | Air India | 7-1 |
| Jeje Lalpekhlua (Pailan Arrows) | Air India | 5-2 |
| Tolgay Ozbey (East Bengal) | Air India | 3-0 |
| Jeje Lalpekhlua4 (Pailan Arrows) | Mohun Bagan | 4-5 |
| Muritala Ali (Mohun Bagan) | Pailan Arrows | 4-5 |
| Ranti Martins6 (Dempo) | Air India | 14-0 |
| Beto4 (Dempo) | Air India | 14-0 |
2011-12
A dozen hat-tricks were scored in this campaign. The most in a single season to date. Odafa Okolie, Tolgay Ozbey and David Opara scored two hat-tricks each. Opara’s hat-trick against Sporting Goa was special because it is to date the only hat-trick scored by a player after coming on as a substitute.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Odafa Okolie (Mohun Bagan) | Pailan Arrows | 1-3 |
| James Moga (Sporting Goa) | Salgaocar | 4-2 |
| Joshimar (Prayag United) | Pune | 5-1 |
| Tolgay Ozbey4 (East Bengal) | HAL | 1-8 |
| Henri Antchouet (Churchill Brothers) | Shillong Lajong | 6-0 |
| David Opara (Churchill Brothers) | Sporting Goa | 5-0 |
| Odafa Okolie (Mohun Bagan) | Churchill Brothers | 2-3 |
| David Opara (Churchill Brothers) | Chirag United Kerala | 4-0 |
| Rohit Chand (HAL) | Pune FC | 4-6 |
| Gbeneme Friday4(Mumbai FC) | HAL | 5-1 |
| David Sunday (Chirag United Kerala) | East Bengal | 3-4 |
| Chinadorai Sabeeth (Pailan Arrows) | Chirag United Kerala | 0-3 |
2012-13
Goals continued to flourish in this season as well. Once again 10 hat-tricks were scored with Ranti Martins and Odafa Okolie scoring two each.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Ranti Martins (Prayag United) | Air India | 5-1 |
| Akram Moghrabi (Churchill Brothers) | ONGC | 5-0 |
| Odafa Okolie (Mohun Bagan) | Sporting Goa | 3-1 |
| Ranti Martins5 (Prayag United) | United Sikkim | 10-1 |
| Bineesh Balan (Churchill Brothers) | Sporting Goa | 8-4 |
| Chidi Edeh (East Bengal) | Salgaocar | 1-4 |
| Koko Sakibo (Dempo) | United Sikkim | 7-0 |
| CK Vineeth (Prayag United) | Air India | 1-4 |
| Odafa Okolie (Mohun Bagan) | Sporting Goa | 1-5 |
| Josimar (Salgaocar) | United Sikkim | 9-0 |
2013-14
With the best strikers in the twilight of their careers, only four hat-tricks were scored in this edition. Neither Odafa nor Martins scored a hat-trick in this season.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Ogba Kalu Nnanna (Sporting Goa) | Shillong Lajong | 5-1 |
| Tolgay Özbey4(Dempo) | Churchill Brothers | 1-4 |
| Yusif Yakubu (Mumbai FC) | Churchill Brothers | 4-2 |
| Cornell Glen (Shillong Lajong) | Mohammedan Sporting | 4-5 |
2014-15
Out of the six hat-tricks scored in this season, two were struck by Indians. Thongkhosiem Haokip and Seityasen Singh scored for Pune FC and Royal Wahingdoh respectively.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Thongkhosiem Haokip (Pune FC) | Shillong Lajong | 5-2 |
| Ranti Martins5 (East Bengal) | Dempo | 1-5 |
| Seityasen Singh (Royal Wahingdoh) | Salgaocar | 4-2 |
| Cornell Glen (Shillong Lajong) | Bharat FC | 3-1 |
| Cornell Glen (Shillong Lajong) | East Bengal | 5-1 |
| Odafa Okolie (Sporting Goa) | Pune FC | 4-0 |
2016
Three hat-tricks were scored this season with Martins scoring two of them.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Ranti Martins (East Bengal) | Shillong Lajong | 4-0 |
| Darryl Duffy (Salgaocar) | DSK Shivajians | 2-3 |
| Ranti Martins (East Bengal) | Aizawl | 2-3 |
2017
Once again, only three hat-tricks were scored in the season with CK Vineeth notching his against Mumbai FC.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| C.K. Vineeth (Bengaluru FC) | Mumbai FC | 3-0 |
| Wedson Anselme (East Bengal) | Minerva Punjab | 0-5 |
| Bektur Talgat Uulu4 (Churchill Brothers) | Chennai City | 6-1 |
2018
Dudu Omagbemi scored the solitary hat-trick in this season.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Dudu Omagbemi (East Bengal) | Chennai City | 7-0 |
2018-19
A certain Pedro Manzi arrived in Chennai City and he scored four of the six hat-tricks this season. Chennai City went on to lift their maiden championship.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Pedro Manzi (Chennai City) | Indian Arrows | 4-1 |
| Willis Plaza (Churchill Brothers) | Shillong Lajong | 4-2 |
| Pedro Manzi (Chennai City) | Shillong Lajong | 6-1 |
| Pedro Manzi (Chennai City) | Gokulam Kerala | 3-2 |
| Pedro Manzi (Chennai City) | NEROCA | 3-3 |
| Laldanmawia Ralte (East Bengal) | Shillong Lajong | 5-0 |
2019-20
In the last edition of I-League, three hat-tricks were scored.
| Player Name | Against | Match Result |
| Aser Dipanda (Punjab FC) | NEROCA | 3-2 |
| Pritam Singh (NEROCA) | TRAU | 5-0 |
| Fran Gonzalez (Mohun Bagan) | NEROCA | 6-2 |
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