Matthew Hoppe becomes first American to bag Bundesliga hat-trick
The Schalke 04 striker scored a hat trick in his fifth Bundesliga appearance to end his team’s 30-game winless streak against Hoffenheim.
Matthew Hoppe scored a hat-trick in Schalke's 4-0 victory over Hoffenheim on matchday 15 of the Bundesliga. The 19-year-old became the first American player to score a treble in a single game in German top flight and ended a 30-match winless streak for S04 against Hoffenheim.
Hoppe also became the third youngest player, at 19-years-old, to score a hat-trick in the history of the Bundesliga and in any of Europe’s top five leagues. The last time an American player scored a treble was Christian Pulisic in Chelsea’s 4-2 victory over Burnley in the Premier League in 2019.
“I don’t know how I feel. I'm excited, I’m happy the team got the win and that I got to contribute to it,” said Hope after the game.
The young American striker made his sixth appearance for Schalke 04 on Saturday morning and he has started in 3 of those games. He left FC Barcelona’s academy in 2019 to join Schalke under-19 side where he scored five goals in 20 matches.
Hope gave Schalke 04 the much needed three points to keep them out of the relegation positions. Their next league game is against Eintracht Frankfurt on 17 January at the Commerzbank-Arena.
“It gives some confidence, some momentum. We have 19 games left and hopefully we can keep the wins coming and we can stay high in the first division,” concluded Hope.