Most goals scored by a football (soccer) player in a FIFA World Cup match for the losing side

On 5 June 1938, striker Ernst Willimowski scored four times for Poland as they lost 6–5 to Brazil after extra time in a FIFA World Cup match at the Stade de la Meinau in Strasbourg, France. As of July 2017, two players have scored World Cup hat-tricks in a losing cause: Josef Hügi for Switzerland during their 7–5 loss to Austria in 1954, and Igor Belanov during the Soviet Union’s 4–3 defeat to Belgium in 1986.