Ronald Koeman Jr made Eredivisie history by scoring twice for Telstar, joining a remarkably short list of goalkeepers who have found the net more than once in the same match.
Goalkeepers are usually remembered for clean sheets, penalty saves and costly mistakes. Even one goal can become a career-defining moment. Scoring twice in the same match is therefore exceptional, while completing a hat-trick places a goalkeeper in one of football’s most exclusive clubs.
This list focuses on official senior matches in which the player operated as a goalkeeper. Goals scored after a goalkeeper was deployed as an outfield player are discussed separately.
1. Ronald Koeman Jr – Telstar vs Cambuur, 2026
Goals: Two penalties
Result: Telstar 2-2 Cambuur
Ronald Koeman Jr scored both of Telstar’s goals in a remarkable Eredivisie comeback against Cambuur on 6 September 2026.
Telstar had been reduced to ten players in the 22nd minute when Nökkvi Thórisson was sent off. Cambuur took advantage after the break and established a 2-0 lead, leaving the home side two goals and one player down.
Koeman pulled one back from the penalty spot in the 63rd minute. Telstar were awarded another penalty deep into added time, and their goalkeeper converted again in the 101st minute to rescue a 2-2 draw.
The second kick carried considerably more pressure than the first. A miss would almost certainly have ended the match, but Koeman stayed composed despite Cambuur’s attempts to distract him.
According to ESPN, he became the first goalkeeper to score twice in a single Eredivisie match.
It was not his first important goal for Telstar. Koeman had also converted a late penalty against Volendam in May 2026, helping the club avoid a relegation play-off.
2. Rogério Ceni – Cruzeiro vs São Paulo, 2006
Goals: One free kick and one penalty
Result: Cruzeiro 2-2 São Paulo
Rogério Ceni scored so frequently that a single goalkeeper goal no longer felt particularly unusual. The São Paulo legend took penalties and direct free kicks throughout his career, eventually becoming the highest-scoring goalkeeper in football history.
One of his finest all-round performances came against Cruzeiro on 20 August 2006.
São Paulo trailed 2-0, and the situation could have become worse when Cruzeiro received a penalty. Ceni saved the spot kick before influencing the match at the opposite end of the pitch.
He scored directly from a free kick to reduce the deficit and later converted a penalty to complete São Paulo’s comeback. The match finished 2-2, meaning Ceni had saved one penalty and scored twice in the same game.
His first goal also took him beyond the goalkeeper scoring record previously associated with José Luis Chilavert.
The figures attached to Ceni’s career vary depending on whether friendly and unofficial matches are included. What is not disputed is that his goals were never a novelty act. São Paulo deliberately used their goalkeeper at set pieces because he was genuinely one of the team’s best dead-ball takers.
Ceni recorded another brace in São Paulo’s 4-0 Copa Libertadores victory over Tigres in 2005. Both goals were direct free kicks. He then missed a penalty that would have completed an extraordinary goalkeeper hat-trick.
São Paulo remember Ceni’s record-breaking match against Cruzeiro
3. José Luis Chilavert – Vélez Sarsfield vs Ferro Carril Oeste, 1999
Goals: Three penalties
Result: Vélez Sarsfield 6-1 Ferro Carril Oeste
José Luis Chilavert delivered the best-known goalkeeper hat-trick on 28 November 1999.
Vélez Sarsfield were awarded three penalties during their Argentine league match against Ferro Carril Oeste, and Chilavert converted every one. Vélez won 6-1, allowing their goalkeeper to leave the pitch with the match ball.
Chilavert was already an established penalty and free-kick specialist. He scored for both his clubs and the Paraguay national team, while his confidence, powerful left foot and willingness to leave his area made him one of the most distinctive goalkeepers of his generation.
Nevertheless, three goals in one match were extraordinary even by his standards. Unlike Ceni’s mixed brace against Cruzeiro, all three came from the penalty spot, but each still counted towards the match score and his career total.
As recalled by The Guardian, Chilavert completed the treble during a convincing derby victory and became the most famous goalkeeper to collect a hat-trick match ball.
4. Ilija Pantelić – Vojvodina vs Trešnjevka, 1963
Goals: Three penalties
Result: Trešnjevka 0-3 Vojvodina
Decades before Chilavert’s celebrated performance, Yugoslav goalkeeper Ilija Pantelić had already achieved the feat.
Pantelić scored all three goals for Vojvodina in a 3-0 Yugoslav First League victory over Trešnjevka in 1963. Historical summaries record the goals as penalties.
Contemporary coverage of the match is difficult to find, but Vojvodina’s official profile confirms that Pantelić scored a league hat-trick against Trešnjevka.
He registered six league goals during his time with Vojvodina and later scored against Atlético Madrid in the 1966/67 European Cup. He also represented Yugoslavia in the final of the 1968 European Championship before continuing his career in France with Marseille, Bastia and Paris Saint-Germain.
Because his hat-trick happened long before goalkeeper goals could spread through television highlights and social media, Pantelić’s achievement is much less famous than Chilavert’s. Historically, however, it came more than three decades earlier.
5. Grigoris Athanasiou – Pavlos Melas vs Aetos Vassilikon, 2022
Goals: Three penalties
Result: Aetos Vassilikon 0-3 Pavlos Melas
Greek goalkeeper Grigoris Athanasiou joined this exclusive group in February 2022.
Playing for Pavlos Melas in the Greek fourth tier, the 37-year-old converted three penalties in a 3-0 victory over Aetos Vassilikon. Two arrived during the first half before he completed his hat-trick after the interval.
Athanasiou had previously played professional football for clubs including Ergotelis, Ayia Napa and Chania. By 2022, he was competing at a lower level, but the unusual nature of his performance attracted international attention.
As reported by Goal, Athanasiou scored every goal in the match. He was not merely sent forward for a late corner. He remained in goal while also serving as his team’s designated penalty taker.
Do Goals Scored While Playing Outfield Count?
Some career goalkeepers have scored multiple times after being selected as outfield players. The goals are legitimate, but those performances belong in a slightly different category.
Luton Town goalkeeper Tony Read, for example, was deployed outfield against Notts County in November 1965. He scored a perfect hat-trick – one with his right foot, one with his left and one with his head – in a 5-1 victory.
Boston United reserve goalkeeper Ken Simpkins also scored a hat-trick while filling in as an emergency striker against Goole Town in 1968. Jim Platt, who later made hundreds of appearances in goal for Middlesbrough, achieved a similar feat for the club’s reserve team after entering a match as an outfield substitute.
They were goalkeepers by profession, but they were not occupying the position when they scored. For that reason, they are normally separated from Koeman, Ceni, Chilavert, Pantelić and Athanasiou.
Do Penalty-Shootout Goals Count?
A converted kick in a penalty shootout does not count as an individual goal in the match statistics.
Shootouts are used to determine which team advances after the game has finished level. The kicks are recorded separately and do not change the official score after extra time.
A goalkeeper can therefore score the winning kick in a shootout without having a goal added to his career record. Chilavert’s three penalties, Koeman’s two and the other examples above were all taken during the match itself, so they counted towards both the final score and the players’ totals.
Why Are Multi-Goal Matches by Goalkeepers So Rare?
Sending a goalkeeper forward creates an obvious risk. If possession is lost, the opposition may be able to attack an empty net. Regular involvement in open play is therefore impractical outside the closing moments of a match.
Penalties provide the safest route. Play stops, the goalkeeper can walk forward, take the kick and return to his own area before the restart. Every verified goalkeeper hat-trick in this article came from penalties.
Ceni was the exception because São Paulo also trusted him with direct free kicks. That required more preparation and created greater defensive danger, but his technique made the gamble worthwhile.
Koeman Jr’s brace followed the established penalty-taking route, yet the circumstances made it special. Telstar were down to ten men, two goals behind and still found a way back through their goalkeeper.
One goal from a goalkeeper is a curiosity. Two can transform a match. Three create a piece of football history that may survive for generations.
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