Robert Earnshaw had a successful 17-year playing career, spending most of his football life in the English divisions. Earnshaw played over 470 league games, finishing his career in Canada in 2015
Earnshaw was a prolific goalscorer in the English Football League. His record at Cardiff was sensational, and the former Wales international also scored regularly in the EFL Championship for Norwich City and Nottingham Forest.
The Zambian-born goal-scoring machine still holds a hat-trick record in English football. He remains the only player to score trebles in all four professional divisions, the FA Cup, the League Cup, and at the international level.
Happy birthday to the man who is the only player in history to score a hat-trick in the Premier League, Championship, League One, League Two, FA Cup, League Cup and for his country.
— ð˜¼ð™¬ð™–ð™® ð˜¿ð™–ð™® ð™ð™¤ð™ªð™§ð™¨ (@away_tours) April 6, 2023
Robert Earnshaw is 42-years old today. ðŸ‘ðŸ»ðŸ‘��@RobertEarnshaw pic.twitter.com/Oye2yOl5St
The majority of those hat-tricks came during his time with Cardiff. His one and only Wales treble came in a 4-0 friendly win over Scotland in 2004. Earnshaw’s only Premier League hat-trick came in a 4-1 West Brom win over Charlton Athletic the following year.
Due to the way that Earnshaw rose through the ranks in South Wales, his hat-trick feat is unlikely to be broken. Earnshaw scored goals for fun in the lower leagues for six years before finally getting a chance to strut his stuff in the EPL.
Woulda loved to play with these 2@ErlingHaaland The best Striker in the world @KevinDeBruyne Best midfielder in the world
— Robert Earnshaw (@RobertEarnshaw) June 12, 2023
🌎
ðŸ‘ðŸ‘ðŸ‘#erlinghaaland #kevindebruyne #football #futbol #championsleague #premierleague pic.twitter.com/fHnwfkohiZ
The Premier League Dream
All strikers dream of scoring goals at the highest level. Although Earnshaw made his name in the EFL, the Mufulira-born ace realised his Premier League dream when he signed for West Bromwich Albion in 2004. The EPL is huge, and betting on England’s top tier is incredibly popular. Sportingtech, with its combined casino, sportsbook, and retail betting software, offers the system and structure for gambling startups to get the ball rolling. There are over 500,000 pre-match events to bet on, including Premier League games.
Earnshaw moved to Wales in the early 1990s, and he signed for Cardiff City as a youth player in 1997. A year later, he was promoted to the senior team and quickly became a fan favourite at Ninian Park.
He was representing Wales U21 and scoring goals regularly for Cardiff before making his senior debut for Wales in 2002. Earnshaw then made a big-money move to West Brom in the Premier League in 2004. Although he never quite lived up to the billing in England’s top tier, the striker played a combined total of 65 EPL games for West Brom and Derby County.
Before hanging up his boots in 2015, Earnshaw also had stints at Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel and Toronto FC, Chicago Fire, and Vancouver Whitecaps in MLS. He finished his playing career with a loan spell with Whitecaps FC 2.
Earnshaw is now chancing his arm at management. He was Fresno FC assistant from 2018 to 2019 and took over as Orange County SC assistant in 2022.
Earnshaw will never forget the early days of his life growing up in Zambia and Malawi before his family made the brave decision to move to Wales. He has gone on to become a football hero at club and international level, and his stunning goalscoring record will go down in history.