Five Goals in One Game: The Russian Who Stole a World Cup
Oleg Salenko scored 5 goals in one World Cup match (1994 vs Cameroon) — a feat never matched — by a journeyman who never scored for Russia again.
Published: June 6, 2026
# Five Goals in One Game: The Russian Who Stole a World Cup
June 28, 1994. Stanford Stadium. Russia vs Cameroon. Group stage. Both teams already eliminated. Dead rubber. Nobody watching. Oleg Salenko scored five goals. Russia won 6-1. He won the Golden Boot (shared with Stoichkov, 6 goals each). Russia didn't make it out of the group.
Who was Salenko? A journeyman. Before the World Cup: Logrones in Spain. After: Valencia, Rangers, Turkey, Poland. Retired at 31. Never scored for Russia again. His entire international legacy rests on 90 minutes in California against a Cameroon team that had given up.
But five goals. One match. Nobody else. Four players scored four (including Eusebio in 1966). Nobody has five. Nobody except Oleg Salenko — the most unlikely record-holder in World Cup history. "I was in the right place at the right time," he said. "Or maybe the wrong place. Because after that, everyone expected me to be a superstar. I wasn't. I was just a guy who had one perfect afternoon."