Portugal has a new national hero in Cristiano Ronaldo, as the soccer player's superb hat trick qualified his team for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, reports USA Today.

In a stunning show of athletic genius, Ronaldo scored three goals in the second leg of the two-game World Cup qualifying playoff, lifting Portugal to new heights against Sweden.

The exciting match had created quite a buzz in sports, as Ronaldo had been compared with Sweden's star player Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Though the Swedish striker scored two goals ahead, Ronaldo drastically changed the course of the play with his hat trick, scoring the goals with speed and athletic brilliance that may be enough to earn him FIFA's Ballon D'Or award. (Revisit the play here).

CNN reports that after the game, Ronaldo was mobbed by the crowd in celebration of his brilliant hat-trick, especially since the game seemed to be in favour of Sweden, with Ibra scoring two goals ahead in the first leg. In an astounding turn, with just 18 minutes left, Ronaldo scored a double in the second leg, ensuring that his rival Ibra will have to miss the action of FIFA World Cup next year .

Ronaldo told interviewers that, he knew "Portugal needed me in these matches and I showed I am here," notes CNN. The Portuguese soccer star also became the joint highest scorer for his team with 47 goals. The hat trick also earned him an ever impressive set of stats in his record, with 31 goals in 19 games, as reported by the Daily News. Ronaldo scored all four of Portugal's winning goals in its World Cup playoff with Sweden.

Meanwhile, other qualified teams for the FIFA World Cup 2014 covering Europe include Croatia, which won against Iceland with 0:2 aggregate; France, which won against Ukraine with 2:3 aggregate; and Greece, which won against Romania with 4:2 aggregate. For Africa, teams that will make it to Brazil include Algeria, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana. Qualifications for the remaining groups (Asia, N./C. America & Caribbean, Oceania and South America) have yet to be competed for, according to FIFA.