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Soccer Quiz — 50 Questions with Answers

5 rounds · 50 questions

Round 1 of 5 · Question 1 of 50

World Cup

Which country hosted the first World Cup in 1930?

Show all 50 questions with answers and explanations

Every question, answer and explanation

World Cup

  1. Which country hosted the first World Cup in 1930?

    Answer Uruguay

    Uruguay was chosen partly because 1930 marked a century of its independence. The hosts won the tournament too, beating Argentina 4-2 in Montevideo, with just 13 teams taking part.

  2. Which nation has won the most men's World Cup titles?

    Answer Brazil

    Brazil's five titles came in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002. Germany and Italy are next on the list with four each.

  3. Who won the 2026 World Cup?

    Answer Spain

    Spain beat Argentina 1-0 at MetLife Stadium near New York, Ferran Torres scoring the only goal in extra time. The 2026 title was Spain's second, after a first win in 2010.

  4. The 2002 World Cup was co-hosted by Japan and which other country?

    Answer South Korea

    The 2002 edition was the first World Cup held in Asia and the first shared by two host nations. Co-host South Korea became the first Asian team ever to reach a semi-final.

  5. Who is the only player to win the World Cup three times?

    Answer Pelé

    Pelé was 17 when he scored twice in the 1958 final against Sweden, and he added further titles in 1962 and 1970 — a treble no other player has matched.

  6. How many countries co-host the 2026 World Cup?

    Answer Three

    The United States, Canada and Mexico shared the 2026 World Cup, the first edition with 48 teams. Mexico became the first nation to stage matches at three World Cups, after 1970 and 1986.

  7. What was the original World Cup trophy called?

    Answer The Jules Rimet Trophy

    Jules Rimet was the FIFA president who founded the World Cup. The trophy named after him was stolen twice — found by a dog called Pickles in London in 1966, then lost for good after a 1983 theft in Rio.

  8. Whose record for the most men's World Cup goals stood from 2014 until it was broken in 2026?

    Answer Miroslav Klose

    Miroslav Klose scored 16 World Cup goals for Germany between 2002 and 2014, a record that stood until the 2026 World Cup, where Lionel Messi passed it on the way to 21 and Kylian Mbappé finished top on 22.

  9. Which country hosted the first World Cup played in Africa, in 2010?

    Answer South Africa

    South Africa 2010 gave the world the vuvuzela and gave Spain its first title. The hosts became the first in World Cup history to be eliminated in the group stage.

  10. In the 1986 quarter-final, whose goal became known as the 'Hand of God'?

    Answer Diego Maradona

    Diego Maradona followed the handball four minutes later with a slalom past five England players, a second goal voted the Goal of the Century in a 2002 FIFA poll.

Legends of the Game

  1. Lionel Messi spent most of his career at which club?

    Answer Barcelona

    Lionel Messi scored 672 goals in 778 games for Barcelona between 2004 and 2021, both club records. He left only when La Liga's salary rules made a new contract impossible.

  2. Cristiano Ronaldo plays international soccer for which country?

    Answer Portugal

    Portugal's first major trophy came at Euro 2016 with Cristiano Ronaldo as captain, even though a knee injury forced him off in the first half of the final against France.

  3. Which country did Pelé represent?

    Answer Brazil

    Pelé scored 77 goals in 92 matches for Brazil, a national record that stood for five decades until Neymar passed it in 2023.

  4. Johan Cruyff, master of 'Total Football', came from which country?

    Answer Netherlands

    Johan Cruyff won three straight European Cups with Ajax and three Ballon d'Or awards in the 1970s. The Cruyff turn, a move he unveiled at the 1974 World Cup, still carries his name.

  5. In the 2006 final, Zinedine Zidane was sent off for what?

    Answer A headbutt

    Zinedine Zidane's headbutt on Italy's Marco Materazzi came in extra time of the 2006 final, the last match of his career. He was still voted the tournament's best player.

  6. Lev Yashin, the only goalkeeper to win the Ballon d'Or, was nicknamed what?

    Answer The Black Spider

    Lev Yashin dressed head to toe in black in goal for the Soviet Union and is credited with saving around 150 penalties. The annual Yashin Trophy for the world's best goalkeeper honors him.

  7. George Best spent most of his career at which English club?

    Answer Manchester United

    George Best won the European Cup and the Ballon d'Or in the same year, 1968. Playing for Northern Ireland, he never appeared at a World Cup finals.

  8. Who has won the most Ballon d'Or awards?

    Answer Lionel Messi

    Lionel Messi's eight Ballon d'Or wins stretch from 2009 to 2023. Cristiano Ronaldo is next on the all-time list with five.

  9. Mia Hamm was a star striker for which national team?

    Answer United States

    Mia Hamm retired in 2004 with 158 international goals, at the time a world record for any soccer player, man or woman.

  10. Diego Maradona famously led which club to two Serie A titles?

    Answer Napoli

    Napoli had never won Serie A before Diego Maradona arrived in 1984. The club retired its number 10 shirt in his honor and renamed its stadium after him in 2020.

Rules & Basics

  1. How many players does each team have on the field?

    Answer 11

    The Laws of the Game set a minimum as well as a maximum: a match cannot continue if either side is reduced to fewer than seven players, whether by red cards or injuries.

  2. How long is a standard match, excluding stoppage time?

    Answer 90 minutes

    Soccer's clock runs without stopping, which is why the referee adds stoppage time at the end of each 45-minute half to make up for injuries and other delays.

  3. How far is the penalty spot from the goal line?

    Answer 12 yards

    Penalty kicks entered the laws in 1891, and at first they could be taken from any point along a 12-yard line. The fixed penalty spot arrived in 1902.

  4. Two yellow cards in one match equal what?

    Answer A red card

    Yellow and red cards first appeared at the 1970 World Cup. English referee Ken Aston said the idea came to him while waiting at a traffic light on Kensington High Street.

  5. For an attacker to be onside, how many opponents must be between them and the goal when the ball is played?

    Answer At least two

    Soccer's offside law demanded three opponents until 1925, when the number was cut to two — and the goalkeeper counts as one of the two, which is why the last outfield defender sets the line.

  6. A corner kick is given when the ball crosses the goal line last touched by whom?

    Answer A defender

    Scoring straight from a corner has been legal since 1924. Such goals are called Olympic goals because Argentina's Cesáreo Onzari beat Uruguay, the reigning Olympic champions, with one that year.

  7. Where may the goalkeeper handle the ball?

    Answer Inside their own penalty area

    Goalkeepers lost one privilege in 1992: the back-pass rule now forbids handling a ball deliberately kicked to them by a teammate, a change brought in to stamp out time-wasting.

  8. A legal throw-in must be taken with…

    Answer Both hands from behind the head

    Two-handed, over-the-head throw-ins were standardized in 1882, when the British football associations agreed on one technique to stop players hurling the ball in one-handed.

  9. How long is the halftime interval in a standard match?

    Answer 15 minutes

    A soccer match has only one scheduled break, though referees may add short cooling pauses in extreme heat — the first official World Cup cooling break came during Netherlands versus Mexico in 2014.

  10. The Golden Boot at a World Cup is awarded to whom?

    Answer The top scorer

    France's Just Fontaine scored 13 goals at the 1958 World Cup, a single-tournament record that has stood ever since; only Gerd Müller in 1970 has since reached double figures.

Clubs & Leagues

  1. The Santiago Bernabéu is the home stadium of which club?

    Answer Real Madrid

    Santiago Bernabéu served as Real Madrid's president for 35 years, and the club won the first five European Cups, from 1956 to 1960, during his reign.

  2. Which English club is nicknamed 'The Red Devils'?

    Answer Manchester United

    Manchester United took the Red Devils name in the 1960s, when manager Matt Busby borrowed it from Salford's rugby league side, dubbed Les Diables Rouges on a 1930s tour of France.

  3. Camp Nou is the famous home ground of which club?

    Answer Barcelona

    Camp Nou simply means new field in Catalan. The stadium opened in 1957, and its capacity of roughly 99,000 made it the largest soccer ground in Europe.

  4. Serie A is the top league of which country?

    Answer Italy

    Juventus has won more Serie A titles than any other club. The reigning Italian champion wears the scudetto, a small tricolor shield, on its shirt for the following season.

  5. The Bundesliga is the top division of which country?

    Answer Germany

    Bayern Munich won eleven consecutive Bundesliga titles from 2013 to 2023. The streak ended when Bayer Leverkusen went through the entire 2023-24 league season unbeaten.

  6. What does MLS stand for?

    Answer Major League Soccer

    Major League Soccer kicked off in 1996, fulfilling a promise made to FIFA when the United States was awarded the 1994 World Cup. The league has since grown from 10 clubs to 30.

  7. Boca Juniors and River Plate contest a famous derby in which country?

    Answer Argentina

    Boca Juniors and River Plate were both founded in the dockside La Boca district of Buenos Aires. Their 2018 Copa Libertadores final was so volatile that the second leg was moved to Madrid.

  8. Which body organizes the Champions League?

    Answer UEFA

    Europe's top club competition began in 1955 as the European Cup, and Real Madrid won the first five editions. The Champions League name and group stage arrived in 1992.

  9. 'El Clásico' is the rivalry between Barcelona and which club?

    Answer Real Madrid

    Barcelona and Real Madrid first met on the pitch in 1902, and the fixture's worldwide pull is partly political — Catalan identity on one side, the Spanish capital on the other.

  10. Ajax, famous for its youth academy, is based in which city?

    Answer Amsterdam

    Ajax takes its name from a hero of Greek mythology. The club's academy, called De Toekomst — Dutch for The Future — produced Johan Cruyff and generations of Netherlands internationals.

Famous Moments

  1. Which 5000-to-1 outsider won the Premier League in 2016?

    Answer Leicester City

    Leicester City had spent most of the previous season fighting relegation. Striker Jamie Vardy set a Premier League record on the way to the 2016 title by scoring in 11 consecutive matches.

  2. The world-record transfer fee was set in 2017 when Neymar joined which club?

    Answer Paris Saint-Germain

    Paris Saint-Germain paid Neymar's full 222 million euro release clause at Barcelona in August 2017, more than doubling the record fee Manchester United had set for Paul Pogba a year earlier.

  3. The 'Miracle of Istanbul' was which club's 2005 Champions League comeback?

    Answer Liverpool

    Liverpool trailed AC Milan 3-0 at halftime in the 2005 final in Istanbul, scored three times in six second-half minutes, and lifted the trophy after a penalty shootout.

  4. Which nation has won the most Women's World Cup titles?

    Answer United States

    The United States has won the Women's World Cup four times: 1991, 1999, 2015 and 2019. The 1999 final drew 90,185 fans to the Rose Bowl, a women's soccer attendance record that stood until 2022.

  5. In 2022, which team became the first from Africa to reach a World Cup semi-final?

    Answer Morocco

    Morocco knocked out Spain and Portugal on the road to the 2022 semi-finals, and the only goal it conceded before that stage was an own goal against Canada.

  6. The legendary Maracanã stadium stands in which city?

    Answer Rio de Janeiro

    The Maracanã was built for the 1950 World Cup, where a crowd estimated near 200,000 watched Uruguay stun Brazil in the deciding match — still the largest attendance in soccer history.

  7. Men's Olympic soccer squads are mostly restricted to players under what age?

    Answer 23

    Men's Olympic soccer became an under-23 event in 1992, and since 1996 each squad may add three overage players — the rule that let Neymar, then 24, captain Brazil to gold in Rio.

  8. FIFA's Puskás Award is given for what?

    Answer The most beautiful goal

    Ferenc Puskás scored 84 goals in 85 internationals for Hungary in the 1940s and 1950s. FIFA created the award bearing his name in 2009, and Cristiano Ronaldo won its first edition.

  9. Brazil's infamous 1–7 home defeat at the 2014 World Cup came against which team?

    Answer Germany

    Germany scored five times in the opening 29 minutes of the 2014 semi-final in Belo Horizonte. Brazilians dubbed the defeat the Mineirazo, echoing the Maracanazo loss of 1950.

  10. Arsène Wenger managed which club for 22 years?

    Answer Arsenal

    Arsène Wenger's Arsenal went through the entire 2003-04 Premier League season unbeaten, a feat no English top-flight club had managed since Preston North End in 1889.

About the Soccer Quiz

Soccer knowledge is stored as stories. Ask a supporter about a final and you get the weather, the room they watched it in and what somebody shouted in the eighty-eighth minute; ask them what year it was and there is a pause. This quiz sits in that pause. Almost everything in it is something a fan has technically already seen — the question is whether the seeing ever turned into knowing.

Fifty questions run in five rounds of ten: the world tournament, the great careers, rules and basics, clubs and leagues, and the moments that get replayed forever. Four names to choose from, and the right one surfaces the moment you commit. The set stays on ground that has stopped moving — finished tournaments, careers that are effectively complete, laws that have been in force for years — because a quiz built on this season’s table is wrong by November.

The rules round is where the damage usually happens, and there is a reason it sits in the middle rather than at the start. Watching the game for twenty years teaches you what the referee gave, not what the law actually says; the two diverge more than anyone comfortable in a stadium expects. Plenty of people who sail through the tournament round discover they have never once looked up how far the penalty spot is from the line.

How it works
  1. Four options per question and no clock running. The questions are written so that a fan can often reason toward the answer even when the fact refuses to surface.
  2. Your pick is marked at once, and a wrong one leaves the correct answer on screen for a few seconds. Tap anywhere to cut that short.
  3. Each round is announced as it starts, and the middle one — rules and basics — is where most confident runs come apart.
  4. You finish with a mark out of fifty and five round scores beneath it, then the full list of questions and answers below for settling whatever the last few minutes started. Read the rounds before the total: knowing the rules and knowing the history are different things, and they sit in different rounds.

Frequently asked questions

Is this built around one country’s league?

No. One round of this soccer quiz covers clubs and leagues across several countries; the rest is the international game, its history and its rules. The British edition is a genuinely different fifty, weighted toward the domestic game there, and the Japanese and Korean editions each open with their own national team and league.

Do I need to be following the current season?

Not at all, and following it will help you less than you would think. Nothing in this soccer quiz asks about a current league position, a player’s present club or this year’s top scorer, because all three change while the page sits open in a tab. What is asked about is the part of the sport that has already settled into history.

Are the laws of the game up to date?

They are as we wrote them, and this is the one area worth flagging: the laws of soccer are revised most years, and two of the things people assume are permanent — how many substitutions a team gets and whether a decision can be reviewed on video — have changed within the last decade. The questions ask about the rules as they currently stand and stay away from anything still being trialled.

How much of it is the women’s game?

One question out of fifty, in the famous-moments round. That is an honest imbalance rather than a defensible one: this soccer quiz reflects what a general audience is most likely to have absorbed, and general audiences have been fed the men’s game for a century. It is the first thing we would rebalance if the set is extended.

What score marks out someone who really follows the sport?

Around thirty-five out of fifty. The questions are pitched so that a casual watcher who enjoys the big tournaments lands in the mid-twenties, and the gap between those two figures is almost entirely the rules round and the club round — the two that reward following soccer between tournaments rather than during them.

Is the Soccer Quiz free, and do I need an account?

Free, with no account and no email. The fifty questions and the answer list below arrive with the page and the marking runs on your device — handy for the situation we had in mind, which is two people checking who was right at half time.

How long does the Soccer Quiz take?

Seven or eight minutes for the fifty if you keep moving. The rounds are the World Cup, the legends, the laws and basics, clubs and leagues, then the famous moments — five different ways of following the sport, which is why supporters who watch the same amount can end up far apart.