2026 Trivia
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49 free 2026 trivia questions with answers — trivia quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
2026 has already packed in a World Cup won with a single goal conceded, the first Olympics co-hosted by two cities, a crewed flight around the Moon for the first time since 1972, a new Archbishop of Canterbury and a new Prime Minister. It is a year that keeps producing pub-quiz questions faster than anyone can write them. These fifty questions cover the first seven months: the big sporting results from Milan–Cortina to Wimbledon and the Grand National, the Oscars, Grammys and Eurovision, the elections and upheavals that made the news, the films that broke box-office records, and the strange science stories that slipped past most people. Most are pitched at anyone who followed the headlines; a handful reward the people who read past them. It works as a 2026 round for a pub quiz, a catch-up for anyone who switched the news off for a while, or a solo test of how much of the year you actually absorbed. Every answer is sourced and explained.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which team won the World Cup conceding only one goal, beating holders Argentina 1–0 after extra time?
Spain
Spain won through Ferran Torres's extra-time goal against ten-man Argentina, and became the first nation to hold the men's and women's world titles at the same time.
Q 02Which tropical nation won its first ever Winter Olympic medal, a giant slalom gold, at Milan–Cortina?
Brazil
Brazil's Lucas Pinheiro Braathen quit ski racing in 2023 while competing for his father's country, came back a year later under his mother's flag, and won the men's giant slalom on 14 February.
Q 03Which 1972 mission was the last to take a crew beyond low Earth orbit before Artemis II's April lunar flyby?
Apollo 17
Apollo 17 flew in December 1972; Artemis II's four astronauts then broke Apollo 13's distance record, reaching 252,756 miles from Earth.
Q 04Which company's June IPO, the largest ever, briefly made Elon Musk the world's first dollar trillionaire?
SpaceX
SpaceX began trading on the Nasdaq on 12 June, and Musk's stake took him past $1 trillion before a share slump dropped him back below it the next month.
Q 05Which country won Eurovision for the first time, Dara's 'Bangaranga' sweeping jury and televote in Vienna?
Bulgaria
Bulgaria had only returned after a three-year absence, and 'Bangaranga' was the first winner since Portugal in 2017 to take both the jury vote and the televote.
Q 06Which Spanish basilica, under construction since 1882, became the world's tallest church with the tower Pope Leo XIV blessed in June?
Sagrada Família
The Sagrada Família's 172.5-metre Tower of Jesus Christ was blessed 100 years to the day after Antoni Gaudí died of injuries from a Barcelona tram; he lies in the church's crypt.
Q 07Which team beat the New England Patriots 29–13 in Super Bowl LX, handing them a record sixth Super Bowl loss?
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks' 'Dark Side' defence held the Patriots scoreless for three quarters, and running back Kenneth Walker III was the first at his position named MVP since 1997.
Q 08Which team won its first NBA title in 53 years, beating the San Antonio Spurs in five games?
New York Knicks
The New York Knicks' last title was in 1973; in Game 4 they overturned a 29-point deficit, the largest comeback in Finals history, before Jalen Brunson's 45 points sealed Game 5.
Q 09Which former Mayor of Greater Manchester became Prime Minister in July after Keir Starmer resigned?
Andy Burnham
Andy Burnham had only returned to the Commons in June, winning the Makerfield by-election, before King Charles III appointed him on 20 July.
Q 10Which former chief nursing officer for England became the first woman to be Archbishop of Canterbury?
Sarah Mullally
Sarah Mullally, the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury, was the youngest person to hold England's top nursing post before she left the NHS for full-time ministry in 2004.
Q 11Who was World Cup top scorer for the second tournament running, passing Lionel Messi as its all-time leader?
Kylian Mbappé
Kylian Mbappé's 10 goals took him to 22, past a record Lionel Messi had taken from Germany's Miroslav Klose earlier in the same tournament; no one else has finished top scorer twice.
Q 12Which stadium hosted the World Cup final in July, after Mexico City's Estadio Azteca staged the opening match?
MetLife Stadium
MetLife Stadium in New Jersey closed a 48-team, 104-match tournament with the first World Cup final to include a halftime show, which stretched the break to more than 27 minutes.
Q 13Which country, top of the medal table at the previous two Winter Olympics, won a record 41 medals at Milan–Cortina?
Norway
Q 21Which team won the Six Nations with its final kick, a Thomas Ramos penalty to beat England 48–46?
France
France's second straight title came by two table points from Triple Crown winners Ireland, in a championship where Italy beat England for the first time ever.
Q 22Which Scottish runner broke Hicham El Guerrouj's 27-year-old mile world record in London in July?
Josh Kerr
Josh Kerr ran 3:42.66, calling the attempt 'Project 222' for the 222 seconds he needed to beat a mark that had stood since 1999.
Q 23Which horse won a second Grand National in three years, carrying top weight of 11st 12lb as 9/2 favourite?
I Am Maximus
I Am Maximus, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Paul Townend, finished second in 2025 between his 2024 and 2026 Aintree victories.
Norway's 18 golds were also a record, six of them won by Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, who swept every men's cross-country event; the United States came second with its best ever haul of 12 golds.
Q 14Which sport made its Olympic debut at the Milan–Cortina Winter Games, with events at Bormio's Stelvio centre?
Ski mountaineering
Ski mountaineering's sprint sends racers uphill on skis fitted with grippy skins, then up steps on foot with the skis on their backpacks, before they rip the skins off and ski down.
Q 15Which team became the first to win three Men's T20 World Cups, beating New Zealand by 96 runs in a home final?
India
India had lost all three earlier T20 World Cup meetings with New Zealand, then made 255 for 5 in Ahmedabad and became the first team to retain the trophy and the first hosts to win it.
Q 16Who won back-to-back Masters, a feat previously managed only by Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods?
Rory McIlroy
Rory McIlroy held off Scottie Scheffler by a stroke at Augusta a year after completing the career Grand Slam there, taking his major tally to six.
Q 17Who retained the Wimbledon men's title, his fifth major, after losing the first set of the final on a tie-break?
Jannik Sinner
Jannik Sinner won three straight sets after the tie-break, in a fortnight when 39-year-old Novak Djokovic played the longest quarter-final in Wimbledon history, 5 hours 15 minutes.
Q 18Which north London club ended a 22-year wait for the Premier League title in May?
Arsenal
Arsenal became champions on a night they did not play: Manchester City's 1–1 draw at Bournemouth on 19 May left Mikel Arteta's side out of reach with a game to spare, their first title since the 2003–04 Invincibles.
Q 19Which club retained the Champions League, beating the English champions on penalties in Budapest?
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain won 4–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw when the last English kick flew over the bar, becoming only the second club of the Champions League era to retain the trophy, after Real Madrid.
Q 20Which sixth-tier club knocked holders Crystal Palace out of the FA Cup from 117 league places below them?
Macclesfield
Macclesfield's 2–1 win on 10 January made Palace the first holders beaten by a non-league side since 1909, when the giant-killers were Crystal Palace themselves.
Q 24Which American manufacturer joined Formula One as its eleventh team, the first new entrant since Haas in 2016?
Cadillac
Cadillac's entry began as Michael Andretti's bid, which Formula One vetoed until General Motors agreed to build its own engines; the team started on Ferrari power, while Ford returned as Red Bull's engine partner.
Q 25Which Paul Thomas Anderson film won six Oscars, including Best Picture and the first ever award for Best Casting?
One Battle After Another
One Battle After Another, inspired by Thomas Pynchon's novel Vineland, beat Sinners and its record sixteen nominations to Best Picture, and also won Best Director and Best Supporting Actor for Sean Penn.
Q 26Which actor won Best Actor for playing twin brothers, only the second Oscar for a dual role after Lee Marvin's?
Michael B. Jordan
Michael B. Jordan played the criminal twins Smoke and Stack in Ryan Coogler's Sinners, which arrived with a record sixteen nominations yet won only four Oscars and missed Best Picture.
Q 27Which film beat Avengers: Endgame's record with a $360 million opening weekend in the US and Canada?
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Spider-Man: Brand New Day took the North American record by under $3 million, yet its $932 million worldwide opening still ranked second to the Avengers film's; its trailer drew a record 718.6 million views in a day.
Q 28Which 2026 release became the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, passing Deadpool & Wolverine?
The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey was the first feature shot entirely on IMAX film cameras: the old ones were too loud for dialogue scenes, so he challenged IMAX to build lighter, quieter models.
Q 29Which animated sequel, made for $110 million, was the first release of 2026 to pass $1 billion worldwide?
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie won over audiences, not critics: its reviews were mixed at best, yet filmgoers polled by CinemaScore graded it A-minus.
Q 30Which A24 horror film made 20-year-old Kane Parsons the youngest director to open at number one in the US?
Backrooms
Backrooms grew from Kane Parsons's YouTube series and became A24's highest-grossing film, overtaking Marty Supreme.