90s Football Trivia
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7correct to beat the crowd
49 free 90s Football trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
The 1990s gave football its modern shape. The Champions League replaced the European Cup, the Premier League broke away with satellite money, a Belgian midfielder's court case rewrote the transfer market, and three World Cups ran from Rome to Pasadena to Paris. This quiz covers the whole decade and the whole world: the finals and shootouts, the mascots and the kits, the records and the riots, the managers who changed jobs and the players who changed clubs for fees that seemed absurd at the time. Each answer comes with a short explanation, so a miss still teaches you something. It suits anyone who grew up with nineties football, pub-quiz setters hunting for a themed round, and younger fans who keep hearing about the decade and want to know what the fuss was about.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which singer missed a staged penalty at the USA 94 opening ceremony, yet the goal still split on cue?
Diana Ross
Diana Ross sent the ball wide from a few yards at Soldier Field in Chicago. The rigged goal broke apart as planned, opening a tournament that ended with another famous miss.
Q 02What did seagulls following the trawler expect, in Eric Cantona's cryptic 1995 press-conference riddle?
Sardines
Sardines were the punchline of a line that baffled the press room: seagulls follow the trawler because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea. He said it after his court hearing for kicking a fan, then walked out.
Q 03Which Puccini aria, in Luciano Pavarotti's recording, became the BBC's theme for Italia 90 and a UK number two?
Nessun dorma
Nessun dorma: Pavarotti then sang it at the first Three Tenors concert, held on the eve of the final.
Q 04Footix, the France 98 mascot, was which animal, chosen because it is one of France's national symbols?
A cockerel
A cockerel was the choice, and after France won, 'footix' became French slang for a novice fan who backs a team only when it wins.
Q 05Lord Justice Taylor's 1990 report into the Hillsborough disaster called for top-division English grounds to become what?
All-seater
All-seater grounds were the report's headline demand, and league rules gave the top two divisions until August 1994 to comply. The terraces went, and so did the perimeter fences that had penned fans in.
Q 06Which Brazilian forward marked a USA 94 quarter-final goal by rocking an imaginary baby, days after his son's birth?
Bebeto
Bebeto's cradle-rocking against the Netherlands celebrated the birth of his son Mattheus, and two teammates ran over to rock along.
Q 07Which band recorded 'Three Lions' with comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner for England's Euro 96 campaign?
Lightning Seeds
Lightning Seeds' Ian Broudie wrote the tune, and after Germany knocked England out and won Euro 96, the German team sang it at their homecoming.
Q 08Paul Gascoigne's 'dentist's chair' celebration at Euro 96 followed his flick-and-volley goal against which team?
Scotland
Scotland were beaten 2-0: Gascoigne flicked the ball over Colin Hendry and volleyed in, then lay back as teammates recreated a pre-tournament drinking game.
Q 09Which Mexico goalkeeper of the 1990s designed his own garish kits and sometimes played as a striker?
Jorge Campos
Jorge Campos first played as a striker at Pumas because Adolfo Ríos held the goalkeeper's shirt, and he scored 14 goals that season.
Q 10Which African nation lost most of its national squad when a military plane crashed off Gabon in April 1993?
Zambia
Zambia's team was flying to a World Cup qualifier in Senegal when the Air Force Buffalo went into the Atlantic after leaving Libreville, killing all 30 aboard. A rebuilt side still reached the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations final.
Q 11Whose saved penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final shootout against Germany sent hosts England out at Wembley?
Gareth Southgate
Gareth Southgate's kick was saved and Andreas Möller converted the next one to put Germany through. He later sent himself up in a Pizza Hut advert alongside Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle, who had missed at Italia 90.
Q 12Which West Germany player scored the 85th-minute penalty that decided the 1990 World Cup final against Argentina?
Andreas Brehme
Andreas Brehme stepped up because regular taker Lothar Matthäus did not feel right, and he struck it low with his right foot for a 1-0 win.
Q 13Which France defender scored the first golden goal in World Cup history, against Paraguay in the 1998 round of 16?
Q 21Holders Germany were knocked out of USA 94 in the quarter-finals by which nation?
Bulgaria
Bulgaria won 2-1 at Giants Stadium in a tournament where they had only just recorded their first ever World Cup finals victory. They went on to lose the semi-final to Italy.
Q 22Saeed Al-Owairan's solo goal against Belgium at USA 94 sent which nation into the knockout rounds for the first time?
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia's win at RFK Stadium in Washington put them into the last 16, and Al-Owairan's run from inside his own half was later voted sixth in FIFA's Goal of the Century poll.
Q 23Which Brazilian striker won the Golden Ball at USA 94 and was named FIFA World Player of the Year that year?
Romário
Laurent Blanc
Laurent Blanc's extra-time winner in Lens ended a goalless tie, yet he missed the final after being sent off for slapping Slaven Bilić in the semi-final.
Q 14Which France player scored both goals in the 1998 World Cup semi-final against Croatia, his only two in 142 caps?
Lilian Thuram
Lilian Thuram turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 win and never scored for France again. His 142 caps stood as the national record until Hugo Lloris passed it in 2022.
Q 15Which Croatia player won the 1998 World Cup Golden Boot with six goals?
Davor Šuker
Davor Šuker's sixth goal was the winner against the Netherlands in the third-place match, sealing both the Golden Boot and Croatia's bronze.
Q 16Which nation's players handed white roses to their American opponents before a 2-1 win in Lyon at France 98?
Iran
Iran's first World Cup victory came with goals from Hamid Estili and Mehdi Mahdavikia, and the roses were a peace gesture between two estranged governments.
Q 17Which African nation beat Argentina 3-2 in the final to win men's football gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics?
Nigeria
Nigeria came from behind in the final, and in the semi-final Kanu's two late goals turned a 3-2 deficit against Brazil into a 4-3 golden-goal win.
Q 18Which nation replaced Kenya as hosts of the 1996 Nations Cup and went on to win it?
South Africa
South Africa beat Tunisia 2-0 in the Johannesburg final, watched by President Nelson Mandela, to win the country's first continental title.
Q 19Which nation's stoppage-time equaliser in Doha in October 1993 cost Japan their first World Cup place?
Iraq
Iraq's Jaffar Omran scored from a corner in stoppage time to make it 2-2, and South Korea went to USA 94 on goal difference instead. Japan finally reached a World Cup at France 98.
Q 20Which coach took a different nation to each of five consecutive World Cups from 1986 to 2002?
Bora Milutinović
Bora Milutinović took charge of Costa Rica just before Italia 90 and still steered them into the second round.
Romário had been left out by coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, then was recalled for the last qualifier against Uruguay and scored both goals in a 2-0 win.
Q 24Which Argentina defender became the first player sent off in a World Cup final, for a studs-up tackle in Rome in 1990?
Pedro Monzón
Pedro Monzón had been on the pitch barely 20 minutes when he caught Jürgen Klinsmann, and Gustavo Dezotti followed him off late on. Argentina finished with nine men and lost 1-0.
Q 25Which domed venue staged the first World Cup matches played indoors, on grass grown specially for USA 94?
Pontiac Silverdome
The Pontiac Silverdome normally used artificial turf, so real grass was laid over it for its four World Cup games.
Q 26Which fabric did Adidas imitate on the star-spangled away shirt the USA wore at the 1994 World Cup?
Denim
Denim-look polyester with scattered white stars gave the host nation a shirt that became a cult classic.
Q 27Which US player tore off her shirt after scoring the winning penalty in the 1999 Women's World Cup final?
Brandi Chastain
Brandi Chastain's kick sealed a 5-4 shootout win over China before 90,185 fans at the Rose Bowl, and her celebration made the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Q 28Which Nordic nation beat Germany in the 1995 Women's World Cup final?
Norway
Norway's Hege Riise and Marianne Pettersen struck in Solna to win 2-0, four years after losing the first final to the USA. Striker Ann Kristin Aarønes was the tournament's top scorer with six goals.
Q 29Which Danish goalkeeper's shootout save against the Netherlands sent late entrants Denmark into the Euro 92 final?
Peter Schmeichel
Peter Schmeichel's save gave Denmark a 5-4 shootout win, and they then beat Germany 2-0 in Gothenburg, having been called up only after Yugoslavia's expulsion.
Q 30Which club won the final old First Division title in 1992, immediately before the Premier League replaced it?
Leeds United
Leeds United sold Eric Cantona to Manchester United that November, and he was the catalyst as United won the first Premier League title.