British Football Trivia
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50 free British Football trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
Football in Britain is older than anywhere else, and its history is full of stories the Premier League era tends to skip: a seaside club promoted automatically for the first time, a Highland side whose cup win became a newspaper headline for the ages, and a goalkeeper still winning caps on his 41st birthday. These 50 questions roam across all four home nations. You will meet the men who founded the Football League and drafted the first laws, the clubs behind the oddest nicknames, the grounds that staged floodlit firsts, and the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish champions, records and managers who rarely make the highlight reels. It suits pub quiz hosts, club historians and anyone who wants a proper test beyond the top flight. Every answer comes with a short explanation and a source.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Devon club was the first team ever to play Brazil's national side, on a 1914 tour of South America?
Exeter City
Exeter City were Brazil's first-ever opponents, and the Devon club is today a partner club of Rio giants Fluminense.
Q 02Which city's club inspired the 2000 headline 'Super Caley Go Ballistic, Celtic Are Atrocious'?
Inverness
Inverness Caledonian Thistle, then a second-tier side, knocked Celtic out of the national cup, and The Sun's headline now hangs framed in the club's foyer. They repeated the trick in 2003, beating Celtic 1-0 at home in the quarter-final.
Q 03Which Angus club's 36–0 win over Bon Accord in 1885 is still the biggest win in an unrigged senior match?
Arbroath
Arbroath's 36–0 should have been bigger still: the referee disallowed a further five to seven goals. The rout came in a cup tie on 12 September 1885.
Q 04Which club did Brian Clough take from the Second Division to two European Cup wins?
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest went up in third place with just 52 points in 1977, then won the league at the first attempt and the European Cup twice in a row.
Q 05Which Lancashire club won the first Football League title unbeaten and the FA Cup without conceding a goal?
Preston North End
Preston North End were knocked out of the 1883–84 FA Cup over claims they fielded professionals, and the FA legalised paying players in 1885.
Q 06Whose solo goal against the Netherlands at the 1978 World Cup is celebrated in a scene from the film Trainspotting?
Archie Gemmill
Archie Gemmill's slalom past the Dutch defence is rated among the greatest World Cup goals ever, yet Scotland still went home after the 3–2 win. The character Renton name-checks it in the film.
Q 07Which club beat Real Madrid 2–1 after extra time in Gothenburg to win the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup?
Aberdeen
Aberdeen struggled to keep pace with Celtic and Rangers after Alex Ferguson left for Manchester United in 1986; as of 2026, no club outside the Old Firm has won the league since their 1985 title.
Q 08Tannadice Park and Dens Park, the closest senior football grounds in the UK, are in which city?
Dundee
Dundee's two clubs once planned to leave Tannadice and Dens Park for a shared new stadium as part of Scotland's failed bid to host Euro 2008.
Q 09Which club's 'Pilgrims' nickname recalls the Mayflower's 1620 sailing from its home port?
Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle's Home Park was all but destroyed by German bombs in the Plymouth Blitz, and the club had to rebuild it after the war.
Q 10Which cricket ground of 1855, now home to the Blades, staged the world's first floodlit football match in 1878?
Bramall Lane
Bramall Lane got its own team, Sheffield United, in 1889 to replace the income lost when Sheffield Wednesday moved out after a money dispute.
Q 11Which club went from the fifth-tier Conference in 2014 to the Premier League in 2023?
Luton Town
Luton Town won the Conference Premier in 2013–14 and then the 2023 Championship play-off final, nine years apart. The Hatters have played at Kenilworth Road since 1905.
Q 12Which club, chaired by Elton John, rose from the Fourth Division to top-flight runners-up in 1983 under Graham Taylor?
Watford
Watford declined after Graham Taylor left in 1987, but he came back as manager and led them to back-to-back promotions into the Premier League in 1999.
Q 13Windsor Park, the national stadium in Belfast, has been the home ground of which club since 1905?
Linfield
Q 21Who in December 2023 became the first woman to referee a Premier League match?
Rebecca Welch
Rebecca Welch had already been the first woman appointed to referee an EFL match, Harrogate against Port Vale in 2021. She also officiated at the 2023 Women's World Cup.
Q 22Which manager took Northern Ireland to two World Cups and won the last British Home Championship in 1984?
Billy Bingham
Billy Bingham's side won the 1984 edition on goal difference after all four nations finished level on three points, and the Irish FA kept the trophy for good.
Q 23Which Birmingham club director wrote the 1888 letter proposing that leading clubs play fixed home-and-away fixtures?
William McGregor
Linfield's Windsor Park staged the 1948 Boxing Day match where a pitch invasion left Belfast Celtic players injured, and Belfast Celtic quit the Irish League in 1949.
Q 14Which competition, first contested in 1873–74, has the oldest national trophy in world football?
The Scottish Cup
The Scottish Cup's trophy outlasted the original FA Cup, which was stolen in 1895; eight clubs founded the Scottish FA in March 1873 and launched the cup that same year.
Q 15Which club won the inaugural League Cup in 1961, beating Rotherham United 3–2 over two legs?
Aston Villa
Aston Villa lifted the first League Cup after a two-legged final, a format used until the showpiece moved to the national stadium in 1967. Several big clubs had snubbed the new competition.
Q 16Which fifth-tier competition, called the Football Conference from 1986 to 2015, promotes two clubs a year into the EFL?
The National League
The National League began in 1979 as the Alliance Premier League. Two EFL clubs come down to replace the promoted pair.
Q 17Which club is nicknamed the Cobblers in tribute to the local shoemaking industry?
Northampton Town
Northampton Town shared the County Ground with Northamptonshire's cricketers for 97 years, so the football pitch had only three sides until the move to Sixfields in 1994.
Q 18Which club, managed by Alf Ramsey, won the league title in 1962 in its first season in the top flight?
Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town's 1961–62 champions then beat Floriana 14–1 on aggregate in the European Cup before going out to AC Milan. Ramsey left the following year to take charge of England.
Q 19Which nation beat Wales 2–0 in the Euro 2016 semi-finals, ending their first tournament in 58 years?
Portugal
Portugal went on to beat hosts France in the final, even after Cristiano Ronaldo went off injured.
Q 20Which 1992 law change followed goalkeepers' time-wasting at the dull 1990 World Cup?
The back-pass rule
The back-pass rule stopped goalkeepers handling a teammate's deliberate kick; it was first used at the 1992 Olympics, and Euro 92 was the last major tournament without it.
William McGregor wanted to call his creation the 'Association Football Union', but that sounded too close to the Rugby Football Union. Twelve clubs from the Midlands and north played the first season.
Q 24When Rangers restarted in Scotland's fourth tier in 2012, which club legend was their manager?
Ally McCoist
Ally McCoist, Rangers' record goalscorer, stayed in charge after the club was refused a top-flight place and won the fourth-tier title in 2012–13.
Q 25Which club, Scotland's oldest, stayed fully amateur for 152 years until its members voted to turn professional in 2019?
Queen's Park
Queen's Park's Latin motto 'Ludere Causa Ludendi', to play for the sake of playing, ran so deep that the club refused to join the new Scottish League in 1890.
Q 26Which manager, who led Celtic to nine successive titles, died at the end of Scotland's 1985 qualifier in Cardiff?
Jock Stein
Jock Stein collapsed as the draw in Cardiff earned Scotland a World Cup play-off, and his assistant, Alex Ferguson, took charge and led the team to the 1986 finals.
Q 27Which club ended a wait stretching back to 1902 for the national cup by beating Rangers 3–2 in the 2016 final?
Hibernian
Hibernian were founded in 1875 by Edinburgh's Irish community, and the name is Latin for Ireland. Irvine Welsh wrote the 2016 final into his novel Dead Men's Trousers.
Q 28Which club reached Scotland's 2006 cup final and top flight, then went out of business in 2008?
Gretna
Gretna's three successive promotions from 2005 to 2007 took them from the Third Division to the top flight, bankrolled by Brooks Mileson, who then fell ill and withdrew his money. They lost the 2006 final to Hearts on penalties.
Q 29What nickname was given to the Scotland side that beat England 5–1 in the 1928 British Home Championship?
The Wembley Wizards
Alex Jackson scored a hat-trick for the Wembley Wizards, and eight of the side were 'Anglos' playing for Football League clubs.
Q 30Wales's FA, the world's third-oldest, was founded in 1876 at the Wynnstay Arms Hotel in which city?
Wrexham
Wrexham also staged Wales's first home international, in 1877 at the Racecourse Ground, now the world's oldest international stadium still in use.