60 free England National Football Team trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
This England national football team trivia quiz covers more than 150 years of the Three Lions, from the goalless first international at Hamilton Crescent in 1872 to the World Cup win of 1966, the penalty shoot-out defeats of 1990 and 1996, and the back-to-back European Championship finals of 2020 and 2024. You will find questions on every era: the humiliations by the United States and Hungary in the 1950s, Alf Ramsey's wingless wonders, Maradona's Hand of God, Gazza's generation, the golden generation under Eriksson, and Southgate's semi-finalists. There are managers, kits, crests, record-breakers such as Peter Shilton and Harry Kane, and the odd stat that only a real anorak knows, such as the fastest England goal from kick-off. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on the team, its records and its most famous matches, and each question carries a citation. Play it solo, or use it as an England round for your next football quiz.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which year did England win the FIFA World Cup?
1966
England are the only team to have won the World Cup without ever winning their own continental championship.
Q 02Who did England beat 4–2 after extra time in the 1966 World Cup final?
West Germany
It remains the only time England have hosted or won the World Cup.
Q 03Who scored a hat-trick in the 1966 World Cup final?
Geoff Hurst
His second, the ball bouncing down off the bar, is still argued over; his third came in the final minute of extra time.
Q 04Who captained England to the 1966 World Cup?
Bobby Moore
Moore's quickly taken free kick set up the headed equaliser after 18 minutes.
Q 05Which manager guided England to the 1966 World Cup win?
Alf Ramsey
Ramsey was the first England manager to pick the team himself; until 1963 selection was done by a committee.
Q 06Which nation did England face in the world's first official international football match in 1872?
Scotland
For their first 40 years England played only the other Home Nations in the British Home Championship.
Q 07What was the score in that first official international in 1872?
0–0
It was played at Hamilton Crescent, a cricket ground in Partick, Glasgow, in front of 4,000 spectators.
Q 08Who is England's most-capped player, with 125 appearances?
Peter Shilton
Shilton was also England's oldest World Cup finals player, at 40 years and 292 days in the 1990 third-place match.
Q 09Who is England's all-time record goalscorer?
Harry Kane
Kane won the Golden Boot at the 2018 World Cup with six goals and shared it at Euro 2024.
Q 10Where is St George's Park, England's national training centre?
Burton upon Trent
The 330-acre Staffordshire site was opened by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in October 2012 and serves all 28 England teams.
Q 11Which team beat England 1–0 at the 1950 World Cup in a famous upset?
United States
England had left FIFA in 1928 and only rejoined in 1946, which is why 1950 was their first World Cup.
Q 12Which country beat England 6–3 at Wembley in 1953, then 7–1 in Budapest?
Hungary
The 1953 game is known as the Match of the Century; a bewildered Syd Owen said afterwards 'it was like playing men from outer space'.
Q 13England's record win is 13–0 in 1882 against which team?
Ireland
Either Digger Brown or Howard Vaughton scored England's first ever hat-trick in that game.
Q 21Which band recorded 'Three Lions' with comedians David Baddiel and Frank Skinner for Euro 96?
The Lightning Seeds
Ian Broudie wrote the melody after the FA asked him for a tournament song; Baddiel and Skinner, hosts of Fantasy Football League, wrote the words.
Q 22What colour was England's unpopular 1996 away kit, worn only three times?
Grey
It was worn in the Euro 96 semi-final; the away kit went back to red until a navy version arrived in 2011.
Q 23England's only tournament win since 1966 came in 1997. What was the competition?
Le Tournoi de France
England also won the Rous Cup three times in the 1980s, but that was a Home Nations affair.
Q 14Who was England's first full-time manager, appointed in 1946?
Walter Winterbottom
He was 33 when he took the job and still holds the record for most matches in charge, 139.
Q 15Which England striker won the Golden Boot at the 1986 World Cup?
Gary Lineker
England went out in the quarter-final to Argentina, the game of Maradona's Hand of God and his solo goal.
Q 16In which year did England lose their first penalty shoot-out, at a World Cup semi-final?
1990
Despite losing the third-place match, the squad were given bronze medals identical to the winners' of that game.
Q 17Who managed England at the 1990 World Cup?
Bobby Robson
The team were welcomed home from Italy as heroes, with thousands lining the streets for an open-top bus parade.
Q 18Which manager resigned after England failed to qualify for the 1994 World Cup?
Graham Taylor
England also failed to reach the World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978.
Q 19Which future England manager missed the decisive penalty in the Euro 96 semi-final shoot-out?
Gareth Southgate
As manager he later took England to a World Cup semi-final and two European Championship finals.
Q 20Who was England's top scorer at Euro 96 with five goals?
Alan Shearer
The FA insisted Terry Venables was the team's 'coach', not manager, because of the controversy around his finances.
Q 24Which England manager was sacked in February 1999 over comments he made about disabled people?
Glenn Hoddle
Howard Wilkinson took over as caretaker for two matches before Kevin Keegan was appointed.
Q 25In the 1998 World Cup second round, David Beckham was sent off for kicking out at which opponent?
Diego Simeone
England went out on penalties after a 2–2 draw; Beckham became a national villain before redeeming himself against Greece in 2001.
Q 26Which teenager scored a famous solo goal, running from the halfway line, in that 1998 second-round match?
Michael Owen
Owen went on to score at four consecutive major tournaments, a record matched years later.
Q 27Who was England's first foreign manager, in charge from 2001 to 2006?
Sven-Göran Eriksson
His 'golden generation' lost only five competitive matches but went out in three straight quarter-finals.
Q 28Which England manager holds the highest win ratio, 66.7 percent, among those with at least 25 games?
Fabio Capello
The Italian resigned in February 2012 after a dispute with the FA over the removal of the team captaincy.
Q 29Whose shot crossed the line but was not given in England's 4–1 loss at the 2010 World Cup?
Frank Lampard
The incident prompted an apology from Sepp Blatter and helped bring goal-line technology into football.
Q 30Which nation knocked England out of Euro 2016 in the round of 16, among their worst results ever?
Iceland
Roy Hodgson resigned shortly after the final whistle.