Famous Footballers Trivia
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100 free Famous Footballers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The most famous footballers are remembered for one moment as much as a whole career: a volley in a European final, a contract scribbled on a napkin, a ban that followed a kick into the crowd. This quiz gathers fifty of those stories from Brazil, Argentina, England, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal, Hungary, Cameroon and beyond, spanning the 1950s to the present day. Every question carries a clue for players who do not know the answer outright, so there is always a path to reason towards it, and every answer comes with the one fact that makes it worth remembering. Expect club legends, World Cup heroes, goalkeepers, a record-breaking forward from the women's game and a few deep cuts for the real anoraks. It works as a pub quiz round, a half-time challenge or a settle-the-argument test between friends. The opening ten are the broadest; the hardest questions come later.
30 of 100 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which Brazilian striker had a convulsive fit hours before the 1998 World Cup final, then scored twice in the 2002 final?
Ronaldo
Ronaldo Nazário still won the 1998 Golden Ball as player of the tournament, and in 2002 he also took the Golden Boot as the tournament's top scorer.
Q 02Which Manchester United forward was banned for eight months after a kung-fu kick at a Crystal Palace fan in 1995?
Eric Cantona
Eric Cantona aimed the kick at supporter Matthew Simmons, who had run down eleven rows of stairs to abuse him; a two-week jail sentence was cut to 120 hours of community service on appeal.
Q 03Which England star wore 23 at Real Madrid because captain Raúl already had the number 7?
David Beckham
David Beckham chose 23 because it was the number of his sporting hero, basketball star Michael Jordan.
Q 04Which Dutch forward's feint against Sweden's Jan Olsson at the 1974 World Cup became a move named after him?
Johan Cruyff
Johan Cruyff feigned a pass, dragged the ball behind his standing leg and turned 180 degrees in the 22nd minute; from 1970 he also wore the then-unusual number 14.
Q 05Which 16-year-old Everton forward ended Arsenal's 30-match unbeaten run with a last-minute winner in October 2002?
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney struck five days before his 17th birthday, becoming the Premier League's youngest ever scorer at the time.
Q 06Which Uruguayan striker was banned from all football for four months for biting Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup?
Luis Suárez
Luis Suárez also got a nine-match international ban, but on appeal CAS let him train with his new club Barcelona and play friendlies.
Q 07Which England captain of 1966 was accused of stealing a bracelet from a jeweller in Bogotá before the 1970 World Cup?
Bobby Moore
Bobby Moore, England captain from 1963 at the age of 22, was accused by a young shop assistant of taking the bracelet from a hotel shop without paying, while England were in Colombia for a warm-up match.
Q 08Which Spain midfielder scored the 116th-minute winner in the 2010 World Cup final against the Netherlands?
Andrés Iniesta
Andrés Iniesta lifted his shirt to reveal the message 'Dani Jarque, always with us', a tribute to the Espanyol captain and close friend who had died in 2009.
Q 09Which Northern Irish winger won the 1968 Ballon d'Or, the year his Manchester United side beat Benfica at Wembley?
George Best
George Best quipped that he spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars and 'just squandered' the rest; he won 37 caps for Northern Ireland.
Q 10Which Manchester United forward survived the 1958 Munich air disaster and won the 1966 World Cup with England?
Bobby Charlton
Bobby Charlton won the Ballon d'Or in that same year, 1966, and was cautioned only twice in his entire career.
Q 11Which England midfielder cried after a 1990 World Cup semi-final booking that would have ruled him out of the final?
Paul Gascoigne
Paul Gascoigne was booked for a foul on Thomas Berthold, his second caution of the tournament, and the tears made him hugely popular with the British public.
Q 12Which England striker, never booked in his entire career, won the Golden Boot at the 1986 World Cup with six goals?
Gary Lineker
Gary Lineker never received a yellow or red card and also never won a top-flight league title, despite finishing second in the 1986 Ballon d'Or.
Q 13Which Chelsea striker scored an 88th-minute equaliser and the winning penalty in the 2012 Champions League final?
Didier Drogba
Q 21Which striker, the 1995 Ballon d'Or winner, was elected president of Liberia in 2017?
George Weah
George Weah, the first former professional footballer from Africa to become a head of state, was sworn in on 22 January 2018 after beating vice president Joseph Boakai.
Q 22Which Cameroonian scored four goals at the 1990 World Cup aged 38, celebrating with a dance at the corner flag?
Roger Milla
Roger Milla came out of international retirement after a personal phone call from Cameroon's president Paul Biya, and at 42 he scored against Russia in 1994 to become the World Cup's oldest scorer.
Q 23Which West German sweeper lifted the World Cup as captain in 1974 and then won it again as manager in 1990?
Franz Beckenbauer
Didier Drogba's equaliser against Bayern Munich capped a season in which he also became the first player to score in four FA Cup finals, netting against Liverpool in the 2012 final.
Q 14Whose last-minute goal against QPR in May 2012 won Manchester City their first league title since 1968?
Sergio Agüero
Sergio Agüero had earlier become the youngest player in Argentina's top flight at 15 years and 35 days, breaking a record held by his future father-in-law.
Q 15Which Italian, the 1993 Ballon d'Or winner, missed the decisive penalty in the 1994 World Cup final shootout?
Roberto Baggio
Roberto Baggio, nicknamed Il Divin Codino for his ponytail, had been Italy's star performer at the tournament and was also the 1993 FIFA World Player of the Year.
Q 16Which Barcelona forward was applauded by Real Madrid's own fans after scoring twice at the Bernabéu in November 2005?
Ronaldinho
Ronaldinho won the 2005 Ballon d'Or and back-to-back FIFA World Player of the Year awards in 2004 and 2005.
Q 17Which Brazilian forward's 2017 move from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain set a world transfer record of €222 million?
Neymar
Neymar's release clause was exactly €222 million, and his representatives paid it in full to free him from Barcelona.
Q 18Which France striker's double handball set up the goal that knocked Ireland out of 2010 World Cup qualifying?
Thierry Henry
Thierry Henry used his hand twice to control the ball in extra time before crossing for William Gallas to score, and FIFA refused the Irish FA's request for a replay.
Q 19Which Liverpool captain headed the first goal of the comeback from 3–0 down in the 2005 Champions League final?
Steven Gerrard
Steven Gerrard's header from a John Arne Riise cross began a six-minute burst that levelled the match at 3–3, in what became known as the Miracle of Istanbul.
Q 20Which Portuguese winger had a pig's head thrown at him by Barcelona fans in 2002, two years after joining Real Madrid?
Luís Figo
Luís Figo's 2000 switch had set a world record fee of €62 million and launched Real Madrid's Galáctico era of a global star signed every year.
Franz Beckenbauer, nicknamed der Kaiser, is one of only three men to win the World Cup as both player and manager, alongside Mário Zagallo and Didier Deschamps.
Q 24Which Swedish striker scored all four in a 4–2 win over England in 2012, finishing with a 35-yard bicycle kick?
Zlatan Ibrahimović
Zlatan Ibrahimović's overhead kick took FIFA's goal-of-the-year award, and the match was the first ever played at Stockholm's Friends Arena.
Q 25Which Colombian goalkeeper cleared a Jamie Redknapp cross with a 'scorpion kick' against England at Wembley in 1995?
René Higuita
René Higuita got the idea after watching a child attempt a similar kick while he was filming an advertisement, and he also scored from free kicks and penalties.
Q 26Which Dutch striker volleyed home from an almost impossible angle against the Soviet Union in the Euro 1988 final?
Marco van Basten
Marco van Basten took the Euro 1988 Golden Boot with five goals, including a hat-trick against England, and went on to win three Ballons d'Or.
Q 27Which one-club defender captained AC Milan to Champions League wins in 2003 and 2007 across a 25-season career?
Paolo Maldini
Paolo Maldini retired at 41 in 2009, and Milan retired his number 3 shirt, which his father Cesare had also worn.
Q 28Which Soviet goalkeeper, dressed head to toe in black, won the 1963 Ballon d'Or?
Lev Yashin
Lev Yashin won it in 1963, and his all-black kit, in truth a very dark blue, earned him the nickname the Black Spider.
Q 29Which Mozambique-born Benfica striker was top scorer at the 1966 World Cup with nine goals as Portugal finished third?
Eusébio
Eusébio, nicknamed the Black Panther, won the 1965 Ballon d'Or and grew up playing barefoot in Lourenço Marques, now Maputo.
Q 30Which Hungarian scored four goals for Real Madrid in the 1960 European Cup final, a 7–3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt?
Ferenc Puskás
Ferenc Puskás won three European Cups and ten national championships, five in Hungary and five in Spain, and took the Pichichi as La Liga's top scorer four times.