Famous Rivalries
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Test your knowledge of history's most legendary rivalries with our comprehensive free 97-question trivia quiz with answers. From sports rivalries that captivated millions to historical feuds that shaped nations, this quiz covers iconic conflicts across multiple domains. Can you answer all the questions correctly?
30 of 97 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which two heavyweight boxers' rivalry included three iconic fights in the 1970s?
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier
Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier's Manila fight ended when Frazier's trainer Eddie Futch stopped it after the 14th round; Ali took the series 2-1 but said it was the closest he had come to dying.
Q 02What name covers the three wars Rome fought against Carthage between 264 and 146 BC?
Punic Wars
Punic Wars take their name from Punicus, the Latin word for the Phoenician-descended Carthaginians; the three wars added up to 43 years of fighting.
Q 03Which two inventors were the central figures in the 'War of the Currents'?
Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla
Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla: Edison's DC faced Westinghouse's AC from 1886, Westinghouse licensed Tesla's motor patents in 1888, and Edison's camp electrocuted animals to argue AC was deadlier.
Q 04Who is often depicted as the intellectual arch-nemesis of detective Sherlock Holmes?
Professor Moriarty
Professor Moriarty appears in only two of Doyle's stories; the 'Napoleon of crime' tag was borrowed from a Scotland Yard inspector describing the real thief Adam Worth.
Q 05In Greek mythology, which Titan was overthrown by his son Zeus?
Cronus
Cronus swallowed each of his children at birth after a warning that one would overthrow him, but Rhea hid Zeus on Crete and fed him a stone instead; Zeus grew up and forced him to disgorge the others.
Q 06Which Coca-Cola product was the company's answer to losing blind taste tests to Pepsi?
New Coke
New Coke replaced the original formula in April 1985 after blind taste tests kept favoring Pepsi's sweeter cola; after an outcry the original was back within three months as Coca-Cola Classic.
Q 07Which two rivals' 2008 Wimbledon final, finished in near darkness, is often called tennis's greatest match?
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's rain-interrupted final ended at 9.15 pm, when Nadal took the fifth set 9–7 and ended Federer's five-year reign as Wimbledon champion.
Q 08Whom did sitting Vice President Aaron Burr fatally wound in an 1804 duel at Weehawken, New Jersey?
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton died the next day; Burr was indicted for murder in New York and New Jersey but never stood trial, and went back to the capital to finish his term presiding over the Senate.
Q 09Which rivals, the NHL's two oldest clubs, never met in the 1980–2020 playoffs?
Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens, founded in 1917 and 1909, met in 15 playoff series up to 1979; a 1981 realignment then put them in opposite conferences until 1998, and they next met in 2021.
Q 10Which NHL rivalry began with a hit on Kris Draper in the 1996 playoffs?
Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings
The Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings feud began when Claude Lemieux's hit from behind left Draper with a broken jaw and shattered cheekbone; it boiled over the next March in a brawl-filled game.
Q 11Which McLaren teammates won seven of the nine Formula 1 drivers' titles from 1985 to 1993?
Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost
Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost won 25 of 32 races as teammates in 1988 and 1989; collisions between them at Suzuka then settled the title two years running, for Prost in 1989 and for Senna in 1990.
Q 12Which reigning world chess champion was famously defeated by IBM's Deep Blue computer in a 1997 rematch?
Garry Kasparov
Garry Kasparov had beaten Deep Blue in 1996, then lost the 1997 rematch 3½–2½, accused IBM of cheating and demanded another match, which IBM refused.
Q 13Which two mathematicians fought a bitter priority dispute over who first invented calculus?
Q 21Celtic and Rangers, the 'Old Firm' of Scottish football, are both based in which city?
Glasgow
Celtic and Rangers are both Glasgow clubs; Celtic was founded in 1887 by a Marist brother to feed the East End's poor Irish, and its first match, in May 1888, was a 5–2 'friendly' win over Rangers.
Q 22The Superclásico between Boca Juniors and River Plate is played in which city?
Buenos Aires
Both clubs were founded in La Boca, Buenos Aires's dockland barrio; River Plate later moved north to Núñez, while Boca Juniors stayed put at La Bombonera.
Q 23The Derby della Madonnina, Inter's city derby, is named for a statue on top of what?
Milan Cathedral
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz both got there, but Leibniz published first and his notation is the one still used; the 1712 Royal Society report siding with Newton was largely written by Newton himself.
Q 14Which two 16th-century royal cousins never met face to face?
Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots
Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots were first cousins once removed; Mary fled to England in 1568 and was held captive there for nearly nineteen years before her beheading at Fotheringhay in 1587.
Q 15Which two tennis players contested three consecutive Wimbledon men's singles finals from 1988 to 1990?
Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg
Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg split those finals, Edberg winning in 1988 and 1990 and Becker in 1989; over their careers Becker won 25 of their 35 meetings, yet Edberg took three of the four at Grand Slams.
Q 16Which long-time rival invested $150 million in a struggling Apple in August 1997, to boos from the Macworld crowd?
Microsoft
Microsoft's $150 million bought non-voting shares and came with a five-year pledge to keep making Office for the Mac; Bill Gates appeared by satellite on a giant screen above Steve Jobs, and Apple dropped a long-running lawsuit.
Q 17In 1957, which rival's distribution arm became the only route to newsstands for Marvel's forerunner, Atlas?
DC Comics
DC Comics, then called National, owned Independent News, which took on Martin Goodman's Atlas line when he had no other distributor but held it to about eight titles a month.
Q 18In the Trojan War, which Greek warrior killed the Trojan prince Hector and dragged his body behind a chariot?
Achilles
Achilles, in the Iliad, chases Hector three times around Troy to avenge his friend Patroclus, then mistreats the body for twelve days until King Priam comes to ransom it.
Q 19Larry Bird led which school to the 1979 NCAA final against Magic Johnson?
Indiana State
Larry Bird's Indiana State went into the 1979 final unbeaten at 33-0 but lost 75-64 to Magic Johnson's Michigan State; the two men later met in three NBA Finals.
Q 20In which city did Ali and George Foreman fight the 1974 'Rumble in the Jungle'?
Kinshasa
Kinshasa's 20th of May Stadium hosted the October 30, 1974 fight in what was then Zaire; Ali knocked out Foreman in the eighth round after soaking up punches on the ropes.
Milan Cathedral's highest spire carries the Madonnina, a gilded statue of the Virgin; by tradition no building in the city may stand above her, so the taller Pirelli Tower got a replica on its roof.
Q 24Which city, roughly midway between West Point and Annapolis, has hosted most Army–Navy football games?
Philadelphia
Philadelphia took over in 1899, when the series resumed on neutral ground after a five-year suspension; the first meeting, at West Point in 1890, was a 24–0 Navy win.
Q 25The annual Oxford–Cambridge Boat Race is rowed on which river?
River Thames
The River Thames course runs 4.2 miles from Putney to Mortlake in west London, over three times an Olympic race; in 1912 the weather was so rough that both crews sank.
Q 26In 2000, ESPN ranked which college football rivalry the greatest North American sports rivalry ever?
Michigan–Ohio State
Michigan–Ohio State, known simply as 'The Game', topped ESPN's 2000 ranking; it has often decided the Big Ten title and Rose Bowl berth, and in 2006 pitted No. 1 against No. 2.
Q 27What nickname is given to the annual Alabama–Auburn college football game?
Iron Bowl
The Iron Bowl is named for Birmingham's iron and steel industry; the game was played at the city's Legion Field for decades, and Auburn first hosted it on campus in 1989.
Q 28Which university, about eight miles from Duke, is its fiercest basketball rival?
North Carolina
North Carolina first played Duke in 1920, yet the two never met in the NCAA tournament until the 2022 Final Four, where the Tar Heels' win ended Mike Krzyzewski's coaching career.
Q 29Which rival did Chris Evert face 80 times between 1973 and 1988?
Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova won 43 of the 80, yet the two were friends who teamed up to win two Grand Slam doubles titles, at the 1975 French Open and at Wimbledon in 1976.
Q 30Which champion lost an 18–16 tiebreak to John McEnroe yet still won the 1980 Wimbledon final?
Björn Borg
Björn Borg let five championship points slip in that fourth-set tiebreak, then took the fifth set 8–6 for his fifth straight Wimbledon title; McEnroe ended the run in the following year's final.