Football Managers Trivia
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50 free Football Managers trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Players win matches, but managers carry the blame, the credit and the best quotes. The dugout has produced tactical revolutions, dynasties built on a single boot room, national heroes and some of the shortest job tenures in any profession. These fifty questions range across the whole craft: the pioneers who invented formations and pressing, the serial winners who conquered several countries, the international bosses who lifted World Cups and European Championships, and the sack race that has ended reigns after a single match. Each question carries a clue that lets you reason toward the answer, and every explanation adds a detail worth knowing. It suits pub quiz regulars, fans who argue about the greatest of all time, and anyone hosting a sports round who wants questions that have been checked against the record.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01As of 2026, which manager is the only one to have won all three current UEFA club competitions?
José Mourinho
José Mourinho completed the set with Roma's 2022 Conference League, having won the Champions League with Porto and Inter and the Europa League with Manchester United. The 'special one' line came at his 2004 Chelsea unveiling.
Q 02Which manager introduced himself as 'The Normal One' at his first Liverpool press conference in 2015?
Jürgen Klopp
Jürgen Klopp's line was a parody of a rival's 'Special One' boast from 2004. He had become Mainz 05's manager in 2001 the moment he retired as one of its players.
Q 03Which England manager lasted one match and 67 days in 2016 before a newspaper sting ended his reign?
Sam Allardyce
Sam Allardyce left by mutual consent after undercover Daily Telegraph reporters posing as businessmen recorded him offering to help them get around FA third-party ownership rules.
Q 04Which manager was sacked by Leicester City in February 2017, nine months after winning the Premier League?
Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri was dismissed with Leicester one point above the relegation zone and 13 matches left. British media had earlier dubbed him 'The Tinkerman' for over-rotating his Chelsea squad.
Q 05Which manager was sacked by Tottenham Hotspur in June 2025, weeks after ending the club's 17-year trophy wait?
Ange Postecoglou
Ange Postecoglou's Spurs beat Manchester United 1–0 in the Europa League final, then dismissed him on 6 June, two years to the day after his appointment. He had been the first Australian to manage in the Premier League.
Q 06Which manager lasted just 44 days at Leeds United in 1974 after alienating the club's star players?
Brian Clough
Brian Clough was sacked by the Leeds directors on 12 September 1974, two years after taking Derby County to the league title. He won two European Cups with Nottingham Forest within six years.
Q 07As of 2026, which Italian is the only manager to have won league titles in all five of Europe's top leagues?
Carlo Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti's titles came with Milan (2004), Chelsea (2010), Paris Saint-Germain (2013), Bayern Munich (2017) and Real Madrid (2022). In 2025 he took his first national-team job, with Brazil.
Q 08As of 2026, who is the only manager to have won the World Cup, European Championship, Champions League and Intercontinental Cup?
Vicente del Bosque
Vicente del Bosque won two Champions Leagues with Real Madrid, who let him go in 2003 straight after he delivered the league title; he then led Spain to the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.
Q 09Which Manchester United manager had played for two of the club's greatest rivals, Manchester City and Liverpool?
Matt Busby
Matt Busby twice received the last rites after the 1958 Munich air disaster, left hospital after nine weeks, and in 1968 became the first manager of an English team to win the European Cup.
Q 10Which manager led Scotland at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, months before taking over at Manchester United?
Alex Ferguson
Alex Ferguson agreed to take charge of Scotland after Jock Stein's death, first for the play-off against Australia and then at the finals, while still running Aberdeen.
Q 11Which England manager's 1966 World Cup winners were dubbed the 'Wingless Wonders' for their narrow formation?
Alf Ramsey
Alf Ramsey was knighted in 1967 for the win, yet lost the job acrimoniously after England failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup.
Q 12Which coach won the Women's Euros with the Netherlands in 2017 and then with England in 2022 and 2025?
Sarina Wiegman
Sarina Wiegman is the first coach to win the tournament with two different countries, and her 2025 title came on penalties against Spain, who had beaten her England side in the 2023 World Cup final.
Q 13Which England-born coach won consecutive Women's World Cups with the United States in 2015 and 2019?
Jill Ellis
Q 21Which Liverpool manager had the 'THIS IS ANFIELD' plaque fixed to the wall above the players' tunnel?
Bill Shankly
Bill Shankly said the sign was there 'to remind our lads who they're playing for, and to remind the opposition who they're playing against'.
Q 22Which manager won the French title in his first season at Monaco, 1987–88?
Arsène Wenger
Arsène Wenger reached Arsenal in 1996 by way of Japan's Nagoya Grampus Eight, so little known in England that supporters asked 'Arsène who?', and he stayed for 22 years.
Q 23Which manager went straight from a season with Barcelona's fourth-tier B side to the senior job in 2008?
Pep Guardiola
Jill Ellis, born in Folkestone, never played organised football in England, where there were no girls' teams in the 1970s, and took the game up only after her family moved to the United States.
Q 14Which coach won the 2002 World Cup with Brazil but was sacked by Chelsea after seven months in 2009?
Luiz Felipe Scolari
Luiz Felipe Scolari's Brazil beat Germany 2–0 in the 2002 final with two Ronaldo goals; Chelsea sacked him on 9 February 2009 after a 2–0 defeat at Liverpool and a goalless home draw with Hull City.
Q 15Which coach managed Germany for 15 years from 2006, winning the 2014 World Cup in Brazil?
Joachim Löw
Joachim Löw had been brought in as Jürgen Klinsmann's assistant after Euro 2004; his 2014 final was settled in the second half of extra time by substitute Mario Götze's goal against Argentina.
Q 16Which Italian resigned as England manager in February 2012 after the FA stripped John Terry of the captaincy?
Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello had himself taken the armband from Terry in 2010 over a tabloid scandal, but when the FA removed it again in 2012 he fell out with his employers and quit four months before the Euros.
Q 17Which Dutch coach took co-hosts South Korea to the 2002 World Cup semi-finals and was made an honorary citizen?
Guus Hiddink
Guus Hiddink was the first person ever granted honorary South Korean citizenship, and the grateful hosts added a villa on Jeju island and free flights for life.
Q 18Which German became England's third foreign head coach when his appointment took effect on 1 January 2025?
Thomas Tuchel
Thomas Tuchel followed two earlier foreign coaches into the job; he had won the 2021 Champions League with Chelsea, beating Manchester City 1–0 in the final within months of arriving.
Q 19Which manager left Chelsea after seven WSL titles to win Olympic gold with the United States in 2024?
Emma Hayes
Emma Hayes's seven titles included five in a row from 2020 to 2024; she was named USA head coach in November 2023 but finished the WSL season first.
Q 20Which Liverpool manager was the first to win three European Cups, in 1977, 1978 and 1981?
Bob Paisley
Bob Paisley, once the club's physiotherapist, took the job reluctantly in 1974 and went on to win twenty honours in nine seasons.
Pep Guardiola's B team won its Tercera División group, and his first senior season ended with Spain's first treble of league, cup and Champions League.
Q 24Which Ajax and Netherlands coach, a Euro 88 winner, was named FIFA's Coach of the Century in 1999?
Rinus Michels
Rinus Michels managed Ajax to the first of three consecutive European Cups in 1971 and is credited as the architect of the Dutch 'Total Football' style.
Q 25Which interim appointee of November 2019 led Bayern Munich to the Champions League nine months later?
Hansi Flick
Hansi Flick stepped up when Niko Kovač left by mutual consent on 3 November 2019, completed the treble and added a sextuple with the Club World Cup in February 2021; he took the Barcelona job in May 2024.
Q 26Which Argentine admitted sending a spy to watch Derby County train in 2019, costing Leeds United a £200,000 fine?
Marcelo Bielsa
Marcelo Bielsa, nicknamed 'El Loco', paid the £200,000 EFL fine out of his own pocket.
Q 27Which manager's fifth Europa League title came with Aston Villa's 3–0 win over Freiburg in the May 2026 final?
Unai Emery
Unai Emery won three in a row with Sevilla and a fourth with Villarreal, and the one Europa League final he lost also came with an English club, Arsenal, beaten 4–1 by Chelsea in 2019.
Q 28Which coach won the continental treble with Barcelona in 2015 and again with Paris Saint-Germain in 2025?
Luis Enrique
Luis Enrique became only the second manager to win the treble twice, and the Paris one came in the club's first season after Kylian Mbappé left for Real Madrid.
Q 29As of 2026, which Italian is the only coach to have won both the UEFA and AFC Champions Leagues?
Marcello Lippi
Marcello Lippi won the 1996 Champions League with Juventus and the 2013 AFC edition with Guangzhou Evergrande, with Italy's 2006 World Cup in between.
Q 30Which AC Milan coach, a former shoe salesman who never played professionally, won the European Cup in 1989 and 1990?
Arrigo Sacchi
Arrigo Sacchi answered doubts about his playing record with 'I never realised that in order to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first'.