Soccer
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139 free Soccer trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Sep 2026.
92 free soccer trivia questions with answers. Think you know soccer? From the origins of the beautiful game in England to Messi's crowning glory in Qatar, this quiz covers everything a true football fan should know. Test yourself on World Cup history, legendary players, tactical innovations, club rivalries, and the rules that govern the world's most popular sport.
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Q 01How many players does each side field in a standard football match, one of whom must be the goalkeeper?
11
11 a side, 22 on the pitch, and only the goalkeeper may handle the ball, and only inside their own penalty area.
Q 02How long is a professional football match before stoppage time, played as two equal halves?
90 minutes
90 minutes of two 45-minute halves, and the referee adds stoppage time on top; 120 is what you get after extra time in a knockout tie.
Q 03Which animal became famous for 'predicting' 2010 World Cup results by choosing between two flag-marked food boxes?
An octopus
An octopus named Paul picked winners by eating from one of two mussel-filled boxes, and in 2010 he even called the final correctly.
Q 04What colour card does a referee show to send a player off?
Red
Red means off, and referee Ken Aston got the idea from a traffic light on Kensington High Street; yellow is a caution, and two yellows make a red.
Q 05Which player, nicknamed O Rei or 'The King', is the only footballer to have won three World Cups?
Pelé
Pelé won in 1958, 1962 and 1970, though injury kept him out of most of 1962; Ronaldo won two, Maradona and Zidane one each.
Q 06In which country did the sport of soccer (association football) originate?
England
England's FA is the oldest in the world, and 'soccer' is an English coinage too, from 'association'.
Q 07Which Hollywood star co-bought Welsh club Wrexham with Rob McElhenney, sparking the docuseries Welcome to Wrexham?
Ryan Reynolds
Ryan Reynolds and McElhenney bought Wrexham while it was a fifth-tier National League club.
Q 08Which striker was banned for four months for biting Italy's Giorgio Chiellini at the 2014 World Cup?
Luis Suárez
Luis Suárez was on his third biting charge, and FIFA's ban even barred him from entering stadiums and from training with his club.
Q 09Which country was drafted into Euro 92 at short notice to replace Yugoslavia, then won the tournament?
Denmark
Denmark had just over a week's notice after war got Yugoslavia banned, and still knocked out reigning champions the Netherlands on penalties.
Q 10Which Apple TV+ comedy follows an American football coach hired to manage the fictional club AFC Richmond?
Ted Lasso
Ted Lasso began as a character Jason Sudeikis played in 2013 NBC Sports promos, in which he took over Tottenham.
Q 11What does the referee award when a defender handles the ball inside their own 18-yard box?
Penalty kick
A penalty kick, and if the handball was deliberate and denied a goal or an obvious scoring chance, the defender is sent off too.
Q 12Which country became the first African side to reach a men's World Cup semi-final, in 2022?
Morocco
Morocco beat Portugal 1–0 in the quarter-final even though Walid Cheddira was sent off late on.
Q 13Which country hosted the 2022 FIFA World Cup?
Qatar
Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup, making it the first Middle Eastern country and the first Arab nation to host the tournament. It was also the first World Cup held in November-December.
Q 21What was the final score of Germany vs. Brazil in the 2014 World Cup semifinal?
7-1
Germany's 7-1 win in Belo Horizonte, known in Brazil as the Mineiraço, saw the Germans lead 5-0 inside 29 minutes, with four goals in a six-minute span.
Q 22Which 2002 film follows Jess, a British Sikh teenager secretly playing for a women's team in Hounslow?
Bend It Like Beckham
Bend It Like Beckham was written and directed by Gurinder Chadha, starring Parminder Nagra as Jess alongside Keira Knightley.
Q 23Which country's national team is known as 'Les Bleus'?
France
France's national team is known as 'Les Bleus' (The Blues) after the color of their traditional home jersey.
Q 14Which country's league is known as the Bundesliga?
Germany
Germany's Bundesliga was founded in Dortmund in 1962 and kicked off in 1963-64.
Q 15Which forward's €222 million move from Barcelona in 2017 made him the world's most expensive footballer?
Neymar
Neymar's representatives paid Barcelona his €222 million release clause in full.
Q 16Which outsiders beat hosts Portugal 1–0 in the Euro 2004 final?
Greece
Greece won with an Angelos Charisteas header, and coach Otto Rehhagel's side had perfected the art of stifling opponents.
Q 17What does 'FIFA' stand for?
Fédération Internationale de Football Association
FIFA stands for Fédération Internationale de Football Association, which is French for 'International Federation of Association Football.'
Q 18Which Ballon d'Or winner later became president of Liberia?
George Weah
George Weah, still the only African named FIFA World Player of the Year, retired in 2003 and went into politics.
Q 19Whose shirt-off celebration after scoring the winning spot kick in the 1999 Women's World Cup final became iconic?
Brandi Chastain
Brandi Chastain switched to her left foot to beat China's keeper Gao Hong, months after Gao had psyched her into missing a penalty.
Q 20The 'Hand of God' goal in the 1986 World Cup was scored by which player?
Diego Maradona
Diego Maradona scored the infamous 'Hand of God' goal in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal in Mexico. He used his hand to punch the ball into the net, but the referee allowed it.
Q 24What is a 'clean sheet' in soccer?
A match where a team concedes no goals
A match where a team concedes no goals is a clean sheet, so a goalless draw gives both sides one.
Q 25What is 'VAR' in modern soccer?
Video Assistant Referee
VAR stands for Video Assistant Referee. It was written into the Laws of the Game in March 2018 and made its World Cup debut that summer in Russia.
Q 26Which name did FC Barcelona's home stadium take in a 2022 naming-rights deal?
Spotify Camp Nou
Spotify Camp Nou keeps the stadium's popular name, Catalan for 'new ground', which the club only made official in the 2000-01 season.
Q 27Which forward launched a kung-fu kick at a Crystal Palace fan after being sent off in January 1995?
Eric Cantona
Eric Cantona's press-conference statement was just a cryptic line about seagulls following a trawler, before he walked out on the press.
Q 28Which US goalkeeper set a World Cup record for saves in one match, against Belgium in 2014?
Tim Howard
Tim Howard made a World Cup record number of saves, yet the US still lost 2–1 to Belgium after extra time.
Q 29Which substitute scored the injury-time winner against Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final?
Ole Gunnar Solskjær
Ole Gunnar Solskjær poked in a corner moments after fellow substitute Teddy Sheringham had cancelled out Mario Basler's early goal.
Q 30Carli Lloyd scored a hat-trick in the 2015 Women's World Cup final against which country?
Japan
Japan's goalkeeper was caught off her line as Carli Lloyd completed her hat-trick with a shot from the halfway line.