South African Soccer
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7correct to beat the crowd
50 free South African Soccer trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
South African soccer has one of the sport's great comeback stories. Shut out of world football for decades under apartheid, the country returned in 1992, won the continental title on home soil four years later and, in 2010, staged the first World Cup ever held in Africa. This quiz covers the men's and women's national teams, the famous derby rivals and the other big clubs of the domestic league, the stars who made their names in Europe, and the stadiums, sounds and fan culture that the world discovered in 2010. It is written for supporters who follow the local game week in, week out, and for anyone who remembers that noisy winter tournament and wants to see how much of it stuck.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which pop star recorded the official 2010 World Cup song with South African band Freshlyground?
Shakira
Shakira borrowed the chorus from 'Zangaléwa', a 1986 hit by Cameroonian band Golden Sounds that she had heard as a child in Colombia.
Q 02Which plastic horn, sounding one loud monotone note, became the soundtrack of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa?
Vuvuzela
Vuvuzela horns spread to stadiums worldwide after the tournament, until UEFA banned them from Champions League and European Championship matches.
Q 03Which former president made his final public appearance at the closing ceremony of the 2010 World Cup in Johannesburg?
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela had made his first Johannesburg speech after his 1990 release from prison in the very same stadium.
Q 04What kind of animal was Zakumi, the green-haired official mascot of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa?
Leopard
Leopard mascot Zakumi took his name from ZA, the country's code, and 'kumi', a word for ten in several African languages.
Q 05Which South African club inspired the name of the Leeds indie band behind the hit 'I Predict a Riot'?
Kaizer Chiefs
Kaizer Chiefs were the first club of a former Leeds United captain, so the band borrowed the name and changed a single letter.
Q 06Which nickname for South Africa's men's national soccer team was popularised in print by three Sowetan journalists?
Bafana Bafana
Bafana Bafana means 'the boys, the boys', a cry fans took up in Durban in 1992 as the team closed in on beating Cameroon.
Q 07South Africa became the first World Cup hosts to exit at the group stage despite beating which former champions 2–1?
France
France had been runners-up four years earlier, but both teams went out in 2010, the hosts missing second place only on goal difference.
Q 08Which Adidas ball, attacked by goalkeepers for swerving unpredictably, was the official ball of the 2010 World Cup?
Jabulani
Jabulani means 'be happy' in Zulu, though Brazil goalkeeper Júlio César likened it to a ball bought in a supermarket.
Q 09Which country won its first World Cup in Johannesburg in 2010, beating the Netherlands 1–0 after extra time?
Spain
Spain arrived as European champions, and the final was certain to crown a new winner because neither side had lifted the trophy before.
Q 10Which stadium, rebuilt to resemble a calabash cooking pot, hosted the opening match and final of the 2010 World Cup?
Soccer City
Soccer City, officially FNB Stadium, opened in 1989 and was enlarged for the tournament to a capacity of 94,736.
Q 11Which township gives its name to the Johannesburg derby that began when a star player left one club to found another?
Soweto
Soweto is home to both clubs, and the fixture dates from 1970, when a former star of the older side set up a rival of his own.
Q 12Which country did South Africa face in the opening match of both the 2010 and 2026 World Cups?
Mexico
Mexico drew 1–1 with the hosts in Johannesburg in 2010, then won the rematch on home soil at the Estadio Azteca sixteen years later.
Q 13Under which nickname did South Africa's women's national team win their first continental title in Morocco in 2022?
Banyana Banyana
Banyana Banyana beat the hosts in the final, making South Africa only the second country to win both the men's and women's African titles.
Q 21Which South African winger scored the opening goal of the 2010 World Cup on the day he won his 50th cap?
Siphiwe Tshabalala
Siphiwe Tshabalala's strike was nominated for the FIFA Puskás Award, the prize for the year's most beautiful goal.
Q 22Which South African, nicknamed 'Schillo' after an Italian striker, was Everton's Player of the Season in 2009–10?
Steven Pienaar
Steven Pienaar got the name as a boy, when friends likened him to Totò Schillaci, the surprise star of the 1990 World Cup.
Q 23Which South African club earned the nickname 'the Brazilians' after changing its kit to copy Brazil's national team?
Mamelodi Sundowns
Q 14Which African team missed a last-minute penalty that would have sent them to the 2010 World Cup semi-finals?
Ghana
Ghana were denied by Luis Suárez's goal-line handball in Johannesburg; Asamoah Gyan struck the crossbar from the spot and Suárez celebrated the miss.
Q 15Where did political prisoners run the Makana Football Association, a league later granted honorary FIFA membership?
Robben Island
Robben Island inmates played strictly by the Laws of the Game, because the FIFA rulebook was one of the few books in the prison library.
Q 16Which South African striker won the 2004 Champions League under José Mourinho at Porto?
Benni McCarthy
Benni McCarthy was the first South African to win Europe's top club prize, and he also scored 31 goals for the national team.
Q 17Which country beat South Africa to host the 2006 World Cup after an Oceania delegate abstained from the final vote?
Germany
Germany won because Charlie Dempsey abstained; his vote would have tied the ballot 12–12 and left the decision to Sepp Blatter, who favoured South Africa.
Q 18Which South African defender, who began his career as a goalkeeper, went on to captain Leeds United?
Lucas Radebe
Lucas Radebe twice went back in goal for Leeds in 1996, once after an injury and once after a red card, two years before he was made captain.
Q 19Which country did South Africa beat 2–0 in Johannesburg to win the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations as hosts?
Tunisia
Tunisia lost to a team that was only staging the tournament because the original hosts, Kenya, had been replaced.
Q 20Which club, founded in 1937, won the African Champions Cup in 1995, two decades before any other South African side?
Orlando Pirates
Orlando Pirates began as a boys' club team that played barefoot and without a kit in Johannesburg's minor leagues.
Mamelodi Sundowns later lived up to the billing by winning the African Champions League in 2016 and being voted the continent's club of the year.
Q 24Which Durban venue built for the 2010 World Cup has a giant arch that visitors can ride up by funicular?
Moses Mabhida Stadium
Moses Mabhida Stadium's arch rises 106 metres above the pitch and was inspired by the national flag, as a symbol of a divided country coming together.
Q 25Which Johannesburg ground was the scene of South Africa's worst sporting disaster, a crowd crush at a 2001 derby?
Ellis Park
Ellis Park was already full when fans kept surging in for seats, and 43 people were crushed to death as the crowd spilled into the press boxes.
Q 26Which South African forward joined Brighton in 2018 but waited 905 days for his debut because of work-permit problems?
Percy Tau
Percy Tau spent the wait on loan in Belgium, where he was named player of the season in the second division with Union SG.
Q 27Which goalkeeper saved four shootout penalties to send South Africa into the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals?
Ronwen Williams
Ronwen Williams set a tournament record for saves in one shootout against Cape Verde, and was later ranked ninth for the Yashin Trophy.
Q 28Which midfielder scored the penalty that beat Cameroon in South Africa's first match after readmission to FIFA in 1992?
Doctor Khumalo
Doctor Khumalo owes the name to his birth certificate: he was christened Theophilus Doctorson Khumalo.
Q 29Which South African star played alongside Pelé at the New York Cosmos, then named the club he bought after them?
Jomo Sono
Jomo Sono once left his own wedding to rescue a match, set up three goals and scored a fourth, then went back to the reception.
Q 30Which mining billionaire and Pretoria club owner became president of African football's governing body in 2021?
Patrice Motsepe
Patrice Motsepe founded African Rainbow Minerals and bought a majority stake in his club in 2004, before taking it over outright.