⚽ Football Trivia Questions & Answers
The World Cup, the leagues and the greatest players of the beautiful game. Below are 30 free football trivia questions with answers — part of Sport trivia on BUZZ. Want a real challenge that adapts to what you know? Play the Sport quiz — no signup needed to start.
30 Football trivia questions
Q1. How many players are on a standard football (soccer) team on the pitch?
Answer: 11
💡 The 11-a-side format was standardised in 1863 when the Football Association published its first rules. The number may derive from English public school teams of the early 19th century.
Q2. Which global body organises the men's football World Cup?
Answer: FIFA
💡 FIFA was founded in Paris in 1904 and today has 211 member associations, more than the United Nations.
Q3. Which card does a referee show to send a player off the pitch?
Answer: Red
💡 Two yellow cards in one match add up to a red, forcing the player off and leaving the team a man down.
Q4. Which competition crowns the best club side in Europe each season?
Answer: Champions League
💡 Its anthem, adapted from Handel, plays before every match; Real Madrid have won the trophy more than anyone.
Q5. How many points does a team earn for winning a league match today?
Answer: 3
💡 Three points for a win replaced two to reward attacking play; FIFA made it the global standard by 1994.
Q6. How long is a standard football (soccer) match?
Answer: 90 minutes
💡 The 90-minute match duration was established in 1866 during a match between London and Sheffield.
Q7. What country does footballer Lionel Messi represent?
Answer: Argentina
💡 Messi led Argentina to their third World Cup title in 2022.
Q8. As of 2024, which club had won the most La Liga titles in Spain?
Answer: Real Madrid
💡 As of 2024 Real Madrid hold 36 Spanish league titles, seven clear of Barcelona's 29.
Q9. How far from the goal line is the penalty spot in football?
Answer: 12 yards
💡 That's 11 metres; other defenders must stay at least 9.15m from the ball until it is struck.
Q10. Which country has won the most Africa Cup of Nations titles?
Answer: Egypt
💡 Egypt hold seven AFCON crowns, including a hat-trick of wins from 2006 to 2010.
Q11. Lionel Messi spent the majority of his club career at which Spanish team?
Answer: FC Barcelona
💡 Messi joined Barcelona's academy La Masia at age 13 after the club agreed to pay for his growth hormone treatment. He scored 672 goals for the club.
Q12. Who was the first footballer to be transferred for £100 million?
Answer: Cristiano Ronaldo
💡 Cristiano Ronaldo's 2009 move from Manchester United to Real Madrid cost €80m (£80m at the time) and shattered the world record — though Kaká moved for €68m the same summer.
Q13. Uruguay won the 1930 World Cup host bid partly by defending its title at which earlier event?
Answer: The 1928 Summer Olympics
💡 Uruguay was also celebrating the centenary of its first constitution in 1930, making the timing doubly symbolic for hosting the inaugural World Cup.
Q14. Which club won the 2015-16 Premier League as 5,000-1 outsiders?
Answer: Leicester City
💡 Bookmakers had rated a Loch Ness Monster sighting likelier; a few loyal fans won small fortunes.
Q15. Which country became the first African side to reach a World Cup semi-final, in 2022?
Answer: Morocco
💡 The Atlas Lions beat Belgium, Spain and Portugal before losing to eventual runners-up France.
Q16. George Weah, the only African men's Ballon d'Or winner, became president of which country?
Answer: Liberia
💡 Weah won the award in 1995 and later served as Liberia's president from 2018 to 2024.
Q17. Who won the 2018 Ballon d'Or, ending a decade of Messi and Ronaldo wins?
Answer: Luka Modrić
💡 The Croatia captain had just steered his country to their first-ever World Cup final.
Q18. At which World Cup were yellow and red cards used for the very first time?
Answer: 1970 Mexico
💡 Referee Ken Aston dreamed up the colours at a London traffic light after a chaotic 1966 match.
Q19. Which team thrashed hosts Brazil 7-1 in the 2014 World Cup semi-final?
Answer: Germany
💡 Germany scored four goals in six first-half minutes; Brazilians dubbed the rout the 'Mineirazo'.
Q20. Who scored Spain's extra-time winner in the 2010 World Cup final?
Answer: Andrés Iniesta
💡 His late strike beat the Netherlands 1-0 and gave Spain their first-ever World Cup title.
Q21. Which African nation reached the 1990 World Cup quarter-finals, a continental first?
Answer: Cameroon
💡 Veteran Roger Milla, 38, came out of retirement and danced by the corner flag after each goal.
Q22. Which German club has won the most Bundesliga titles?
Answer: Bayern Munich
💡 Bayern Munich have won over 30 Bundesliga titles. They also won the Champions League in 2020 without losing a single game throughout the tournament.
Q23. James Hayter scored a hat-trick in 2 min 20 sec in 2004, a Football League record for which club?
Answer: Bournemouth
💡 His hat-trick came off the bench as a substitute, making the feat even more remarkable given how little time he actually had on the pitch.
Q24. Who was the first footballer to win three Ballon d'Or awards?
Answer: Johan Cruyff
💡 Cruyff won in 1971, 1973 and 1974 and was the on-field brain of Dutch 'Total Football'.
Q25. Who set the men's World Cup record of 16 career goals, across four tournaments?
Answer: Miroslav Klose
💡 Klose scored his 16 goals from the 2002 to 2014 World Cups, overtaking Brazil's Ronaldo, who had 15.
Q26. Whose 2017 move to Paris Saint-Germain set the world-record transfer fee of 222m euros?
Answer: Neymar
💡 The fee more than doubled the previous record and still stood as the world's highest as of 2024.
Q27. Sadio Mané holds the Premier League's fastest hat-trick record, scoring three goals in how long?
Answer: 2 minutes 56 seconds
💡 He set the record for Liverpool against Aston Villa in the 2015-16 season, blitzing three goals almost before the away fans had settled into their seats.
Q28. Which French striker scored a record 13 goals at a single World Cup, back in 1958?
Answer: Just Fontaine
💡 He borrowed a team-mate's boots for the tournament, and no player has matched his tally since.
Q29. Which team beat mighty Hungary in the 1954 'Miracle of Bern' World Cup final?
Answer: West Germany
💡 Hungary had hammered them 8-3 earlier in the tournament, yet Germany came from 2-0 down to win 3-2.
Q30. Which English winger won the very first Ballon d'Or in 1956, aged 41?
Answer: Stanley Matthews
💡 Nicknamed the 'Wizard of the Dribble', he kept playing top-flight football until he was 50.
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