49 Fun Facts About Football Trivia for Kids

How many players does each team have on the field in American football?

Eleven a side became the rule in 1880, when Walter Camp, the 'Father of American Football', got the rule-makers to cut teams down from fifteen players.

How many points is a touchdown worth?

A touchdown is worth six points, the biggest single score in football; right after it the team gets one extra try for more.

How many points does a team get for kicking a field goal?

Three points is the modern value: when point scoring began in 1883 a field goal counted five, more than a touchdown, and it was cut to three in 1909.

How many downs does a team get to move the ball ten yards?

Four downs: gain the ten yards and the count starts again, fall short and the other team takes over, which is why teams usually punt the ball away on the last one.

A 'safety', when a ball carrier is tackled in his own end zone, is worth how many points?

Two points go to the defense, and it gets the ball back as well: the team that gave up the safety has to kick it away from its own 20-yard line.

Players at Gallaudet, a college for deaf students, are credited with inventing which football tradition in the 1890s?

The huddle is credited to Gallaudet quarterback Paul Hubbard, who pulled his players into a tight circle so that rival deaf teams could not read the plays he was signing.

Early footballs were made by blowing up which part of a pig?

The bladder of a pig, blown up like a balloon, made an early football; it was later wrapped in leather, and that is thought to be why the ball is still nicknamed a 'pigskin'.

What is the prize given to the winner of the NFL championship called?

The Vince Lombardi Trophy got its name in 1970, after the death of the coach who had won the first two Super Bowls with Green Bay; a new sterling silver one is made by Tiffany & Co. every year.

Which Kansas City Chiefs star led the team to three Super Bowl wins between 2020 and 2024?

Patrick Mahomes was named MVP of all three wins; in the first, in February 2020, his Chiefs trailed San Francisco by ten points with seven minutes left and still won.

What position did Travis Kelce play for the Kansas City Chiefs?

Tight end was not his first position: Travis Kelce was a quarterback in high school and switched in college, then set the record for 1,000-yard seasons by a tight end.

Where do the Kansas City Chiefs play their home games?

Arrowhead Stadium is famous for noise: in 2014 Chiefs fans took the world record for the loudest stadium crowd back from Seattle with a roar of 142.2 decibels.

Which quarterback won a record seven Super Bowls?

Tom Brady was only the 199th player picked in the 2000 draft, yet his seven titles are more than any single NFL team has won.

What is the name of the famous stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin, nicknamed the Frozen Tundra?

Lambeau Field earned the nickname in the 1967 'Ice Bowl', a title game played there at about 15 below zero after the field's heating system failed and the turf froze.

Which team plays its home games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas?

The Dallas Cowboys play beneath a giant video board that hangs over the field; in the stadium's first football game, in 2009, a punt hit it and the down had to be replayed.

Which team plays at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia?

The Eagles took their name in 1933 from the blue eagle that was the emblem of President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal recovery program.

Which Baltimore Ravens quarterback broke the NFL career rushing record for quarterbacks in 2024?

Lamar Jackson was the fifth quarterback taken in the 2018 draft, with the last pick of the first round, after some analysts said he should switch to wide receiver.

Which team picked Josh Allen seventh overall in the 2018 NFL draft?

The Buffalo Bills traded up five places to take Josh Allen, who had not been offered a single major-college scholarship out of high school and started at a junior college.

Which TV channel created the Puppy Bowl, shown every year on Super Bowl Sunday?

Animal Planet has aired the Puppy Bowl since 2005; every puppy comes from a shelter, because the show's real aim is to get rescue animals adopted.

John Madden, the name on the Madden NFL video games, won a Super Bowl in which job?

Head coach of the Oakland Raiders, John Madden won the Super Bowl in January 1977; a knee injury had ended his own playing career before he appeared in a single NFL game.

The Heisman Trophy is given every year to the best player in what?

College football's top award was renamed in 1936 for John Heisman, who had just died; as a coach he once ran up the most lopsided score in the sport's history, 222-0.

Who headlined the Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans in February 2025?

Kendrick Lamar's show drew about 133.5 million viewers in the US, a record for a halftime show and more than the average audience for the game itself.

Which running back ran for more than 2,000 yards for Philadelphia in 2024?

Saquon Barkley finished on 2,005 yards and then sat out the final game, even though he needed only 101 more to break Eric Dickerson's long-standing season record.

Which receiver drafted by the Vikings in 2020 is famous for the 'Griddy' touchdown dance?

Justin Jefferson, a first-round pick from LSU, made the Griddy so famous with Minnesota that Fortnite added it as a dance emote in 2021.

In soccer, how does play restart after the ball goes out over the sideline?

A throw-in goes to the team that did not touch the ball last; no one can be offside from it, and a ball thrown straight into the goal does not count.

In soccer, which player is allowed to use their hands?

Only the goalkeeper may handle the ball, and only inside their own penalty area, never on a ball a teammate has deliberately kicked to them.

How long is a normal soccer match?

A normal soccer match lasts 90 minutes, played as a pair of 45-minute halves, plus whatever stoppage time the referee adds.

How far from the goal is the penalty spot in soccer?

The penalty spot is 12 yards, or 11 meters, from the goal line; the penalty kick was the 1890 idea of Ireland's William McCrum, whose own job on the field was stopping shots.

What is the term for one player scoring three goals in a single soccer game?

A hat-trick comes from cricket, where a bowler who took three wickets with three balls in a row was, by tradition, rewarded with a new hat; soccer borrowed the term later.

How often is the men's FIFA World Cup held?

The men's World Cup is held every four years; it began in 1930 and was skipped only in 1942 and 1946 because of the Second World War.

Which three countries hosted the 2026 World Cup?

The United States, Canada and Mexico won the hosting vote over Morocco in 2018, 134 to 65, and staged the first World Cup with 48 teams.

Which country did Lionel Messi captain to victory at the 2022 World Cup?

Lionel Messi captained Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title, beating France on penalties in the final after a 3-3 draw.

What is Cristiano Ronaldo's famous nickname?

CR7 combines Cristiano Ronaldo's initials with the number 7 shirt he wore at Manchester United, Real Madrid and Portugal.

Which division do Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal play in?

The Premier League was born in 1992, when the clubs of England's old First Division broke away from the Football League to strike their own television deal.

Which French striker became Paris Saint-Germain's all-time top scorer in 2023?

Kylian Mbappé overtook Edinson Cavani's 200 goals for the club and reached 256 before leaving for Real Madrid in 2024 without a transfer fee.

Which Norwegian striker scored 36 league goals for Manchester City in the 2022-23 season?

Erling Haaland's 36 beat the record of 34 shared by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer, who had both set it when the season was 42 games long instead of 38.

Which famous soccer player is co-owner of Inter Miami, the club that signed Messi?

David Beckham co-founded Inter Miami, which began play in 2020 and won its first trophy, the 2023 Leagues Cup, weeks after signing Messi.

Which US women's star won the Golden Boot and Golden Ball at the 2019 World Cup?

Megan Rapinoe and teammate Alex Morgan each finished with six goals and three assists; the Golden Boot went to Rapinoe because she had played fewer minutes.

Who scored the winning penalty for the USA in the 1999 Women's World Cup final?

Brandi Chastain scored the decisive penalty against China in the 1999 final at the Rose Bowl, then celebrated by whipping off her jersey.

Which color card does a soccer referee show to send a player off the field?

Red means the player is out and the team plays one short; referee Ken Aston based the cards on traffic lights, and they were first used at the 1970 World Cup.

Major League Soccer has clubs in the United States and which other country?

Canada has three MLS clubs, in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal; Toronto FC won the title in 2017, beating the Seattle team that had beaten it on penalties in the final a year earlier.

How long is each quarter of an NFL game on the official clock?

Each NFL quarter lasts 15 minutes on the game clock; because the clock stops for incomplete passes and plays out of bounds, games run far longer.

What do the referee and the team captains do at midfield right before a football game starts?

They flip a coin, and the winner can choose to receive the kickoff or to defer its choice to the second half.

Including both end zones, how long is an American football field?

An American football field is 120 yards long: 100 yards of play plus a 10-yard end zone at each end, added in 1912 so passes could be caught behind the goal line.

What do you call the center's backward pass between his legs to the quarterback?

The snap starts most plays, though not kickoffs, and if a lineman on offense moves before it, his team is pushed back five yards for a false start.

What kind of numbers are used to name each Super Bowl, like Super Bowl LIX?

Super Bowls are numbered with Roman numerals; the only exception was Super Bowl 50 in 2016, and the next year the game went back to LI.

What is the term for tackling the quarterback before the ball can be thrown?

A sack is recorded when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage while trying to pass; the defense loves them because they cost the offense yards.

Which country hosted the 2022 men's FIFA World Cup?

Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup, the first in the Middle East and the first played in November and December to avoid the summer heat.

What shirt number did Pelé famously wear for Brazil?

Pelé wore the number 10 shirt for Brazil from the 1958 World Cup onward, and the number became a badge for a team's star playmaker.

What royal nickname was Pelé given after the 1958 World Cup?

Pelé became 'The King', O Rei in Portuguese, after starring at the 1958 World Cup aged 17; Brazil's government later declared him a national treasure so that no foreign club could buy him.