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50 free Nottingham Forest trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Nottingham Forest were founded by shinty players in a pub in 1865, gave Arsenal their red shirts, and remain the only club in Europe to have won the European Cup more times than their own league. This quiz covers the whole story: the twelve Garibaldi-red caps, the 1898 Cup final upset over Derby, Grenville Morris, Roy Dwight's broken leg at Wembley in 1959, the committee that ran the club, Brian Clough's arrival twelve weeks after his 44 days at Leeds, Peter Taylor's eye for a player, the title a year after promotion, the 42-game unbeaten run, Trevor Francis's million pounds, Malmö in Munich and Hamburg in Madrid, the Anderlecht bribe, Clough hitting his own fans, Sheringham's first live Premier League goal, three relegations, the fall to League One, the Al-Hasawi years, Evangelos Marinakis, Steve Cooper's play-off win, the points deduction and the season of four managers. Early questions suit anyone who has heard 'Mull of Kintyre' at the City Ground; later ones are for Reds who know their Trent End from their Bridgford Stand: which club Forest donated shirts to besides Arsenal, who Günter Netzer had never heard of, and how far W. H. Revis kicked a ball in 1870. Good for a supporters' club night or a Nottingham pub quiz. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's article on the club and its history, and each question shows its source.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Nottingham Forest were founded in 1865 at a meeting in the Clinton Arms by players of which sport?
Shinty
J. S. Scrimshaw proposed switching to association football, and the club also bought twelve tasselled caps in 'Garibaldi red'.
Q 02Forest's 'Garibaldi red' colours honour Giuseppe Garibaldi, leader of which volunteer force?
The Italian Redshirts
Clubs then identified themselves by headgear, so a dozen red caps made Forest the first club to 'officially' wear red.
Q 03In 1886 Forest donated a full set of red kits to help establish which newly formed club?
Arsenal
Forest also gave shirts to Everton and helped Brighton find a ground; a 1905 tour inspired Independiente's red too.
Q 04In Forest's first league-style match in 1870, first scorer William Henry Revis also won a prize for what?
The longest kick of a football
His kick measured 161 feet 8 inches; the club's first official game had been against Notts County in March 1866.
Q 05Forest's presumed name comes from Forest Racecourse, historically part of what?
Sherwood
In their early years Forest were a multi-sport club whose baseball team were British champions in 1899.
Q 06Rejected by the Football League in 1888, Forest joined and in 1892 won which competition before entering the League?
The Alliance
That season they also lost an FA Cup semi-final for the fourth time.
Q 07Forest's first FA Cup win in 1898 was 3-1 over which club, who had beaten them 5-0 five days earlier?
Derby County
Arthur Capes scored twice and John McPherson added the third; the upset is the root of the East Midlands derby rivalry.
Q 08Forest's all-time record goalscorer, with 213 goals, is which early 20th-century forward?
Grenville Morris
He was the club's top scorer for five seasons in a row after Forest's first relegation in 1906.
Q 09When the First Division expanded to 22 clubs in 1919, Forest campaigned for a place but got how many votes?
Three
Arsenal and Chelsea took the two extra places instead.
Q 10Roy Dwight, who scored and broke his leg in the 1959 FA Cup final, was the cousin of which musician?
Elton John
Reg Dwight became Elton John; Forest hung on with nine fit men to win 2-1.
Q 11The manager of the 1959 Cup winners retired the following year after how many years in charge?
21
He had been appointed in 1939 and took the club down to the Third Division South and back up.
Q 12Johnny Carey's 1966-67 Forest side lost an FA Cup semi-final to which club?
Tottenham Hotspur
Forest had beaten United 4-1 at the City Ground that October before injuries took their toll.
Q 13Brian Clough became Forest manager on 6 January 1975, how long after the end of his 44 days at Leeds?
Twelve weeks
Forest were 13th in the second tier and run by a committee rather than a board of directors.
Q 21About which Forest player did Günter Netzer say 'I have never heard of him, yet he ran the game' in 1979?
John McGovern
The captain had followed Clough from Derby; Bowyer's goal in Germany won the tie.
Q 22Forest's first European Cup final win, 1-0 over Malmö in 1979, was played in which stadium?
Munich's Olympiastadion
A year later they beat Hamburg 1-0 in Madrid, with Robertson scoring after 20 minutes.
Q 23Which club did Forest beat 2-1 on aggregate to win the 1979 European Super Cup?
Barcelona
Charlie George scored at home and Kenny Burns equalised in Spain; they lost the 1980 Super Cup to Valencia on away goals.
Q 14What was the first trophy of the Clough and Taylor era, won over Orient in December 1976?
The Anglo-Scottish Cup
Clough called those who dismissed it 'absolutely crackers': it was Forest's first silverware since 1959.
Q 15Forest's 1977 promotion, in third place with just 52 points, was confirmed while the squad was where?
Mid-air en route to Mallorca
Wolves beat Bolton 1-0 to hand Forest promotion with the fifth-lowest points tally of any promoted team.
Q 16Peter Taylor secretly followed which player to check his reputation as a drinker and gambler before signing him in 1977, then moved him to centre-back where he became Footballer of the Year?
Kenny Burns
Taylor also put an overweight, disillusioned John Robertson on a diet that made him a European Cup winner.
Q 17Peter Shilton joined Forest in September 1977 for a record fee for a goalkeeper of how much?
£325,000
'Shilton wins you matches,' Taylor reasoned; John Middleton went to Derby in part-exchange for Archie Gemmill.
Q 18Forest won the 1977-78 title, a year after promotion, finishing how many points ahead of Liverpool?
Seven
They conceded just 24 goals in 42 games; Clough became the third manager to win the title with two clubs.
Q 19Forest's 42-match unbeaten league run of 1978 broke a record held since 1920-21 by which club?
Burnley
Arsenal finally passed it in August 2004, a month before Clough's death.
Q 20In February 1979 Forest made English football's first £1 million signing. Who, and from where?
Trevor Francis from Birmingham City
He scored the winner in that May's European Cup final on his European debut.
Q 24Which modest side knocked holders Forest out of the 1980-81 European Cup first round, winning 1-0 home and away?
CSKA Sofia
McGovern later said the double defeat by such ordinary opponents damaged the team's self-confidence.
Q 25Forest's 1980 Intercontinental Cup defeat to Nacional was the first played where?
At a neutral venue in Tokyo
Forest had declined to play the 1979 edition against Olimpia of Paraguay home and away.
Q 26What was the referee of Forest's 1984 UEFA Cup semi-final found to have received from Anderlecht's chairman?
A £27,000 'loan'
UEFA banned Anderlecht from Europe for a year in 1997; referee Guruceta Muro had died in a car crash in 1987.
Q 27Brian Clough was fined and banned from the touchline in 1989 for doing what during a pitch invasion?
Hitting two of his own club's fans
Forest had just beaten QPR 5-2 in the League Cup.
Q 28Forest's 1989 FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool was abandoned after six minutes because of what?
The Hillsborough disaster
Liverpool won the emotional replay 3-1; Forest had already won the League Cup and Full Members' Cup that season.
Q 29In Clough's only FA Cup final, in 1991, Forest lost 2-1 to Tottenham after an own goal by which defender?
Des Walker
Roy Keane later admitted he had declared himself fit for the final when he was not.
Q 30Which striker scored the only goal in the first live televised Premier League game, Forest v Liverpool?
Teddy Sheringham
He was sold to Tottenham a week later, and Forest went down that season, ending Clough's 18-year reign.