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140 free Soccer trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 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.
30 of 140 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
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; a team can keep playing with as few as seven, which is why mass brawls rarely end a match.
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 country has won the most FIFA World Cup titles?
Brazil
Brazil holds the record with 5 World Cup titles (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002), more than any other nation in the history of the tournament.
Q 04What colour card does a referee show to send a player off, a system introduced at the 1970 World Cup?
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'; the first international was England v Scotland in 1872.
Q 07Which club has won the most UEFA Champions League/European Cup titles?
Real Madrid
Real Madrid holds the record with 15 Champions League/European Cup titles, far surpassing any other club in the history of the competition.
Q 08Which country hosted the 2014 FIFA World Cup?
Brazil
Brazil's 7-1 loss to Germany in Belo Horizonte is the heaviest semi-final defeat in the tournament's history; Germany then beat Argentina in the final.
Q 09Lionel Messi has represented which country in international football?
Argentina
Argentina's Messi grew up in Rosario but left for Barcelona at 13, for growth-hormone treatment the club agreed to pay for.
Q 10What is the term for scoring three goals in one match, borrowed from cricket's reward for three wickets in a row?
Hat trick
A Hat trick was literally a hat, presented to a cricket bowler who took three wickets with consecutive balls in 1858; the match ball is the footballer's souvenir.
Q 11What does the referee award when a defender handles the ball inside their own penalty area?
Penalty kick
A Penalty kick from the spot, 12 yards out, is the price of a handball in the box; a deliberate one can add a yellow card, and denying a goal a red.
Q 12Which nation won the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar?
Argentina
Argentina won 4-2 on penalties after Kylian Mbappé's hat-trick had dragged France level; it was Messi's first World Cup.
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 player has won the most Ballon d'Or awards?
Lionel Messi
Lionel Messi holds the record with 8 Ballon d'Or awards (2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2019, 2021, 2023), surpassing Cristiano Ronaldo who has won 5.
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. They have won 2 World Cups (1998, 2018) and 2 European Championships.
Q 14Which country's league is known as the Bundesliga?
Germany
The Bundesliga was founded in Dortmund in 1962 and kicked off in 1963-64. Bayern Munich has won 34 of its 63 titles, including eleven in a row between 2013 and 2023.
Q 15Which national team dropped its white shirt after a traumatic 1950 defeat and debuted yellow and green in 1954?
Brazil
Losing the 1950 final at home in white was such a national trauma that Brazil held a design contest; Aldyr Garcia Schlee's yellow shirt with green trim, blue shorts and white socks debuted at the 1954 World Cup and is still worn today.
Q 16Which country won the first-ever FIFA World Cup in 1930?
Uruguay
Uruguay won the inaugural FIFA World Cup in 1930, which was held in Montevideo, Uruguay. They defeated Argentina 4-2 in the final.
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.' It was founded in Paris in 1904.
Q 18Which player is the all-time top scorer in FIFA World Cup history?
Kylian Mbappé
Mbappé took the all-time record at the 2026 World Cup, where he also won a second consecutive Golden Boot with 10 goals, having scored in two consecutive finals along the way.
Q 19Which English club is nicknamed 'The Red Devils'?
Manchester United
Manchester United took the nickname in the early 1960s under Matt Busby, borrowing it from Salford rugby league; before that they were the Heathens.
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 against England 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 'clean sheet' means a team (or specifically their goalkeeper) did not concede any goals during a match. The term likely originated from the scorer's sheet remaining 'clean' of opponent goals.
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 the 2018 World Cup in Russia was the first tournament to use it at every match.
Q 26Which name did FC Barcelona's home stadium take in a 2022 naming-rights deal?
Spotify Camp Nou
Camp Nou has been Barcelona's home since 1957 and took the Spotify name in a 2022 naming-rights deal. Its rebuild, planned to seat 105,000, was scheduled to finish in 2027 as the largest stadium in Europe.
Q 27Which Spanish club plays at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium?
Real Madrid
Real Madrid plays their home matches at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, which was originally built in 1947 and has undergone major renovations, most recently completed in 2023.
Q 28Which team completed 'The Treble' (league, domestic cup, and Champions League) in 1999?
Manchester United
Manchester United won the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League in 1998-99 under Sir Alex Ferguson, famously scoring two stoppage-time goals in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
Q 29Which South American club competition is the equivalent of the UEFA Champions League?
Copa Libertadores
The Copa Libertadores is South America's premier club competition, organized by CONMEBOL. First held in 1960, it is named after the 'Libertadores' (liberators) of South America.
Q 30How many times has the United States Women's National Team won the FIFA Women's World Cup?
4
The USWNT has won the Women's World Cup 4 times (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019), making them the most successful team in the tournament's history.