Getting your questions ready
Getting your questions ready
Beat the crowd
10 questions No timer
60 free West Ham United trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
West Ham United began as the works team of the last shipbuilder on the Thames, wear the colours of a kit allegedly won in a foot race, and supplied the captain and both scorers of England's 1966 World Cup final win. This quiz covers the whole story: Arnold Hills and Thames Ironworks, the rivet hammers on the badge, the Aston Villa kit and William Belton's sprint, the move to Upton Park, the White Horse final of 1923, Syd King and Charlie Paynter, the first War Cup, Ted Fenton and Malcolm Allison's Academy, Ron Greenwood's Cup and Cup Winners' Cup, Moore, Hurst and Peters, John Lyall's two Cups and the Boys of 86, Bonds and Redknapp, the Tevez affair, the Icelandic collapse, Allardyce's play-off win, the last night at the Boleyn, the Olympic Stadium saga, Moyes and Fiorentina in Prague, and the 2026 relegation. Early questions suit anyone who has heard 'I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles'; later ones are for Irons who know their Chicken Run from their Bobby Moore Lower: which soap advert inspired the anthem, what shape the 2016 badge is, who the 'catch-boy' was in a riveting gang, and how many players Harry Redknapp used in seven years. Good for a supporters' club night or an East End pub quiz. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on the club and the Boleyn Ground, and each question shows its source.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01West Ham United began life in 1895 as the works team of which company?
Thames Ironworks and Shipbuilding
Owner Arnold Hills and foreman Dave Taylor announced the club in the Thames Ironworks Gazette; the yard's most famous ship was HMS Warrior.
Q 02Which warship, the Royal Navy's first ironclad built by Thames Ironworks, gives its hull shape to the 2016 club crest?
HMS Warrior
The last ship built at the yard was the dreadnought HMS Thunderer in 1912.
Q 03Thames Ironworks folded in June 1900 and relaunched as West Ham United under whom?
Syd King
King served 32 years before being sacked in 1932; Paynter, his assistant, then managed the club until 1950.
Q 04According to one story, how did Thames Ironworks come by a claret and blue kit belonging to Aston Villa?
A sprinter won it in a bet after a foot race
William Belton reportedly won the race at a fair near Villa Park; the Villa player who lost reported the kit 'missing'.
Q 05West Ham's first match at the Boleyn Ground in September 1904 was a 3-0 win over which fierce rivals?
Millwall
Millwall were also an ironworks team, for a rival company; the Hammers-Lions rivalry is the club's oldest.
Q 06Upton Park's ground was named for Green Street House, a Tudor house tied to which queen?
Anne Boleyn
Henry VIII supposedly courted her there; the tower on the old badge represented the house, demolished in 1955.
Q 07West Ham's first Football League match, in 1919, was a 1-1 draw with which club?
Lincoln City
Promotion to the First Division followed in 1923, the year of the White Horse final.
Q 08Which club won the 1923 'White Horse final' at Wembley 2-0?
Bolton Wanderers
Police estimated nearly 300,000 people came; Billie was actually grey and ridden by PC George Scorey.
Q 09West Ham's first major trophy, won at Wembley in June 1940, was the first edition of what?
The wartime cup competition
They beat First Division Blackburn Rovers 1-0 at Wembley in the inaugural wartime tournament.
Q 10Malcolm Allison's 1950s meetings that grew into the 'Academy of Football' were held at which venue?
Cassettari's Café on Barking Road
Players used pepper pots and other café items to illustrate tactics; Ted Fenton was the manager.
Q 11Which manager, appointed in 1961, led West Ham to the 1964 FA Cup and the 1965 Cup Winners' Cup?
Ron Greenwood
He later moved 'upstairs' and appointed John Lyall without telling the board, then left to manage England in 1977.
Q 12Which three West Ham players were in England's 1966 World Cup-winning team?
Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst and Martin Peters
All three came through the youth team; the 'Champions' statue on Barking Road also includes Everton's Ray Wilson.
Q 13West Ham's 1975 FA Cup final win over Fulham was the last by a team of what kind?
An all-English side
Q 21Which Redknapp signing earned as much as an entire stand's revenue yet made only eight appearances?
Davor Šuker
Christian Bassila cost £720,000 and played 86 minutes; Gary Charles earned £4.4 million for three starts.
Q 22West Ham's fifth place in 1999 was followed by winning which European trophy against Metz?
The Intertoto Cup
It earned a place in the 1999-2000 UEFA Cup.
Q 23West Ham were relegated in 2003 with what then record points total for a relegated club in a 38-game season?
42
Trevor Brooking, 'the best manager West Ham never had', went unbeaten as caretaker after Glenn Roeder fell ill.
Fulham's line-up included two former England captains, Alan Mullery and West Ham legend Bobby Moore.
Q 14West Ham lost a European final in 1976, 4-2, to which Belgian club?
Anderlecht
They had beaten Eintracht Frankfurt in the semi-final; the same club knocked them out of the Europa League in 2022.
Q 15West Ham's 1980 FA Cup win remains the last time a club from where lifted the trophy?
Outside the top flight
John Lyall's Second Division side beat Everton in the semi-final and won promotion the following year.
Q 16West Ham's highest ever league finish, third in 1985-86, produced a side known as what?
The Boys of 86
Relegation followed in 1989 and Lyall was sacked after 34 years at the club, with a 73-word programme note.
Q 17How many words did the club programme give John Lyall's 34 years when he was sacked in 1989?
73
He received an ex gratia £100,000 but called the circumstances 'upsetting'.
Q 18Which manager resigned in 1990 after less than a season to clear his name over Swindon betting allegations?
Lou Macari
Billy Bonds replaced him and won promotion in 1990-91.
Q 19Which signing from Oxford United in 1994 became homesick and was sold to Swindon after just 58 days?
Joey Beauchamp
His attitude baffled Billy Bonds, who soon walked away from the club when the board manoeuvred to make Redknapp manager.
Q 20Roughly how many players passed through West Ham during Harry Redknapp's seven years as manager?
134
The net transfer deficit was £16 million despite selling Rio Ferdinand to Leeds for £18 million.
Q 24Alan Pardew's West Ham won the 2005 play-off final 1-0 against Preston with a goal from whom?
Bobby Zamora
A year earlier they had lost the final to Crystal Palace; West Ham paid Reading £380,000 to release Pardew.
Q 25West Ham lost the 2006 FA Cup final on penalties to Liverpool after what scoreline?
3-3
They still reached the UEFA Cup because Liverpool had qualified for the Champions League.
Q 26West Ham were fined £5.5 million in 2007 over signing Carlos Tevez and which other Argentine?
Javier Mascherano
Avoiding a points deduction proved decisive; Tevez's winner at Manchester United on the last day kept them up at Sheffield United's expense.
Q 27Which Icelandic businessman led the consortium that bought West Ham in November 2006?
Eggert Magnússon
By 2009 the Icelandic banking collapse left the owners unable to fund the club, and shirt sponsor SBOBET helped buy Alessandro Diamanti.
Q 28Who became West Ham's first non-British manager in September 2008?
Gianfranco Zola
He finished ninth, then survived a relegation scrap before being sacked in May 2010.
Q 29West Ham's 2011 relegation was sealed when they blew a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 at which club?
Wigan Athletic
Charles N'Zogbia scored the added-time winner; Avram Grant was sacked immediately.
Q 30Who scored the 87th-minute winner in the 2012 play-off final against Blackpool under Sam Allardyce?
Ricardo Vaz Tê
Carlton Cole had opened the scoring at Wembley.