World Cup Quiz Questions and Answers: 40 to Test Your Mates

Here are 40 World Cup quiz questions and answers, split into four rounds of ten, with each answer printed straight after its question. Most of it is the men's World Cup from 1930 to 2022, with a few questions on the 2026 tournament in North America and two on the Women's World Cup.

Some questions have one right answer. Others are "Name one" questions, where any answer on the list scores, and each list gives its cut-off so the arguments stay short. Pens down at the end.

Round 1: Finals

1. Which country won the first World Cup, in 1930?
Answer: Uruguay, who beat Argentina 4-2 in the final in Montevideo.

2. Uruguay beat Brazil 2-1 at the Maracana in the deciding match of 1950. Who scored Uruguay's winner?
Answer: Alcides Ghiggia.

3. Who became the youngest player to score in a World Cup final, aged 17, in 1958?
Answer: Pele, who scored twice as Brazil beat Sweden 5-2.

4. The 1994 final was the first decided on penalties. Who missed Italy's last kick?
Answer: Roberto Baggio. Brazil won the shoot-out at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.

5. Who scored both of Brazil's goals in the 2002 final against Germany?
Answer: Ronaldo. Brazil won 2-0 in Yokohama.

6. Name one player sent off in a men's World Cup final (up to and including 2022).
Answer: Pedro Monzon, Gustavo Dezotti, Marcel Desailly, Zinedine Zidane, John Heitinga. Argentina's Enzo Fernandez joined the club in 2026, sent off for a second yellow card in stoppage time.

7. Who scored the winner in the 2010 final between Spain and the Netherlands?
Answer: Andres Iniesta, in extra time in Johannesburg.

8. Who scored Germany's extra-time winner against Argentina in the 2014 final?
Answer: Mario Gotze, at the Maracana.

9. Which player scored a hat-trick in the 2022 final and still lost?
Answer: Kylian Mbappe. The final finished 3-3 and Argentina won 4-2 on penalties.

10. Spain beat Argentina 1-0 after extra time in the 2026 final. Who scored the goal?
Answer: Ferran Torres, off the bench, early in the second half of extra time.

Round 2: Golden Boots and goals

11. Who scored 13 goals at the 1958 World Cup, the most by one player at a single tournament up to 2022?
Answer: Just Fontaine of France.

12. Before the 2026 tournament, who held the record for most men's World Cup goals, with 16?
Answer: Miroslav Klose of Germany.

13. Name one man who scored 10 or more goals at men's World Cups up to and including 2022.
Answer: Miroslav Klose, Ronaldo, Gerd Muller, Just Fontaine, Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Pele, Sandor Kocsis, Jurgen Klinsmann, Helmut Rahn, Gary Lineker, Gabriel Batistuta, Teofilo Cubillas, Grzegorz Lato, Thomas Muller.

14. Name one winner of the official men's World Cup Golden Boot from 1982 to 2022.
Answer: Paolo Rossi, Gary Lineker, Salvatore Schillaci, Hristo Stoichkov, Oleg Salenko, Davor Suker, Ronaldo, Miroslav Klose, Thomas Muller, James Rodriguez, Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe.

15. Oleg Salenko scored five goals in one game against Cameroon in 1994. Which country did he play for?
Answer: Russia.

16. Thomas Muller won the 2010 Golden Boot with five goals, level with three others. Name one of the players he beat on assists.
Answer: David Villa, Wesley Sneijder or Diego Forlan.

17. Name one scorer in Germany's 7-1 semi-final win over Brazil in 2014.
Answer: Thomas Muller, Miroslav Klose, Toni Kroos, Sami Khedira, Andre Schurrle, or Oscar for Brazil.

18. Hakan Sukur scored inside 11 seconds against South Korea in 2002, the fastest goal at a World Cup up to 2022. Which country did he play for?
Answer: Turkey, in the third-place play-off.

19. Who won the Golden Boot at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar?
Answer: Kylian Mbappe, with eight goals, one more than Lionel Messi.

20. How many goals did Ronaldo score on his way to the 2002 Golden Boot?
Answer: Eight.

Round 3: England at the World Cup

21. Who managed England to the 1966 World Cup?
Answer: Alf Ramsey.

22. Which country did England beat 2-1 in the 1966 semi-final, with Bobby Charlton scoring both goals?
Answer: Portugal. England then beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time in the final.

23. Name one member of England's starting XI in the 1966 final.
Answer: Gordon Banks, George Cohen, Ray Wilson, Nobby Stiles, Jack Charlton, Bobby Moore, Alan Ball, Roger Hunt, Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters. (No substitutes were allowed in 1966.)

24. Which England striker won the Golden Boot at the 1986 World Cup?
Answer: Gary Lineker, with six goals. He is one of the names in our list of England's top scorers.

25. Whose long free kick sailed over David Seaman as Brazil beat England 2-1 in the 2002 quarter-final?
Answer: Ronaldinho, in Shizuoka. He was sent off later in the same game.

26. England lost the Italia 90 semi-final to West Germany on penalties. Name one England player who missed.
Answer: Stuart Pearce or Chris Waddle.

27. Which England player was sent off against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup in Saint-Etienne?
Answer: David Beckham.

28. Who scored the penalty that won England their first World Cup shoot-out, against Colombia in 2018?
Answer: Eric Dier.

29. Name one nation England men have played in a World Cup knockout match before 2026.
Answer: Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Cameroon, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Italy, Paraguay, Portugal, Senegal, Sweden, Uruguay. (Knockout ties up to 2022, third-place games included.)

30. England finished third at the 2026 World Cup. Who did they beat in the third-place play-off, and what was the score?
Answer: France, 6-4, in Miami. Bukayo Saka scored three. It was England's best finish since 1966.

Round 4: Name one

31. Name one country that has won the men's World Cup.
Answer: Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, France, Uruguay, Spain, England. Eight in all, and Spain's 2026 win was their second.

32. Name one country that has hosted or co-hosted the men's World Cup (up to and including 2026).
Answer: Uruguay, Italy, France, Brazil, Switzerland, Sweden, Chile, England, Mexico, Germany, Argentina, Spain, USA, Japan, South Korea, South Africa, Russia, Qatar, Canada.

33. Name one captain of a men's World Cup winning team (1930 to 2022).
Answer: Jose Nasazzi, Gianpiero Combi, Giuseppe Meazza, Obdulio Varela, Fritz Walter, Bellini, Mauro Ramos, Bobby Moore, Carlos Alberto, Franz Beckenbauer, Daniel Passarella, Dino Zoff, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthaus, Dunga, Didier Deschamps, Cafu, Fabio Cannavaro, Iker Casillas, Philipp Lahm, Hugo Lloris, Lionel Messi.

34. Name one manager who won the men's World Cup (1930 to 2022).
Answer: Alberto Suppici, Vittorio Pozzo, Juan Lopez, Sepp Herberger, Vicente Feola, Aymore Moreira, Alf Ramsey, Mario Zagallo, Helmut Schon, Cesar Luis Menotti, Enzo Bearzot, Carlos Bilardo, Franz Beckenbauer, Carlos Alberto Parreira, Aime Jacquet, Luiz Felipe Scolari, Marcello Lippi, Vicente del Bosque, Joachim Low, Didier Deschamps, Lionel Scaloni.

35. Name one African nation that played at a men's World Cup up to and including 2022.
Answer: Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Zaire, Algeria, Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Togo, Angola.

36. Name one of the eight grounds that hosted matches at the 1966 World Cup.
Answer: Wembley Stadium, White City Stadium, Villa Park, Hillsborough, Old Trafford, Goodison Park, Ayresome Park, Roker Park.

37. Name one winner of the men's World Cup Golden Ball (1982 to 2022).
Answer: Paolo Rossi, Diego Maradona, Salvatore Schillaci, Romario, Ronaldo, Oliver Kahn, Zinedine Zidane, Diego Forlan, Luka Modric, Lionel Messi. (Messi won it twice.)

38. Name one winner of the best goalkeeper award at a men's World Cup (1994 to 2022).
Answer: Michel Preud'homme, Fabien Barthez, Oliver Kahn, Gianluigi Buffon, Iker Casillas, Manuel Neuer, Thibaut Courtois, Emiliano Martinez.

39. Name one country that has won the Women's World Cup (1991 to 2023).
Answer: United States, Norway, Germany, Japan, Spain.

40. Who scored the only goal of the 2023 Women's World Cup final, when Spain beat England in Sydney?
Answer: Olga Carmona.

How to score it

One point a question. On the "Name one" rounds, any listed answer counts. A table of four that gets past 30 has earned its next round. One that gets past 35 should be checked for phones.

The "Name one" format is how Ball Boffin works every day. You get seven prompts like these, 20 seconds each, and the answer everyone says scores almost nothing while the one nobody thinks of scores big. Bobby Moore will get you on the board. Ray Wilson will get you up the table. Have a go at today's quiz, or warm up with our Premier League quiz questions and the trickier hard football quiz questions.