The best 50 World Cup quiz questions: From easiest to hardest

So, you call yourself a soccer fan? It’s time to put that to the test.

Everyone knows Argentina and Lionel Messi won the 2022 World Cup-but do you know who their coach was? Or what about Just Fontaine. It’s common knowledge that he holds the record for most goals scored in a single World Cup tournament. But how many did he score?

Think you have the knowledge and nerve to take on our ultimate World Cup quiz and prove yourself as a true master of soccer’s biggest stage?

We’ll be mightily impressed if you can.

World Cup Quiz: Easy Questions

1. Which country hosted-and won-the first-ever World Cup in 1930?

Answer: Uruguay

2. Which country has won the most FIFA World Cups?

Answer: Brazil (5)

3. How often is the FIFA World Cup held?

Answer: Every four years

4. Which country won the 1966 World Cup on home soil?

Answer: England

5. Who is the only player ever to win three World Cup titles?

Answer: Pelé (1958, 1962, 1970)

6. Which major global conflict caused the 1942 and 1946 FIFA World Cups to be canceled?

Answer: World War II

7. How many World Cup titles has France won?

Answer: Two (1998, 2018)

8. Which player scored the “Hand of God” goal in 1986?

Answer: Diego Maradona

9. Which African country is the only one to have ever hosted a World Cup?

Answer: South Africa (2010)

10. Who is the only player in history to have scored at five different FIFA World Cup tournaments?

Answer: Cristiano Ronaldo (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022)

World Cup Quiz: Medium-Difficulty Questions

11. Who is the all-time FIFA World Cup top goalscorer?

Answer: Miroslav Klose (16)

12. Which country won the 1954 FIFA World Cup, known for the “Miracle of Bern”?

Answer: West Germany

13. Only two players in history have scored a hat-trick in a FIFA World Cup final. Can you name them?

Answer: Geoff Hurst (England, 1966), Kylian Mbappé (France, 2022)

14. Which nation has hosted the World Cup the most times?

Answer: Mexico (1970, 1986, 2026)

15. Which Cameroonian football legend holds the record as the oldest goalscorer in World Cup history?

Answer: Roger Milla

16. How many goals did Just Fontaine score for France in the 1958 World Cup, still a record for a single tournament?

Answer: 13

17. Which country has finished as runner-up the most times without ever winning the World Cup?

Answer: Netherlands (1974, 1978, 2010)

18. Who scored the winning goal in the 2010 World Cup final?

Answer: Andrés Iniesta (Spain)

19. What was the final score of the 1998 World Cup final between France and Brazil?

Answer: France 3–0 Brazil

20. Which player is the all-time top scorer for the United States in World Cup history?

Answer: Landon Donovan (5)

World Cup Quiz: Hard Questions

21. Which player famously missed the decisive penalty that cost Italy the 1994 World Cup final?

Answer: Roberto Baggio

22. Which French goalkeeper shares the World Cup record for most clean sheets with England’s Peter Shilton?

Answer: Fabien Barthez (10)

23. Which European country’s legendary 1950s team was famously nicknamed the “Mighty Magyars”?

Answer: Hungary

24. Which player did Zinedine Zidane famously headbutt during the 2006 World Cup final?

Answer: Marco Materazzi

25. To the nearest thousand, what is the record attendance for a World Cup match?

Answer: 173,850 (Uruguay vs. Brazil, 1950, Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro)

26. Who is the only player to have scored five goals in a single World Cup match?

Answer: Oleg Salenko (for Russia vs. Cameroon, 1994)

27. In which year did Italy defeat West Germany 3-1 in a World Cup final?

Answer: 1982

28. Which famous American singer comically missed an open-goal penalty during the 1994 World Cup opening ceremony?

Answer: Diana Ross

29. Who scored the quickest goal in World Cup history, finding the net just 11 seconds into a 2002 match?

Answer: Hakan Şükür (for. Turkey vs. South Korea, 2002)

30. Which manager guided Argentina to World Cup glory in 2022?

Answer: Lionel Scaloni

World Cup Quiz: Impossible Questions

31. Which nation holds the record for the most consecutive failed World Cup qualification attempts, with 22?

Answer: Luxembourg

32. Which English referee infamously gave three yellow cards to the same player in a single World Cup match in 2006?

Answer: Graham Poll (to Josip Šimunić, Croatia vs. Australia)

33. Who scored the first-ever goal in FIFA World Cup history?

Answer: Lucien Laurent (for. France vs. Mexico, 1930)

34. What was the name of the dog that famously discovered the Jules Rimet Trophy after it was stolen in 1966?

Answer: Pickles

35. Ravshan Irmatov, the referee who has officiated the most World Cup games, is from which country?

Answer: Uzbekistan

36. Only one coach in history has won two World Cup titles. Name him.

Answer: Vittorio Pozzo (Italy, 1934 & 1938)

37. Which team is the only one to go through an entire World Cup campaign without conceding a goal, and in which year?

Answer: Switzerland, 2006

38. Who is the only player to have appeared in World Cup finals for two different national teams?

Answer: Luis Monti (Argentina, 1930; Italy, 1934)

39. Tim Howard holds the record for the most saves in a single World Cup game. How many did he make?

Answer: 16 (for USA vs. Belgium, 2014)

40. Players from which African nation were threatened by their president after a 9-0 defeat to Yugoslavia in 1974?

Answer: Zaire (now DR Congo)

World Cup Quiz: True or False

41. Norway have never lost to any other team at the World Cup than Italy.

Answer: True (1938, 1994, 1998)

42. Every World Cup-winning nation has been managed by a coach from the same country.

Answer: True

43. The 1974 World Cup final was delayed by 10 minutes because construction workers forgot to place nets in the goals.

Answer: False (they forgot the corner flags)

44. Antarctica is the only continent to never host a World Cup.

Answer: False (Oceania has never hosted)

45. In 2010, Spain won the World Cup despite scoring only nine goals throughout the entire tournament.

Answer: False (they only scored eight)

46. The tiny Caribbean nation of Aruba is the smallest nation ever to qualify for a World Cup.

Answer: False (it’s Curaçao)

47. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have never finished as top scorers at a World Cup.

Answer: True

48. The official 2010 World Cup song, “Waka Waka,” was sung by Jennifer Lopez.

Answer: False (it was sung by Shakira)

49. Brazil is the only country to have played in every single World Cup.

Answer: True

50. No team has ever won a World Cup after losing their opening match.

Answer: False (Spain in 2010, Argentina in 2022)

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Best 50 World Cup Quiz Questions: From Easiest to Hardest. 

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This story was originally published May 4, 2026 at 5:47 PM.