Soccer

Question 1

“Total Football,” a concept that emphasized versatility and team play over a traditional rigid, ball-control style prevalent at the time, was the name given to what national soccer team’s play during the 1974 World Cup, where the country would finish as runner-up to West Germany?

Answer 1

The Netherlands

Question 2

By far the weakest of the six international soccer confederations, the Oceania Football Confederation was dealt a blow when Australia moved to the Asian Football Confederation in 2006. That left New Zealand as the OFC’s predominant team, but New Zealand is not the most populous country in the confederation - that honor goes to what nation that, like Australia and New Zealand, is a Commonwealth Realm?

Answer 2

Papua New Guinea

Question 3

Nigeria has won the Africa Women Cup of Nations soccer tournament all 13 times that it has been contested, with two exceptions. The Cup was won in 2008 and 2012 by what oil-rich small nation that fielded a team consisting largely of naturalized foreigners, but also a few who play in their domestic league which is known as the Liga Feminina de Primera División?

Answer 3

Equatorial Guinea

Question 4

Of all the countries that have won the FIFA Men’s World Cup in its history (and still exist, so not including West Germany), a single one did not qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Identify that country.

Answer 4

Italy

Question 5

The worst disaster in British soccer history occurred at this stadium in 1988. On April 15th of that year, 96 deaths and 766 injuries resulted from a human crush due to overcrowding in the stadium’s away team stands.

Answer 5

Hillsborough

Question 6

Considered to be one of the greatest midfielders of all time, this English soccer player was part of the team that won the 1966 World Cup. That same year, he won the Ballon D’Or.

Answer 6

Bobby Charlton

Question 7

This Buenos Aires football club is the most successful in Argentinian league history with 67 official titles.

Answer 7

Boca Juniors

Question 8

As of 2018, this is the least populous country to ever qualify for the World Cup.

Answer 8

Iceland

Question 9

What man, who served as the president of both FIFA and the French Football Association, is credited with founding the World Cup? The World Cup trophy that was in use from 1930-1970 was renamed to honor him in 1946.

Answer 9

Jules Rimet

Question 10

A 1962 World Cup group stage match between Chile and Italy is commonly referred to by what three-word moniker in reference to the level of violence in the game, which included numerous punches, two send-offs, and three instances of armed police entering the field? Tensions were inflamed before the game due to Italian journalists’ insulting descriptions of the host city and retalitory, stereotypical descriptions of Italians by Chilean media.

Answer 10

Battle of Santiago

Question 11

Who is the only player to ever score a hat trick in the World Cup final after recording one goal in regulation and two goals in extra time of the 1966 final? The first of these extra-time goals was the game winner and was controversally awarded by a linesman who signalled that the ball crossed the goal line after deflecting off the crossbar, while the final goal came as time expired.

Answer 11

Geoff Hurst (England)

Question 12

Adidas has provided the official match ball of the World Cup since 1970. The 1970, 1974, and 2018 models were all named after what NASA satellite launched in 1962 that provided the first trans-Atlantic television signal?

Answer 12

Telstar

Question 13

Two stadiums, which are approximately 4,800 miles apart, have hosted two World Cup final matches. Name either.

Answer 13

Maracana (Rio De Janeiro), Estadio Azteca (Mexico City)

Question 14

What is the two-word nickname of the team that in 1990 began its tournament with an upset of the defending champion and ended it with an extra time loss to England in the quarterfinals, becoming the first African nation to reach that round?

Answer 14

Indomitable Lions (Cameroon)

Question 15

Of the 32 teams to participate in the 2018 World Cup, two were first-time qualifiers. Name both. These nations are also connected by a 2016 international scandal that originated in one country and led to the resignation of the other’s prime minister.

Answer 15

Iceland, Panama

Question 16

This former coach (and player) led Deportivo de la Coruña to their first Liga title.

Answer 16

Javier Irureta

Question 17

This term was originally given to superstar players purchased by Florentino Perez while president at Real Madrid. Now the term is also applied to players of similar status at any time.

Answer 17

Galacticos

Question 18

This English soccer player is considered to be the most decorated of any that have played at an international club outside of England.

Answer 18

Steve McManaman

Question 19

This Sao Paolo soccer club has won the most Brazilian national league titles.

Answer 19

Palmeiras

Question 20

This Sao Paolo-based soccer club, named after a now-defunct London amateur club, is listed by Forbes as the most valuable soccer club in all of the Americas.

Answer 20

Corinthians

Question 21

In 2003 what English football club from an area best known for another sporting event, moved 90km north to Milton Keynes where they became known as MK Dons? The club has since been reformed by supporters, and has played multiple heated rivalry matches against the Dons in its new iteration.

Answer 21

Wimbledon FC

Question 22

What Ukrainian footballing powerhouse, known for developing Brazilian footballers like Fred, Bernard and Alex Teixiera and its rivalry with Dynamo Kyiv, has been forced to play home matches in Lviv and Kharkiv since 2014 when the Donbass Arena was partially destroyed amidst the War in Donbass?

Answer 22

Shaktar Donetsk

Question 23

The men’s professional soccer league Major League Soccer (MLS) expanded to twenty-four teams for the current 2019 season with the addition of the team that plays its home games in what Midwestern city?

Answer 23

Cincinatti

Question 24

What women’s national soccer team won the FIFA Women’s World Cup in both 2003 and 2007, the only country in this competition’s history to ever successfully earn back-to-back titles?

Answer 24

Germany

Question 25

Which men’s national team, marking their country’s first FIFA World Cup qualification, upset defending champions France 1-0 in the opening match of the 2002 competition? The team would become the second African side ever to advance to the quarterfinals.

Answer 25

Senegal

Question 26

In what year was the first FIFA Women’s World Cup held? That year the United States defeated Norway in the finals 2-1.

Answer 26

1991

Question 27

Name the soccer team that has finished at the top of the German Bundesliga table every season since 2012–2013, and that has finished no lower than fourth (and that placement only once) since 1995. Card created December 13, 2019

Answer 27

Bayern Munich

Question 28

When a soccer player dribbles the ball between the legs of an opponent, it’s called this spice.

Answer 28

Nutmeg

Question 29

On September 12, 1990, a new UEFA member played its first ever Euro qualifying match, as the home team but on a field in another nation – no venue on their territory met UEFA standards for the playing surface.

The newcomer amateurs stunned Austria 1-0 behind a heroic performance by a goalkeeper whose day job was driving a forklift. Name this UEFA member, among the five smallest in the organization by population, that has since managed five more victories in 73 subsequent European qualifiers, including home and away wins over Greece in qualifying for Euro 2016.

Answer 29

Faroe Islands

Question 30

What two nations, which share a border but not a primary alphabet, co-hosted Euro 2012? Neither advanced past the group stage, to the dismay of managers Franciszek Smuda and Oleh Blokhin.

Answer 30

Poland, Ukraine

Question 31

In the English football (soccer) league system, the top division is the Premier League. What, perhaps counterintuitively, is the name of the second-highest division of the pyramid, to which three Premier League teams are relegated after each season?

Answer 31

Championship League

Question 32

This is the name of the match that features the winners of the previous South American (CONMEBOL) and European championships (UEFA).

Answer 32

Finalissima

Question 33

These four La Liga soccer clubs are the only ones that are not corporations and are instead owned by club members.

Answer 33

1. Real Madrid CF
2. FC Barcelona
3. Athletic Bilbao
4. CA Osasuna

Question 34

This is the name of FC Barcelona’s youth academy. Originally the name of the farmhouse that the team first used to house out-of-town players, this name now also applies to the training facilities used at La Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper since 2011.

Answer 34

La Masia (de Can Planes)