The World Cup final lands at MetLife Stadium on July 19, France and Spain are already through to the semifinals, and the last two spots get decided this weekend. Which means for the next week, every group chat, break room, and bar in America is going to be arguing about soccer. Here are twenty World Cup trivia questions with answers so you can win those arguments instead of just having them.
They run from the 1930 original through the 2026 tournament happening right now. Read them out while you wait for kickoff, or keep them to yourself and look suspiciously well informed.
The early days
1. Which country hosted, and won, the very first World Cup in 1930?
Answer: Uruguay. They beat Argentina 4-2 in the final and reportedly refused to defend the title in Europe four years later.
2. Which country has won the most World Cups?
Answer: Brazil, with five titles (1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, and 2002).
3. Which is the only nation to appear in every single World Cup?
Answer: Brazil again. They have never missed one.
4. Who is the only player to win three World Cups?
Answer: Pele, with Brazil in 1958, 1962, and 1970.
5. Why were there no World Cups in 1942 and 1946?
Answer: World War II. The tournament went twelve years between editions.
6. What was the original World Cup trophy called?
Answer: The Jules Rimet Trophy, named after the FIFA president who launched the tournament.
7. The trophy was stolen in London in 1966. Who found it?
Answer: A dog named Pickles, sniffing around a hedge in South London. Pickles became a national hero.
Legends and heartbreak
8. What was the score of the infamous 2014 semifinal between Germany and host nation Brazil?
Answer: Germany 7, Brazil 1. Still the most surreal scoreline in World Cup history.
9. Who holds the record for most career World Cup goals?
Answer: Miroslav Klose of Germany, with 16 across four tournaments.
10. Which player scored a record 13 goals in a single World Cup?
Answer: Just Fontaine of France, in 1958. Nobody has come close since.
11. In the 2006 final, Zinedine Zidane was sent off for headbutting which Italian defender?
Answer: Marco Materazzi. It was the last touch of Zidane's career.
12. What is the Maracanazo?
Answer: Uruguay's shock 2-1 win over Brazil in the deciding match of the 1950 World Cup, in front of roughly 200,000 stunned fans at the Maracana.
13. Who scored the fastest goal in World Cup history?
Answer: Hakan Sukur of Turkey, about 11 seconds into the 2002 third-place match.
14. Which country won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar?
Answer: Argentina, beating France on penalties after a wild 3-3 final.
The 2026 tournament
15. The 2026 World Cup is the first with how many teams?
Answer: Forty-eight, up from thirty-two.
16. Which three countries are co-hosting the 2026 tournament?
Answer: The United States, Mexico, and Canada. It is the first World Cup with three host nations.
17. With 2026, which country became the first to host the World Cup three times?
Answer: Mexico, after 1970 and 1986.
18. Where is the 2026 final being played?
Answer: MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, on July 19.
19. Which country lost three World Cup finals without ever winning one?
Answer: The Netherlands, in 1974, 1978, and 2010.
20. What was the highest-scoring match in World Cup history?
Answer: Austria 7, Switzerland 5, in 1954. Twelve goals, one very tired scoreboard operator.
Score yourself honestly. Fifteen or more and you probably yell at the TV about offside calls with real authority. Under ten and you have a very good week of soccer ahead of you, because everything will be a surprise.
If this scratched an itch, our Trending Now questions have been pulling from the World Cup all summer, and the pool refreshes every week while the tournament runs. And if you want to sharpen up before the final, these habits actually work.
Play this week's World Cup questions
Trending Now inside Trend Trivia refreshes every Saturday with questions from the week's biggest stories, and right now that means a lot of World Cup. Free on iOS and Android.
