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Sports Trivia Questions
Records that stand, rules that never change and the moments everyone still talks about. Play the sports round, then read every answer below.
Keys 1-4 pick an answer, Enter moves on. Nothing is saved to an account.
Sports trivia is the round that splits a room. Somebody at the table always knows the football answers cold and nothing else, and somebody else has the Olympic history. The trick to a good set is spreading it wide enough that no single fan can sweep it.
The questions below stay on settled ground: rules that have not changed in decades, distances fixed by regulation, and results that are in the record books for good. There is no "current champion" here, because that question is wrong within a season. A marathon has been 42.195 km since 1908, a basketball hoop has been ten feet up since the very first game, and England won in 1966 whatever happens next summer.
Rules and terms: sports trivia questions
How many players from one team are on the field in a soccer match?
Answer: 11 EasyTen outfield players plus the goalkeeper.
How high is a regulation basketball hoop above the floor?
Answer: 10 feet EasyThe height has been ten feet since James Naismith nailed up the first peach baskets.
In American football, how many points is a touchdown worth before the extra point?
Answer: Six EasyThe conversion kick afterwards adds one more, or two if the team runs it in.
How many bases are there on a baseball diamond?
Answer: Four EasyFirst, second, third and home plate.
A full round of golf is normally how many holes?
Answer: 18 EasySt Andrews settled on eighteen in 1764 and the rest of the world followed.
How many players does an ice hockey team have on the ice, including the goaltender?
Answer: Six EasyThree forwards, two defencemen and a goalie.
What colour card sends a soccer player off the field?
Answer: Red EasyCards were introduced at the 1970 World Cup to beat the language barrier.
How many tournaments make up the tennis Grand Slam?
Answer: Four MediumThe Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
How many players are on a cricket team?
Answer: Eleven MediumThe twelfth man is a substitute who can field but not bat or bowl.
How many minutes long is a standard NBA game?
Answer: 48 MediumFour quarters of twelve minutes, longer than the forty-minute international game.
In rugby union, how many points is a try worth?
Answer: Five MediumIt rose from four to five points in 1992 to encourage attacking play.
In tennis, a score of 40-40 is called what?
Answer: Deuce MediumA player must then win two points in a row to take the game.
What is the maximum break in a standard frame of snooker?
Answer: 147 HardFifteen reds each followed by a black, then the colours in order.
What is the internal diameter of a basketball hoop?
Answer: 18 inches HardThat is roughly twice the diameter of the ball itself.
How many squares are on a standard chessboard?
Answer: 64 HardEight rows of eight, alternating light and dark.
Sports and events: sports trivia questions
Wimbledon is a championship in which sport?
Answer: Tennis EasyIt is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, first held in 1877.
Birdie, eagle and albatross are scoring terms in which sport?
Answer: Golf EasyEach describes finishing a hole one, two or three strokes under par.
The Tour de France is a competition in which sport?
Answer: Cycling EasyIt began in 1903 as a stunt to sell newspapers.
A perfect game in ten-pin bowling scores how many points?
Answer: 300 EasyIt takes twelve strikes in a row across ten frames.
Which Grand Slam tennis tournament is played on clay?
Answer: The French Open MediumThe crushed-brick courts at Roland Garros slow the ball and favour long rallies.
How long is a marathon?
Answer: 42.195 km MediumThat is 26 miles 385 yards, a distance fixed at the 1908 London Games.
Which sport is played with a shuttlecock?
Answer: Badminton MediumA struck shuttlecock decelerates faster than any other racket-sport projectile.
Judo was developed in which country?
Answer: Japan MediumJigoro Kano founded it in 1882 from older jujutsu schools.
Which horse race is billed as "the most exciting two minutes in sports"?
Answer: The Kentucky Derby HardThe Churchill Downs race has been run since 1875.
The Fosbury Flop is a technique used in which event?
Answer: High jump HardDick Fosbury's backwards clearance won gold in 1968 and quickly became standard.
Olympic history: sports trivia questions
How many rings are on the Olympic flag?
Answer: Five EasyThe five interlocking rings stand for the five inhabited continents.
The Summer Olympic Games are normally held once every how many years?
Answer: Four EasyThe four-year gap is called an Olympiad.
Which country hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896?
Answer: Greece EasyAthens was chosen as a nod to the ancient games at Olympia.
The 1980 Summer Olympics, boycotted by the United States, were held in which city?
Answer: Moscow MediumThe Soviet Union led a counter-boycott of Los Angeles four years later.
The Olympic Games were cancelled in which two years because of the Second World War?
Answer: 1940 and 1944 HardThe 1916 Games were also lost, to the First World War.
Which country has hosted the Summer Olympics the most times?
Answer: The United States HardSt Louis, Los Angeles twice and Atlanta make four editions.
Famous settled moments: sports trivia questions
Which country won the first FIFA World Cup in 1930?
Answer: Uruguay MediumUruguay hosted the tournament and beat Argentina 4-2 in the final.
Jesse Owens won four gold medals at which Olympic Games?
Answer: Berlin 1936 MediumHe took the 100m, 200m, long jump and 4x100m relay in Nazi Germany.
Which boxer called himself "The Greatest"?
Answer: Muhammad Ali MediumHe won the world heavyweight title three separate times.
Who won the marathon at the first modern Olympics in 1896?
Answer: Spyridon Louis HardA Greek water carrier, whose win made him a national hero overnight.
Which athlete has won the most Olympic gold medals of all time?
Answer: Michael Phelps HardThe swimmer finished his career with 23 golds and 28 medals in total.
Who ran the first sub-four-minute mile in 1954?
Answer: Roger Bannister HardThe medical student clocked 3:59.4 at Iffley Road in Oxford.
Which country won the 1966 FIFA World Cup?
Answer: England HardEngland beat West Germany 4-2 after extra time at Wembley.
Trophies and titles: sports trivia questions
The Stanley Cup is the championship trophy of which league?
Answer: The NHL MediumEvery winning player's name is engraved on the cup itself.
At which golf tournament is the winner given a green jacket?
Answer: The Masters HardAugusta National has handed one to the champion since 1949.
The NFL's championship trophy is named after which coach?
Answer: Vince Lombardi HardIt was renamed in 1971 after the Green Bay coach's death.
In which sport would you compete for the Ryder Cup?
Answer: Golf HardIt is a team match between Europe and the United States, first played in 1927.
The Ashes is a Test series contested between England and which country?
Answer: Australia HardThe name comes from a mock obituary for English cricket printed in 1882.
Answer key
- 11
- Five
- Tennis
- 10 feet
- Six
- Four
- Golf
- 18
- Four
- Greece
- Cycling
- Six
- Red
- 300
- Uruguay
- Four
- The French Open
- Berlin 1936
- 42.195 km
- Eleven
- Badminton
- 48
- Muhammad Ali
- Moscow
- Five
- Japan
- Deuce
- The NHL
- Spyridon Louis
- Michael Phelps
- The Kentucky Derby
- Roger Bannister
- The Masters
- England
- 147
- Vince Lombardi
- 1940 and 1944
- High jump
- 18 inches
- The United States
- 64
- Golf
- Australia
How to play
- Pick a mode: multiple choice, true or false, a 60-second sprint, or the daily quiz.
- Answer with a tap, or press 1 to 4 on a keyboard. The right answer appears straight away with a line explaining it.
- Finish the round to see your score, copy the result grid, and step up a difficulty.
- Hosting a night? The full sports list and a separate answer key are printed below, and the print layout drops the game and keeps the paper.
Tiebreaker questions
Closest guess wins. Read one out when two tables finish level.
In what year were the first modern Olympic Games held in Athens?
Answer: 1896 The revival brought together fourteen nations for nine days of competition.
In what year was the first FIFA World Cup played, in Uruguay?
Answer: 1930 Thirteen teams took part and the hosts beat Argentina in the final.
How many metres long is a marathon course?
Answer: 42195 metres The distance was fixed at 42.195 km, or 26 miles 385 yards, in 1921.
Common mistakes in sports trivia
- The marathon has always been 26.2 miles because that was the distance from Marathon to Athens.
The early Olympic marathons varied in length. The exact 42.195 km figure was standardised in 1921 and traces back to the route used in London in 1908.
- Abner Doubleday invented baseball.
The Doubleday story came from a commission report in 1907 and has no supporting evidence. Baseball developed gradually from older English bat-and-ball games.
- Soccer is an American word invented to avoid saying football.
Soccer is a British abbreviation of association football, coined at English universities. It was in common use in Britain long before it became the standard American term.
- An Olympic gold medal is made of solid gold.
Modern gold medals are mostly silver with a thin gold plating. Solid gold medals were last awarded in the early years of the modern Games.
- The ancient Olympics included a marathon.
There was no marathon in the ancient Games. The event was created for the first modern Olympics in 1896, inspired by a legend about a messenger.
Running this round at a quiz night
A general sports round works best early, while everyone still fancies their chances. Mix the themes rather than blocking them: two rules questions, one Olympic history, one famous moment, then a trophy. Rules and measurements score cleanly, so lead with those and save the older history for the back half. The big argument is naming. Say soccer and football both when you read the question, and name the sport rather than the code where you can. If a team says a rule has since been tweaked, accept the answer on the sheet and move on. For the tiebreaker use the year of the first modern Olympics: it is a settled date, and the closest guess wins.
Frequently asked questions
Do these sports trivia answers go out of date?
No. Every question is written around a settled fact — a rule, a fixed measurement or a completed historical result. Nothing here depends on who currently holds a title, so the answers stay correct season after season.
Is this round fair if some players do not follow sport?
The easy fourteen are deliberately general knowledge rather than fandom. If your group is mixed, run the easy and medium bands and hold the hard round back for a sports-only quiz.
How do I build a balanced sports round for a pub quiz?
Take no more than two questions from any single sport, and mix an Olympic question, a soccer question and one rules question into every ten. That stops a single specialist from winning the round alone.
Not in a quiz mood?
The question games are a different kind of round: no right answers, just prompts you read out and argue about. Would You RatherNever Have I EverTruth or DareThis or That