I Dare You To Ace This Quiz!

Answer: Uruguay

After FIFA was founded in 1904 by a small group of European nations, association football grew exponentially. Jules Rimet, who served as president of FIFA between 1921 and 1954, played a big role in the inception of international football competitions. FIFA officially began organizing the first World Cup in 1928 and made Uruguay the host country to celebrate 100 years of its independence.

Football has long been a popular sport in South America, and Uruguay is no exception. The country, located in the southeast of the continent, is bordered by Brazil and Argentina (two famously football-loving nations). Uruguay was perhaps one of the most successful national teams in the first half of the 20th century, winning two World Cups (1930 and 1950) and several Copa America tournaments.

Answer: Benfica

By the 1960s, Manchester United was already established as a local powerhouse in England, having won several First Division titles and two FA Cups. Manchester had not won any major European competition until the 1967-1968 European Cup. The Red Devils defeated Benfica at Wembley Stadium by 4-1, scoring three of those goals in extra time. Captain Bobby Charlton scored two of Manchester's goals. The victory was especially meaningful, not only because they became the first English club to win a European Cup, but also because it happened exactly 10 years after the Munich air disaster that killed eight Manchester United players and which manager Matt Busby survived.

Benfica is one of the most successful football clubs in Portugal. Based in the capital, Lisbon, the team was founded in 1904 and has since won over 35 local league trophies. Benfica won two consecutive European Cups in 1961 and 1962 and has been a regular participant in the tournament ever since.

Answer: Roberto Baggio

The 1994 World Cup was held in the USA. While Brazil had advanced to the knockout stage in first place of Group B, Italy had a harder time because all four national teams in that group bizarrely ended up with the same number of points. Mexico, Ireland, and Italy also had the same goal difference, so the number of goals scored was the deciding factor in Mexico and Ireland taking the first and second spots. Italy also advanced as one of the best third places. In the semi-finals, Brazil defeated Sweden and Italy defeated Bulgaria to set the stage for the second World Cup final between these two nations (the first time was in 1970).

The 1994 World Cup final finished scoreless after extra time and the match had to be decided via penalties. Both Marcio Santos and Franchino Baresi missed their respective team's first penalty kicks, adding excitement to the shootout. While Romario, Branco, and Dunga scored all other three of Brazil's attempts, two consecutive misses by Daniele Massaro and Roberto Baggio sealed Italy's fate. Baggio's miss was especially shocking because he had been, as one of the commentators described him, "the savior of Italy throughout this tournament". Despite the miss, Baggio received the Silver Ball award for his performance in the tournament.

Answer: Golden Boot

A variety of different awards are given at the end of the FIFA World Cup, typically after the final ends and the champion is crowned. Most of these awards originated after 1980; for example, the Golden Ball (for best player) and the Golden Boot (for top goal scorer) were first awarded in 1982, while the Golden Glove (also known as the Lev Yashin award) was first given in 1994.

Originally known as the Golden Shoe award, the Golden Boot is given to the player who scores the most goals in the World Cup. Before 1982, no formal award was given but records were kept in terms of who was the top goal scorer in each tournament. Out of the winners from that era, France's Just Fontaine scored the most goals (13!) in the 1958 World Cup. Between 1982 and 2006, the award was known as the Golden Shoe and it was awarded to legends like Gary Lineker, Ronaldo, and Miroslav Klose. The award changed its name to Golden Boot in 2010. In the 2010 World Cup, four different players were tied with 5 goals. Germany's Thomas Muller was awarded the Golden Boot because he had more assists than the other players.

Answer: Alessandro Del Piero

Juventus was founded in Turin, Italy in 1897. Following a significant investment by club president and then-FIAT vice president Edoardo Agnelli, Juventus quickly became one of Italy's top football clubs. For much of the 20th century, Juventus dominated the Italian league, winning the local tournament 25 times, as well as several Coppa Italia trophies and two European Cups (now UEFA Champions League).

Alessandro Del Piero is an Italian football player whose career was for the most part spent at Juventus. Del Piero's decorated career saw him score over 200 goals with the "Vecchia Signora", as well as over 20 goals with the Italian national team (two of them in World Cup matches against Mexico and Germany). Del Piero broke the record for most appearances across competitions playing for Juventus, with a total of 705 games. He retired in 2014 after briefly playing in Australia and India.

Answer: Yes

According to the International Olympic Committee, football was the first team sport to appear in Olympic competitions, after it was introduced as an exhibition sport in 1900. In the London 1908 Olympic Games, FIFA became involved in the organization of the football portion of the Olympics. Today, rules require that all male players are under the age of 23, though teams are allowed to include three players that don't fulfill this requirement.

This is why players like Andre-Pierre Gignac and Florian Thauvin (France), Guillermo Ochoa (Mexico), and Marco Asensio (Spain) were all able to participate in the 2020 Olympic Games despite being over the age of 23.

Answer: Giuseppe Meazza

Giuseppe "Peppino" Meazza is one of Italy's most beloved footballers. Born in Milan in 1910, Meazza started playing football when he was a child. He joined Inter Milan's youth academy in 1924, when he was only 14 years old. Soon, he was promoted to the main roster and was given the nickname of "il Balilla" or "the little boy" because of his small build and how young he was. Meazza played for Inter Milan for 13 years (1927-1940), where he scored more than 200 goals. Between 1940 and 1946, Meazza played for several other clubs in Italy: AC Milan (which had rejected him when he was younger), Juventus, Varese, and Atalanta. He retired in 1947 serving as Inter Milan's player-coach and remained Inter's coach for another year. Meazza was part of the Italian squads that won the 1934 and 1948 World Cups.

Meazza passed away in 1979. A year later, the iconic San Siro stadium in Milan (home to both AC Milan and Inter Milan) was renamed Stadio Giuseppe Meazza in his honor. The stadium first opened in 1926.

Answer: United States

Edson Arantes do Nascimento, also known as Pele, is one of football's all-time greatest players. Born in 1940 in Brazil, Pele was the son of Dondinho (also a football player) and grew up in poverty. At age 15, Pele made his professional football debut in 1956 playing for Sao Paulo's Santos, scoring a goal in his first match. Since then, many already knew that he was destined to become a superstar. In his 18-year career with Santos, Pele scored over 600 goals and held the record for most goals scored with one club for years, until it was broken by Lionel Messi in 2020, playing for Barcelona. Pele also won three World Cups with Brazil in 1958, 1962, and 1970. Many have largely attributed the 1970 victory to Pele's performance.

Pele retired from football in 1974, having only played professionally with his beloved Santos. However, he came out of retirement in 1975 to join the North American Soccer League, the top football league in the United States at the time. He played for New York Cosmos for two years and then officially retired in 1977 in an exhibition match between New York Cosmos and Santos.

Answer: Real Madrid

Leeds United FC was founded in 1919. They were first promoted to the First Division in 1924 but were relegated back to the Second Division after three seasons. In 1961, Don Revie was appointed manager of the club, a decision that would prove to be a good one. Under Revie, Leeds won two First Division titles (1969 and 1974) and the FA Cup in 1972. Revie made a number of changes to the club, including changing its home uniform to an all-white kit like the one worn by Real Madrid, one of Spain's best clubs. According to an article by James Corbett in "The Guardian", the comparison to the "Galacticos" was "considered preposterous at the time", yet Revie's leadership helped improve the reputation of Leeds United significantly.

Real Madrid has had an all-white uniform as their main kit for most of its history. They are known as "The Blancos" (the Whites) or "Los Merengues" (The Meringues) for this reason. The team has won the Spanish league over 30 times and has also won more than 10 Champions League finals.

Answer: Avram Grant

Avram Grant was born in Petah Tikva, Israel in 1955. Grant never played professional football, but rather started his career as a manager at the young age of 18. His success with the youth system of Hapoel Petah Tikva led to his promotion as coach of Hapoel Petah Tikva's main squad in 1986. From then and until 2002, Grant managed other Israeli clubs like Maccabi Tel Aviv, Hapoel Haifa, and Maccabi Haifa. He served as the manager of Israel's national team between 2002 and 2006 and was very close to qualifying for the Germany 2006 World Cup.

In 2007, Grant was controversially appointed manager of the English club Chelsea. With him at the helm, Chelsea made it to the final of the 2007-2008 Champions League (losing to Manchester United). Grant has also coached English clubs West Ham United and Portsmouth, as well as Ghana's national team.