Thirteen Football Firsts Trivia Quiz

Answer: Preston North End

Preston North End achieved an unbeaten season in 1888-89, the first season of professional football in England, upon the formation of The Football League. Preston won 18 of their 22 games, drawing the other four. The Lilywhites were the dominant side in English football that year, scoring 74 goals and conceding a mere 15 in an era where attacking football was preferred over defensive structure. (Wolverhampton Wanderers had the second-best defensive record with 37 conceded).
Preston also won the FA Cup, and thus won the first league-cup Double.

While Arsenal's achievement is more heralded and respected, likely due to completing a 38-game season undefeated compared to Preston's 22-game season, the Gunners were not the first immortal English team.

Answer: Jose Cea

Cea achieved this during the inaugural World Cup tournament, held in 1930. Cea was Uruguayan, which made his achievement extra special as he scored the hat-trick in his home country (Uruguay hosted the 1930 World Cup). Cea's magical hat-trick came in the semi-final against Yugoslavia, only the second knockout match in World Cup history. (The first knock-out match was Argentina's win over the USA in th eother semi-final. All prior matches were group matches)

Cea's euphoric summer was completed when Uruguay won the first World Cup by defeating Argentina 4-2 in the final. Cea scored in the final as well.

Answer: Peter Schmeichel

The first goal in Premier League history was scored by Sheffield United forward Brian Deane, who scored in the fifth minute of a game against Manchester United on 15 August 1992. The Blades won the game 2-1. Manchester United's goalkeeper at the time was Peter Schmeichel, who will forever have the unwanted title of being the first goalkeeper to concede a Premier League goal.

Answer: 1963

Real's dominance of the European scene in the embryonic years of the competition is unmatched, with Real defeating Stade Reims (1956), Fiorentina (1957), AC Milan (1958), Reims again (1959) and Eintracht Frankfurt (1960). While it would take until 1966 for Los Blancos to win their sixth European title, their conquerors in 1961, hated rivals Barcelona, reached the final that year, losing to Benfica. Real reached the final again in 1962, but they lost to Benfica in the final.

The 1962-63 edition of the European Cup was the first to not feature Madrid or a team that had defeated them. That year, Milan won the competition and defeated Union Luxembourg, Ipswich Town, Galatasaray, Dundee and Benfica. The runners-up Benfica defeated IFK Norkopping, Dukla Prague and Feyenoord before losing the final.

Real were defeated by Belgian club Anderlecht in the preliminary round, but they lost to Dundee in the quarter-finals.

Answer: Serie A

The first team to win 10 Serie A titles were Juventus, who won their tenth championship in 1960-61. Juve had also won two titles in the pre-Serie A era, winning the Prima Categoria in 1905 and Prima Divisione in 1926. While those titles are regarded as official, they were not strictly Serie A titles as the league was not established until 1929.

Real Madrid were the first team to win ten La Liga titles, winning the championship for a tenth time in 1974. Liverpool were the first team to achieve this in the English top flight, achieving this in 1977. Bayern Munich won their 10th Bundesliga in 1989.

Answer: 1990

The 1990 World Cup Final between West Germany and Argentina is often considered to be one of the ugliest and cynical in history. In the 65th minute of the match, Argentinian defender Pedro Monzon performed a reckless high-studs challenge on German forward Jurgen Klinsmann, creating what Klinsmann referred to later on as a "15cm gash" on his shin. Monzon was dismissed, and was soon followed by his team-mate Gustavo Dezotti, who was sent off in the 87th minute.

While the first 13 World Cups (1930-86) featured no dismissals, red cards have become more common in modern tournaments. Marcel Desailly became the third player to receive the "honour" in 1998, while Zinedine Zidane infamously became the fourth in 2006. John Heitinga was the fifth player to be dismissed in a World Cup Final in 2010.

Answer: Lincoln City

Lincoln achieved this in 2017, when the fifth-tier National League side reached the quarter-finals of that year's FA Cup, defeating more established opposition in Oldham Athletic, Ipswich Town, Brighton and Hove Albion and even Premier League side Burnley before losing to eventual champions Arsenal in the quarter-finals.

Lincoln became the first non-league team to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup since Queen's Park Rangers in 1914 (QPR at the time played in the Southern League, which acted as a parallel to the Football League rather than a feeder to it at the time). The 2017 tournament was also notable because two non-league teams reached the last 16 for the first time since the formation of the Football League in 1888. (Sutton United also reached the last 16, and also lost to Arsenal).

Answer: Brazil becomes the first country to win three World Cups

On 21 June 1970, Brazil defeated Italy 4-1 in the 1970 World Cup Final, becoming the first nation to win the tournament three times, after their successes in 1958 and 1962. Pele, Brazil's captain, also became the first player to win three World Cups.

While women's football had existed before the 1970s, the first official women's international match took place between France and the Netherlands in April 1971. The 1970s was a big decade for continental football, as Tottenham Hotspur won the first UEFA Cup final in May 1972 and Ajax defeated Rangers in the first Super Cup final in January 1973, although UEFA refused to recognise the Super Cup until the following year.

Answer: Walter Bowman

Bowman, born in Canada in 1870, played for Accrington and Manchester City between 1892 and 1899. He played as an outside right, similar to a modern-day forward. Seeburg was the first European-born foreigner to play in the Football League, who made a single appearance for Tottenham Hotspur in the 1908-09 season. He later played 17 games for Burnley and 20 games for Grimsby Town.

Hegazi was the first African to play in the Football League, appearing for Dulwich Hamlet and Fulham in 1911. Trautmann is regarded as a legend of Manchester City, making over 500 appearances for the club between 1949 and 1964. He was the first foreign player to win the FWA Footballer of the Year in 1956, after helping City win the FA Cup despite having a broken bone in his neck.

Answer: Saul Malatrasi

Malatrasi, born in 1938, played in his native Italy for his whole career and was a part of European Cup winning campaigns for both of Milan's powerhouse clubs. In 1965, Malatrasi played in the 1965 final, a 1-0 win for Inter Milan over Benfica. He joined AC Milan in 1967 and was a part of the squad that won the 1969 European Cup, though he did not play in the final.

Rimmer was the second player to achieve the honour, forming a part of Manchester United's successful squad in 1968 and Aston Villa's in 1982. Desailly was the first player to accomplish the feat in the Champions League era, winning the 1993 competition with Marseille and the 1994 edition with AC Milan. Seedorf holds the distinction of being the only player to win the competition with three different clubs, lifting the trophy with Ajax in 1995, Real Madrid in 1998 and AC Milan in 2003 and 2007.

Answer: Stanley Matthews

Matthews narrowly pipped Di Stefano to the inaugural Ballon d'Or award in 1956, receiving 47 votes to the Argentinian's 44. Di Stefano would go on to claim the award in 1957 and 1959 after helping Real Madrid to the European Cup in both of those years. Kopa came 3rd in the race for the award in 1956 and 1957 before winning it in 1958.

He too was a part of Real Madrid's European dominance. Eusebio won the award in 1965.

Answer: Vava

Perhaps outshone by 17 year old sensation Pele, Vava scored twice in the 1958 World Cup Final in Brazil's 5-2 win over hosts Sweden and followed this up in 1962 by scoring the third goal in Brazil's 3-1 win over Czechoslovakia. Pele was the second player to achieve the feat by scoring in the 1970 final (a 4-1 win over Italy). Paul Breitner was the third player to achieve the feat, netting for West Germany in the 1974 final against the Netherlands and in the 1982 final against Italy. Zidane was the fourth to manage it, scoring in the 1998 and 2006 finals.

Stabile and Zagallo may not have scored in two different finals but they are
both crucial to the history of the tournament. Stabile was the first golden boot winner at a World Cup in the 1930 event and also scored in Argentina's losing effort in the 1930 final against Uruguay. Zagallo also scored in the 1958 final for Brazil and was the first man to win the tournament as a player and as a coach, guiding the Selecao to the 1970 trophy.

Answer: 1991

While instances of a Women's World Cup have existed since 1970, the official, FIFA-licensed tournament only began in 1991. The big turning point came in 1988, when a 12-team invitational tournament involving women's teams became a huge success. FIFA was convinced enough that in June of that year, they licensed a FIFA Women's World Cup to take place in 1991.

The USA was crowned as the first Women's World Cup winners. The competition is held every four years.