The big 2018 World Cup quiz

France captain Hugo Lloris lifts the World Cup trophy. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

1. Robbie Williams made waves by flipping the finger during the opening ceremony. What was the first song of his set?

   1. Feel

   2. Angels

   3. Rock DJ

   4. Let Me Entertain You

2. How many minutes it take Russia to score the first goal in the opening match?

   1. Three

   2. 12

   3. 44

   4. 89

3. 

   At 45 years and 161 days, who became the oldest ever player to play in a World Cup finals match?

   1. Essam El-Hadary

   2. Sherif Ekramy

   3. Mohamed El-Shenawy

   4. Steve Mandanda

4. What was the only goalless draw of the tournament?

   1. Egypt v Uruguay

   2. Denmark v France

   3. Peru v Denmark

   4. Belgium v England

5. Panama and Iceland, the two debutants at the World Cup, picked up just one point between them. Against which team was it won?

   1. Tunisia

   2. Croatia

   3. Argentina

   4. Nigeria

6. 

   Nigeria only wore their hugely popular home kit once during the tournament. How many shirts did Nike say had been pre-ordered before it went on sale?

   1. One million

   2. Three million

   3. Five million

   4. Ten million

7. Which team won all three of their group games without conceding a goal?

   1. Croatia

   2. France

   3. Uruguay

   4. Belgium

8. Who had a penalty rescinded during the group stage after the referee used VAR and decided that the player had just fallen over?

   1. Cristiano Ronaldo

   2. Neymar

   3. Harry Kane

   4. Lionel Messi

9. 

   Cristiano Ronaldo hit a hat-trick and Diego Costa bagged a brace in the epic 3-3 draw between Spain and Portugal. Who scored the other goal?

   1. Nacho

   2. Isco

   3. Iago Aspas

   4. Andrés Iniesta

10. Three of these players scored and missed penalties (not in shootouts). Who just missed?

    1. Cristiano Ronaldo

    2. Lionel Messi

    3. Luka Modric

    4. Fahad Al-Muwallad

11. Which Belgium player celebrated a goal by smashing the ball back into the net – only to see it rebound off the post and smash him in the face?

    1. Yannick Carrasco

    2. Marouane Fellaini

    3. Michy Batshuayi

    4. Dries Mertens

12. 

    Who coached Senegal, having represented them as a player at the 2002 World Cup finals?

    1. Moussa N'Diaye

    2. Aliou Cissé

    3. Henri Camara

    4. Kalidou Cissokho

13. Japan became the first team to advance through a World Cup group due to their fair play record. How many yellow cards did they pick up in their group games?

    1. None

    2. Two

    3. Four

    4. Six

14. Which two club teams provided players that scored most goals at the World Cup (12 each)?

    1. Manchester United and Manchester City

    2. Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur

    3. Barcelona and Real Madrid

    4. Atlético Madrid and Chelsea

15. 

    Which England player missed his penalty in the shootout against Colombia in the round-of-16?

    1. Eric Dier

    2. Jordan Henderson

    3. Kieran Trippier

    4. Marcus Rashford

16. Which country won their first game at the World Cup for 40 years?

    1. Peru

    2. Panama

    3. Egypt

    4. Iran

17. Which team won a game by scoring in the 95th minute and then lost their next match by conceding in the 92nd and 96th minutes?

    1. Belgium

    2. Argentina

    3. Germany

    4. Brazil

18. 

    What was Volgograd, one of the host cities, known as under the Soviet Union?

    1. Leningrad

    2. Sverdlovsk

    3. Königsberg

    4. Stalingrad

19. Who beat four teams from the southern hemisphere?

    1. Belgium

    2. France

    3. Croatia

    4. Switzerland

20. Which of these teams did not win a penalty shootout?

    1. Russia

    2. England

    3. Belgium

    4. Croatia

21. 

    Complete the sequence: Christian Karembeu, Roberto Carlos, Sami Khedira ...

    1. Luka Modric

    2. Raphaël Varane

    3. Cristiano Ronaldo

    4. Toni Kroos

22. Who were the only team to score six goals in a match?

    1. Belgium

    2. France

    3. England

    4. Brazil

23. Which team beat opponents from Asia, Europe, Africa, Central America and South America?

    1. Belgium

    2. France

    3. Argentina

    4. Brazil

24. 

    Paul Pogba became the first Premier League player to score in a World Cup final since...

    1. Thierry Henry

    2. Patrick Vieira

    3. Emmanuel Petit

    4. No Premier League player has scored in a final

25. Which team were knocked out in the last-16 stage for the seventh time in a row (1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018)?

    1. Switzerland

    2. Colombia

    3. Mexico

    4. Japan

26. What percentage of goals at this World Cup were scored from set pieces?

    1. 31%

    2. 43%

    3. 55%

    4. 67%

27. 

    Croatia had never made it to a World Cup final before. Who beat them in the semis in 1998?

    1. France

    2. Turkey

    3. South Korea

    4. Germany

28. What is the common theme in England's last three knockout wins: Ecuador in 2006, and Colombia and Sweden in 2018?

    1. England scored a free-kick in all three games

    2. Their opponents all wore yellow shirts

    3. England scored a penalty in all three games

    4. All three games went to extra time

29. Three teams lost three games? Panama, Egypt and ...

    1. Costa Rica

    2. Morocco

    3. England

    4. Germany

30. 

    Belgium were the most prolific team at the tournament. How many of their players scored goals?

    1. Six

    2. Eight

    3. Ten

    4. Twelve

31. It was South Korea in 2002, Portugal in 2006, Uruguay in 2010 and Brazil in 2014. Who was it in 2018?

    1. Belgium

    2. Russia

    3. England

    4. Uruguay

32. 

    Harry Kane won the Golden Boot with six goals. What percentage of them were scored from the penalty spot?

    1. 20%

    2. 33%

    3. 50%

    4. 66%

Solutions

1:D - The tournament certainly lived up to challenge., 2:B - Yury Gazinsky scored the first goal of the World Cup in Russia's 5-0 win over Saudi Arabia., 3:A - The Egypt goalkeeper won the first of his 159 international caps in 1996., 4:B - There hasn’t been a World Cup without a goalless draw since 1954., 5:C - Iceland picked up a point in their first game but it went downhill from there. , 6:B - Nigeria only wore the shirt in their game against Iceland., 7:C - Uruguay only conceded three goals in the whole tournament but, unfortunately for them, two of them came in their quarter-final against France., 8:B - A VAR review against Costa Rica saw the referee cancel a penalty he had awarded after he judged that Neymar had dived. The Brazilian star's rolling around caused him to become an internet meme during the World Cup., 9:A - Nacho's goal looked to have secured the points for Spain, until Ronaldo's late free-kick., 10:B - He did make up for his penalty miss against Iceland by scoring a beauty of a goal against Nigeria., 11:C - After the video clip went viral, he tweeted: "Ahahha I knew I would be f*cked the minute I come to my mentions. Why am I so stupid bro? Shit hurts"., 12:B - Cissé has managed Senegal since 2015. He was the only back coach at this year's World Cup., 13:C - Japan picked up four bookings in their three matches, which was two fewer than Senegal and enough to take them to a last-16 tie against Belgium., 14:B - Spurs players Harry Kane, Son Heung-Min, Dele Alli, Kieran Trippier, Jan Vertongen and Christian Eriksen all scored. , 15:B - Henderson's kick was saved but Uribe and Bacca's subsequent misses for Colombia spared his blushes., 16:A - Peru beat both Scotland and Iran in the first group stage of the 1978 World Cup. They last appeared in the tournament in 1982, when they drew with Italy and Cameroon before losing heavily to Poland., 17:C - Toni Kroos scored their late winner against Sweden but two goals from South Korean knocked them out at the group stage anyway., 18:D - Volgograd reverted from Stalingrad in 1961. It was also formerly known as Tsaritsyn. Leningrad was the Soviet name for St Petersburg, Königsberg was a former name of Kaliningrad, and Sverdlovsk is a former name of Ekaterinburg., 19:B - Australia, Peru, Argentina, and Uruguay., 20:C - Belgium won every game they played without the need for extra time – until they met France in the semi-finals., 21:B - Players who have won the Champions League with Real Madrid and then gone on to win the World Cup in the same year., 22:C - Two from the penalty spot, one from a free-kick, one from a corner, a deflection and a screamer., 23:A - And then they finally lost in the semi-finals to the neighbours., 24:C - Pogba became the first ever Manchester United player to score in a World Cup final., 25:C - They did make it to the quarter-finals in 1986., 26:B - England scored nine of their 12 goals (75%) from set pieces., 27:A - The same team that beat them in this year's final., 28:B - England's lucky colour isn't red. It's yellow., 29:C - Who lost to Belgium twice and Croatia once. , 30:C - Romelu Lukaku (four goals), Eden Hazard (three), Thomas Meunier, Dries Mertens, Michy Batshuayi, Adnan Januzaj, Marouane Fellaini, Kevin De Bruyne, Jan Vertonghen and Nacer Chadli. , 31:C - The team that finished fourth, 32:C - He scored two penalties against Panama and one against Colombia.

Scores

1. 32 and above.

   You are the Didier Deschamps of World Cup quizzes

2. 6 and above.

   Were you watching Wimbledon instead?

3. 7 and above.

   Were you watching Wimbledon instead?

4. 8 and above.

   Were you watching Wimbledon instead?

5. 9 and above.

   Were you watching Wimbledon instead?

6. 10 and above.

   Were you watching Wimbledon instead?

7. 11 and above.

   Were you watching Wimbledon instead?

8. 5 and above.

   Oh dear

9. 4 and above.

   Oh dear

10. 3 and above.

    Oh dear

11. 2 and above.

    Oh dear

12. 12 and above.

    You are the Mexico of World Cup quizzes

13. 13 and above.

    You are the Mexico of World Cup quizzes

14. 14 and above.

    You are the Mexico of World Cup quizzes

15. 15 and above.

    You've scraped into the quarter-finals

16. 16 and above.

    You've scraped into the quarter-finals

17. 17 and above.

    You've scraped into the quarter-finals

18. 19 and above.

    You've scraped into the semi-finals but lost to the better team

19. 18 and above.

    You've scraped into the quarter-finals

20. 20 and above.

    You've scraped into the semi-finals but lost to the better team

21. 21 and above.

    You've scraped into the semi-finals but lost to the better team

22. 22 and above.

    You've scraped into the semi-finals but lost to the better team

23. 23 and above.

    You've done admirably well there. Nice work

24. 24 and above.

    You've done admirably well there. Nice work

25. 25 and above.

    You've done admirably well there. Nice work

26. 26 and above.

    You've done admirably well there. Nice work

27. 27 and above.

    You've done admirably well there. Nice work

28. 28 and above.

    You've done admirably well there. Nice work

29. 29 and above.

    You are the Didier Deschamps of World Cup quizzes

30. 30 and above.

    You are the Didier Deschamps of World Cup quizzes

31. 31 and above.

    You are the Didier Deschamps of World Cup quizzes

32. 0 and above.

    Oh dear

33. 1 and above.

    Oh dear