110 sports trivia questions and answers, easy to hard
Football, basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey, golf, tennis and the Olympics, with every answer checked. Each question is marked easy, medium or hard.
These questions stick to settled sports history: past championships, retired legends and the rules of the game. Nothing here depends on this season’s standings, so the answers stay right. Read them out at a team meeting, a happy hour or a full trivia night.
Football trivia questions
American football, from the first Super Bowl to the rulebook basics.
1. How many points is a touchdown worth before the extra point?
Answer: 6 · Easy
2. How many players does each team have on the field at once?
Answer: 11 · Easy
3. How many points is a field goal worth?
Answer: 3 · Easy
4. How many points does a defense score for a safety?
Answer: 2 · Medium
5. How long is a football field from goal line to goal line?
Answer: 100 yards · Easy
6. What is the trophy given to the Super Bowl winner called?
Answer: The Vince Lombardi Trophy · Easy
7. Which team won the first Super Bowl, played in January 1967?
Answer: The Green Bay Packers · Medium
8. Which NFL team finished the 1972 season undefeated, Super Bowl included?
Answer: The Miami Dolphins · Medium
9. Which Pittsburgh Steelers running back made the 1972 catch known as the Immaculate Reception?
Answer: Franco Harris · Medium
10. In which city is the Pro Football Hall of Fame?
Answer: Canton, Ohio · Medium
11. What award goes to the most outstanding player in college football each year?
Answer: The Heisman Trophy · Easy
12. In football slang, what is a pick six?
Answer: An interception returned for a touchdown · Easy
Basketball trivia questions
Peach baskets, the Dream Team and the most famous 100 points ever scored.
13. How many players does each team have on the court at once?
Answer: 5 · Easy
14. Who invented basketball in 1891?
Answer: James Naismith · Easy
15. What did the first basketball games use as hoops?
Answer: Peach baskets · Medium
16. How high off the floor is a regulation basketball rim?
Answer: 10 feet · Easy
17. How many seconds are on the NBA shot clock?
Answer: 24 · Medium
18. With which team did Michael Jordan win all six of his NBA titles?
Answer: The Chicago Bulls · Easy
19. How many points did Wilt Chamberlain score in a single NBA game in March 1962?
Answer: 100 · Medium
20. What was the nickname of the 1992 US Olympic men's basketball team?
Answer: The Dream Team · Easy
21. Which NBA star was nicknamed The Mailman?
Answer: Karl Malone · Medium
22. Which signature shot is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar famous for?
Answer: The skyhook · Medium
23. What name did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar play under before 1971?
Answer: Lew Alcindor · Hard
24. In what year did the WNBA play its first season?
Answer: 1997 · Medium
Baseball trivia questions
America's pastime, with the history that doesn't change from season to season.
25. How many innings are in a standard MLB game?
Answer: 9 · Easy
26. How many outs does each team get in its half of an inning?
Answer: 3 · Easy
27. What does RBI stand for?
Answer: Run batted in · Easy
28. Which player broke MLB's color barrier in 1947?
Answer: Jackie Robinson · Easy
29. Which jersey number did MLB retire for every team in 1997?
Answer: 42, Jackie Robinson's number · Medium
30. How many career home runs did Babe Ruth hit?
Answer: 714 · Medium
31. Which Yankees great was nicknamed The Iron Horse?
Answer: Lou Gehrig · Medium
32. Which San Francisco Giants slugger hit 73 home runs in 2001?
Answer: Barry Bonds · Medium
33. What is it called when a pitcher lets no batter reach base for the whole game?
Answer: A perfect game · Easy
34. How far is the pitcher's rubber from home plate?
Answer: 60 feet, 6 inches · Medium
35. Which team won the 2004 World Series to end an 86-year championship drought?
Answer: The Boston Red Sox · Medium
36. Before winning in 2016, when had the Chicago Cubs last won the World Series?
Answer: 1908 · Medium
Soccer trivia questions
The world's game, from the first World Cup to the Hand of God.
37. How many players does each team have on the field, goalkeeper included?
Answer: 11 · Easy
38. How long is a professional soccer match, not counting stoppage or extra time?
Answer: 90 minutes · Easy
39. What color card sends a player off?
Answer: Red · Easy
40. Which is the only player allowed to handle the ball inside their own penalty area?
Answer: The goalkeeper · Easy
41. What is it called when one player scores three goals in a game?
Answer: A hat trick · Easy
42. How often is the men's FIFA World Cup held?
Answer: Every 4 years · Easy
43. Which country won the first FIFA World Cup, in 1930?
Answer: Uruguay · Medium
44. How many World Cups did Pelé win as a player?
Answer: 3 (1958, 1962 and 1970) · Medium
45. Which player scored the Hand of God goal at the 1986 World Cup?
Answer: Diego Maradona · Medium
46. In what year did England win its first men's World Cup?
Answer: 1966 · Medium
47. Which country won the first FIFA Women's World Cup, in 1991?
Answer: The United States · Medium
48. Which English club is nicknamed the Red Devils?
Answer: Manchester United · Medium
Hockey trivia questions
Ice hockey questions, from the Original Six to the Miracle on Ice.
49. What trophy does the NHL champion win?
Answer: The Stanley Cup · Easy
50. How many players does each team have on the ice, goalie included?
Answer: 6 · Easy
51. How long is one regulation NHL period?
Answer: 20 minutes · Easy
52. What is a hockey puck made of?
Answer: Vulcanized rubber · Medium
53. Which player is known as The Great One?
Answer: Wayne Gretzky · Easy
54. Which jersey number did the NHL retire for every team in 2000?
Answer: 99, Wayne Gretzky's number · Medium
55. At the 1980 Winter Olympics, which country did the US beat in the game called the Miracle on Ice?
Answer: The Soviet Union · Medium
56. Which two Canadian teams were part of the NHL's Original Six?
Answer: The Montreal Canadiens and the Toronto Maple Leafs · Medium
57. Which position did Bobby Orr play?
Answer: Defense · Medium
58. What three things make up a Gordie Howe hat trick?
Answer: A goal, an assist and a fight · Hard
Golf trivia questions
Scoring terms, the majors and the one shot hit on the Moon.
59. How many holes are in a standard round of golf?
Answer: 18 · Easy
60. What is a score of one under par on a hole called?
Answer: A birdie · Easy
61. What is a score of two under par on a hole called?
Answer: An eagle · Easy
62. What is a score of three under par on a single hole called?
Answer: An albatross (also called a double eagle) · Medium
63. Which club do golfers use to roll the ball into the hole on the green?
Answer: The putter · Easy
64. Which tournament gives its winner a green jacket?
Answer: The Masters · Easy
65. In which US state is Augusta National, home of the Masters?
Answer: Georgia · Medium
66. Which country is home to the Old Course at St Andrews?
Answer: Scotland · Easy
67. In the Ryder Cup, the United States plays against which team?
Answer: Europe · Medium
68. Which astronaut hit golf balls on the Moon during Apollo 14 in 1971?
Answer: Alan Shepard · Medium
Tennis trivia questions
Love, deuce and the four Grand Slams.
69. What is a score of zero called in tennis?
Answer: Love · Easy
70. What is a score of 40-40 called?
Answer: Deuce · Easy
71. What do you call a serve the receiver can't even touch?
Answer: An ace · Easy
72. Which Grand Slam tournament is played on grass?
Answer: Wimbledon · Easy
73. Which Grand Slam tournament is played on clay?
Answer: The French Open (Roland Garros) · Easy
74. Name the four Grand Slam tournaments.
Answer: The Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open · Medium
75. In which city is the US Open played?
Answer: New York City · Easy
76. What was the 1973 match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs nicknamed?
Answer: The Battle of the Sexes · Medium
77. In a standard tiebreak, how many points do you need to win (by two)?
Answer: 7 · Medium
78. In what year did Arthur Ashe win the Wimbledon men's singles title?
Answer: 1975 · Hard
Olympics trivia questions
Summer and Winter Games, from Athens 1896 onward.
79. How many rings are on the Olympic flag?
Answer: 5 · Easy
80. Which city hosted the first modern Olympic Games, in 1896?
Answer: Athens · Easy
81. How long is a marathon?
Answer: 26.2 miles (42.195 km) · Easy
82. Which country is sprinter Usain Bolt from?
Answer: Jamaica · Easy
83. How many gold medals did Jesse Owens win at the 1936 Berlin Olympics?
Answer: 4 · Medium
84. How many gold medals did Michael Phelps win at the 2008 Beijing Olympics?
Answer: 8 · Medium
85. Which gymnast scored the first perfect 10 in Olympic gymnastics, at Montreal in 1976?
Answer: Nadia Comăneci · Medium
86. Which country hosted the first Winter Olympics, in 1924?
Answer: France (in Chamonix) · Medium
87. In what year were the Summer and Winter Olympics last held in the same year?
Answer: 1992 · Medium
88. Which boxing legend lit the cauldron at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics?
Answer: Muhammad Ali · Medium
89. What is the final event of the men's Olympic decathlon?
Answer: The 1500 meters · Hard
90. Who became the first American woman to win the Olympic gymnastics all-around title, in 1984?
Answer: Mary Lou Retton · Hard
Racing, boxing and more
Horse racing, motor racing, cycling and the games people play in bars and bowling alleys.
91. In boxing, what does TKO stand for?
Answer: Technical knockout · Easy
92. What color jersey does the overall leader of the Tour de France wear?
Answer: Yellow · Easy
93. What is a perfect score in ten-pin bowling?
Answer: 300 · Easy
94. Which race is billed as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing?
Answer: The Indianapolis 500 · Medium
95. What do Indianapolis 500 winners traditionally drink in Victory Lane?
Answer: Milk · Medium
96. Which horse race is nicknamed The Run for the Roses?
Answer: The Kentucky Derby · Medium
97. Name the three races of the US Triple Crown of horse racing.
Answer: The Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes · Medium
98. What is the highest score possible with three darts?
Answer: 180 · Medium
99. Which sport uses the terms stone, hammer and house?
Answer: Curling · Medium
100. What is the standard maximum break in snooker?
Answer: 147 · Hard
Hard sports trivia questions
A final round for the know-it-alls. Use these as a tiebreaker or a bonus round.
101. In which stadium was the first indoor Super Bowl played, in 1978?
Answer: The Louisiana Superdome · Hard
102. Who won the first Heisman Trophy and then went first overall in the first NFL draft, in 1936?
Answer: Jay Berwanger · Hard
103. Which team won the first World Series, in 1903?
Answer: The Boston Americans (today's Red Sox) · Hard
104. Which Yankees pitcher threw a perfect game in the 1956 World Series?
Answer: Don Larsen · Hard
105. Starting with which season did the NBA use the three-point line?
Answer: 1979-80 · Hard
106. What was the Tiger Slam?
Answer: Tiger Woods holding all four men's major titles at once, from the 2000 US Open to the 2001 Masters · Hard
107. In what year did Roger Bannister run the first mile under four minutes?
Answer: 1954 · Hard
108. How far did Bob Beamon jump to win the long jump at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics?
Answer: 8.90 meters (29 feet, 2.5 inches) · Hard
109. In what year did women first compete at the modern Olympics?
Answer: 1900 (in Paris) · Hard
110. Who was the first woman to race in the Indianapolis 500, in 1977?
Answer: Janet Guthrie · Hard
How to run a sports trivia round at work
- Pick 10 questions per round. One sport per round works well, or mix them: a round takes about 10 minutes with answers.
- Mix the difficulty. Roughly four easy, four medium and two hard keeps fans and non-fans both in the game.
- Play in teams of four to six. Teams mean the person who never watches sports still gets to shout the winning answer.
- Save the hard round for last. Use it as a tiebreaker or a double-points finale so the scoreboard can still flip.
Planning a whole evening? See how to host a trivia night for a run of show and a printable score sheet, and add a general knowledge round from our 120 Trivial Pursuit-style questions or fun trivia questions.
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