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A brand-new Pre-Match Poser, anyone?
They’ve only been to one World Cup final – they were on the winning side – and completed the grand slam of Europe’s top five leagues with Manchester City in 2021. Who are we talking about?
We'll reveal the answer this time next week in the next edition of The Pre-Match Poser – stay tuned for that – but for now, here's the answer to last week's conundrum…
Q. Which player follows the following sequence: Cafu, Marco Amelia, Alberto Gilardino, Toni Kroos, Andre Schurrle, Kylian Mbappe…
A. It’s Franco Armani. This is a list of every World Cup-winning player from the 21st Century who was born in a year in which their nation won the World Cup. 2002 winner Cafu was born in 1970 (no Brazilian from that squad was born in ‘58, ‘62 or ‘94), 2006-winning Italians Amelia and Gilardino were both born in 1982, Kroos and Schurrle were both born in 1990 (the year of West Germany’s last triumph), and Kylian Mbappe was born in 1998, months after France won their first World Cup. Argentine keeper Armani was the oldest member of the Albiceleste’s third World Cup-winning squad, born in 1986, the year of their last victory.
More football quizzes we know you'll love
You clearly possess the vision of a deep-lying playmaker, then: navigating those ungooglable riddles is the ultimate test of a footballing brain, but one masterclass is never enough – from career paths to scorers, we've got more quizzes courtesy of Kwizly.
We’re starting with a deep dive into the elite tiers of the continent and the clubs that dared to dream of glory. We’re challenging you to identify the kings of the European stage by naming the top 20 Champions League scorers by their clubs, a task that rewards those who can track an icon's movement across the map. Once you’ve honored the goal machines, it’s time to recall the surprise packages and the powerhouses that came within touching distance of silver by naming every club to have reached one of these major semi-finals since 2000.
If your expertise is more about the individual journey or the very fabric of the clubs themselves, we have two formidable hurdles waiting in the tunnel. You can prove your scouting network is world-class by trying to name these 100 players from their career path, a test of archival memory that covers everyone from one-club legends to the most nomadic journeymen. Following that, see if your eye for detail is sharp enough to name the team that wore these shirts. From the historic threads of the early 2000s to the bold designs of the modern era, it’s time to see if your visual memory is firing on all cylinders.
To decompress after that heavy lifting, find a quiet spot in the stands for FourFourTwo’s Weekend Crossword 58, featuring a special focus on winners, losers, and legends. Remember to join our newsletter for your daily afternoon briefing of curated triviam and truly cement your legacy as a terrace legend, make sure to sign up for The Club, our free membership portal where you can unlock secret hints for those impossible-to-finish quizzes, climb the global leaderboards and join the tactical debate in our comments section.
