It's Pre-Match Poser time…
What connects the following: a legacy of Pele; Europe’s elite clubs during the 2000s; Italy's and Ivory Coast’s last trophies; and matchgoers in the top four divisions in England during COVID-19?
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. Since plans to move Qatar’s Stadium 974 to Uruguay for the 2030 World Cup look to have been shelved, which is the only arena to have seen two men’s World Cups in the 21st Century?
A. Bruce Arena, who coached the United States in 2002 and 2006.
More football quizzes we know you'll love
Great work on that one, we thought the Pele thing might stump a few of ya. Let's pivot to some more quizzes though, this time powered by Kwizly, as we shift focus from cryptic clues to the sheer statistical and historical weight of the English and European game.
We’re starting with a massive audit of the most lethal finishers to ever grace the pitch and the record-breakers of the modern era. We want you to demonstrate your archival depth by naming every Champions League hat-trick scorer ever, a task that requires you to track the most dominant individual performances in continental history. Once you’ve conquered Europe, it’s time to bring it home to the English top flight: can you name the top 100 scorers in Premier League history?
If your expertise is more about the emotional transitions of the game or the romance of a classic underdog story, try to name the starting XI from Michael Carrick's last-ever match as a player, or pivot to the modern-day shocks by naming every FA Cup giantkiller since 2020. From the stars who shared the pitch with a United icon during his Old Trafford curtain call to the lower-league heroes who have defied the odds in the current decade, let’s see if your scouting network can handle both the sentimental and the sensational.
To lower your heart rate after that heavy statistical lifting, find a quiet spot for FourFourTwo’s Weekend Crossword 62, featuring a clinical mix of shocks, sharp-shooters, and schadenfreude. To ensure you’re always first to the team news, join our newsletter for your daily afternoon briefing of curated trivia and hand-picked long reads, and make sure you've joined The Club, to unlock hints, fight in global leaderboards, get involved in the comments.
