Ball IQPelé Quiz
Test yourself on Pelé: Santos, the New York Cosmos, three World Cups and 1,000-plus goals. A free Pelé quiz with every answer explained — play in your browser.
Free · 21+ Pelé questions · new ones added weekly
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Sample questions shown — the full quiz has many more.
What the Pelé quiz covers
Every question is written and checked by football fans, across the topics that decide a real Pelé expert:
Career & clubs
Every club Pelé played for and the moves in between.
Trophies & honours
Leagues, cups and the biggest nights of the career.
Goals & records
The milestones, the tallies and the records set.
International
The national-team story — tournaments, caps and glory.
Iconic moments
The goals and games fans will never forget.
Awards
Ballon d'Ors, Golden Boots and individual honours.
Think you know Pelé? Prove it in the app.
Streaks, live 1v1, a rating out of 99 — and every quiz in one app.
Download on theApp StorePelé sample questions & answers
Tap “Show answer” to reveal the answer and the story behind it.
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Which player scored in 2 different World Cup finals (1958 and 1970) — both Brazil victories?
- Vavá
- Garrincha
- Pelé
- Zagallo
Show answer
Answer: Pelé
Pelé scored in the 1958 final (Brazil 5-2 Sweden aged 17) and the 1970 final (Brazil 4-1 Italy). Injured before 1962 final.
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Pelé's total World Cup goal tally across all four tournaments he played in (1958, 62, 66, 70) was how many?
- 12
- 17
- 10
- 15
Show answer
Answer: 12
Pelé scored 12 goals in 14 World Cup matches across 4 editions. Tally: 6 in 1958, 1 in 1962, 1 in 1966, 4 in 1970.
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Kylian Mbappe became the youngest player since Pele to score in a World Cup final — how old was he in 2018?
- 18
- 20
- 21
- 19
Show answer
Answer: 19
Mbappe was 19 in the 2018 final; only Pele (17 in 1958) has scored in a World Cup final at a younger age.
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How many World Cup goals did Pelé score in total across his 4 tournament appearances (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970)?
- 10
- 12
- 16
- 14
Show answer
Answer: 12
Pelé scored 12 WC goals in 14 matches across 4 tournaments. He won 3 WCs (1958 as 17-yo star, 1962 injured after group, 1970 legendary captain).
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Which Brazilian playmaker, nicknamed the 'White Pelé', wore the number 10 shirt at three World Cups from 1978 to 1986?
- Sócrates
- Zico
- Falcão
- Rivelino
Show answer
Answer: Zico
Despite being widely regarded as the greatest Brazilian never to win the World Cup, the Flamengo legend captained the brilliant 1982 squad that fell to Italy.
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Which Ghanaian playmaker was a star of Marseille's great early-1990s side?
- Michael Essien
- Tony Yeboah
- Sulley Muntari
- Abedi Pelé
Show answer
Answer: Abedi Pelé
Abedi 'Pelé' Ayew orchestrated Marseille's attack and was part of the 1993 European Cup-winning squad.
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Who is the youngest player to score in a World Cup final?
- Pele
- Michael Owen
- Kylian Mbappe
- Cesc Fabregas
Show answer
Answer: Pele
Pele was 17 years and 249 days old when he scored twice in the 1958 World Cup final.
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When told his concussed player Colin McGlashan didn't know who he was, Partick Thistle manager John Lambie famously replied: 'That's great, tell him he's ___ and get him back on.'
- Zidane
- Pelé
- Maradona
- Beckham
Show answer
Answer: Pelé
The quote even became the title of a book of amusing one-liners from world football.
More quizzes to try
Pelé quiz — FAQ
Which clubs did Pelé play for?
What did Pelé win, and what records does he hold?
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About the Pelé quiz
Pelé is the man against whom every debate about football's greatest still begins — the teenager who won a World Cup and never really stopped. This free Pelé quiz runs the whole arc: the 15-year-old Waldemar de Brito delivered to Santos in 1956, the phenomenon who tore up Brazilian football through the 1960s and made Santos world champions, the three-time World Cup winner, and the ageing king who crossed the Atlantic in 1975 to launch the game in America with the New York Cosmos. Only two professional clubs in a career that spanned two decades and, by FIFA's count, well over a thousand goals. If you can name the club he scored his 1,000th goal against, this quiz is for you.
The defining moments arrived early and never stopped. At the 1958 World Cup in Sweden he became the youngest man ever to win the tournament, at 17, and scored a brace in the final against the hosts — still the youngest player to score in a World Cup final. He won again in 1962, then produced perhaps his masterpiece in Mexico 1970, opening the scoring in the final against Italy and setting up two more as Brazil kept the Jules Rimet Trophy for good. He remains, as of 2026, the only man to win three World Cups. In between came the landmarks: 643 goals for Santos — the most for a single club until Lionel Messi passed it in December 2020 — the two Copa Libertadores and Intercontinental Cups of 1962 and 1963, and the 1,000th goal, a penalty at a packed Maracanã against Vasco da Gama in November 1969.
Expect the full spread. Some of it you'll know cold — the country he won all three World Cups for, say — but the quiz climbs fast. It digs into the Santos golden era and the managers around him, his 77 goals in 92 games for Brazil, the reported $7 million the Cosmos paid to bring him out of retirement in 1975, and the finer print: the opponent in his 1956 Santos debut, the honours he collected in the NASL, and just how Brazil kept a global superstar from ever leaving for Europe.
Every question comes with a short explained answer, so you finish the set knowing more than when you started. Play the sample set below free in your browser, no sign-up. And if it grips you, the full Ball IQ app has 4,000+ questions plus daily challenges and multiplayer.