Birmingham City F.C. Trivia Quiz

Answer: Small Heath Athletic

Birmingham City F.C. were founded in the Small Heath district of the city in 1875 and called themselves Small Heath Athletic. The Athletic part of the name was dropped in 1888, before they renamed themselves Birmingham F.C. in 1905. The City part of the name was added in 1943.

Answer: St Andrew's

St Andrew's was named after a local church, and was built on waste land once occupied by a brickworks. A gypsy encampment had to be removed before work began on construction of the stadium, and legend has it that the club was cursed for 100 years in retribution. The new ground attracted a record attendance of 66,844 for an FA Cup tie against Everton in 1939.

Answer: Blue & White

After an earlier dalliance with black and amber jerseys, Birmingham City adopted blue as their first choice colour in 1890 and have kept it ever since. Shirt designs change from season to season, but the most popular colour schemes for Birmingham City since World War 2 have been blue with white trim or blue with a white central panel.

The club's nickname is the rather unimaginative "Blues".

Answer: West Bromwich Albion & Manchester City

In 1931, Birmingham City defeated Liverpool, Port Vale, Watford and Chelsea before beating Sunderland 2-0 at Elland Road, Leeds, in the semi-final. In the final at Wembley, West Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion were the 2-1 winners, with Joseph Bradford scoring Birmingham's only goal.

In 1956, Torquay United, Leyton Orient, West Bromwich Albion and Arsenal were dispatched, before Sunderland were once again their semi-final opponents. Hillsborough, Sheffield, was the venue this time, and Birmingham ran out 3-0 winners. In the final at Wembley, Manchester City proved too strong, winning 3-1, with Noel Kinsey scoring the Birmingham goal.

Answer: Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

The Inter-Cities Cup was an early European cup competition which was originally intended to promote trade fairs, with participants limited to clubs from those cities who organised such fairs. The competition would later be expanded to include clubs who were runners-up in their respective league championships. This competition would eventually evolve into the UEFA Cup in 1971 and, in 2009, it became the Europa League.

Birmingham City were early participants in this competition, and reached the final in both 1960, when they lost to Barcelona, and 1961, when A.S. Roma defeated them.

Answer: Aston Villa

Birmingham City defeated Doncaster Rovers, Barrow, Notts County, Manchester City and Bury to reach the 1963 League Cup final, which in those days was a two-legged affair. Their opponents were bitter local cross-town rivals Aston Villa, and Birmingham got off to the perfect start with a 3-1 win at home in the first leg.

A goalless draw at Villa Park four days later was enough to see City win their first major trophy.

Answer: Trevor Francis

Trevor Francis was just 16 when he made his Birmingham City debut in 1970. He would score 118 goals in 280 league appearances for the club over the next decade. In 1979, Brian Clough signed him for Nottingham Forest, making him Britain's first £1 million player.

He would quickly repay some of that money by scoring the winning foal for Forest in the 1979 European Cup final against Malmo. Francis would later return to Birmingham as manager between 1996 and 2001.

Answer: Gil Merrick

Ron Saunders -- He led Aston Villa to the league title in 1981, but fell out with club's directors in February of the following year. He moved to Birmingham City shortly afterwards, remaining their until 1986 when he joined another West Midlands club, West Bromwich Albion.
Steve Bruce -- He was manager of Birmingham between 2001 and 2007, twice leading them to promotion to the Premier League. He would later have a two-years spell in charge of Aston Villa, between 2016 and 2018.
Alex McLeish -- He was manager of Birmingham City between 2007 and 2011, and led them to League Cup success in 2011. In June of that year he resigned, then astonishingly took over at Villa just five days later, to the fury of both sets of supporters.
Gil Merrick -- He made 485 league appearances for Birmingham between 1939 and 1960, before taking over as manager. He remained in the hot seat until 1964, before disappointing results led to his departure. He never made the move to Villa Park.

Answer: Obafemi Martins

In the 2011 League Cup, Birmingham City defeated Rochdale, Milton Keynes Dons, Brentford and Aston Villa before seeing off West Ham United over two legs in the semi-final. The club were massive underdogs against Arsenal in the final at Wembley, but scored first through Nikola Zigic of Serbia. Normal service looked to having been resumed when Robin van Persie equalised for the Gunners shortly afterwards but, with extra-time looming, Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins, who had only just come on as a substitute, scored the winner from point blank range. [their first League Cup triumph was in 1963]

Answer: Tom Brady

Tom Brady won an amazing seven Super Bowl rings, six with the New England Patriots, and the last with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After retiring following the 2022 NFL season, he pursued a number of business interests, including his new role with Birmingham City. He attended the club's opening game of the 2023-24 season, when they defeated Leeds United 1-0.