2022 FIFA World Cup Geography Trivia Quiz

Answer: Canada

Canada is the second largest nation in the world. Canada qualified for its first World Cup since 1986. Although originally seeded seventh of eight teams in the regional finals, they came in first in the qualification process for North/Central America and the Caribbean.

The only larger nation, Russia, was banned from the tournament after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Answer: Qatar

Qatar hosted the 2022 World Cup. It became the smallest country ever to host the tournament and the third smallest after Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica to qualify for the finals.

Due to the extreme heat in Qatar, the tournament took place in November/December rather than its traditional June/July timeframe and more of the games started at night than ever before with some as late as 10pm local time,

Answer: Copenhagen, Denmark

At 55 degrees, 43 minutes, Copenhagen is about 3 degrees further north than Berlin. The three incorrect choices (Berlin, Amsterdam, and Warsaw) are all within 18 minutes latitude of each other.

Copenhagen was the fourth most northern capital in 2018, but Iceland and Sweden both failed to qualify for this edition while Russia was banned.

Answer: Canberra, Australia

Although Wellington, New Zealand is further south than Canberra, New Zealand was the last team eliminated from qualification for the World Cup final tournament leaving Canberra as the southernmost capital for the third straight time. These same four capitals (Canberra, Montevideo, Buenos Aires, and Brasilia) were the four southernmost in 2018 while Santiago, Chile replaced Brasilia in the top four in 2014.

Although Canberra was the southernmost national capital, 19 of the remaining 31 capitals were further from the equator, showing how much of the habitable land on earth is in the northern hemisphere.

Answer: No

Quito lies 0 degrees, 13 minutes south of the equator. The center of Quito is approximately 26km from the Monument to the Equator which is in the Canton of Quito but not in the city proper.

Quito was one of only five national capitals of countries in the 2022 World Cup to lie south of the equator.

Answer: Yaounde, Cameroon

Yaounde is only 3 degrees, 52 minutes north of the equator. It is almost 2 degrees further south than Accra which is the next closest to the equator.

For the second straight World Cup, San Jose was the fourth closest to the equator, but the three cities that were closer (Quito, Yaounde, and Accra) were all different from those in 2018 (Bogota, Panama City, and Abuja).

Answer: Canberra, Australia

Not only was Canberra the furthest south of the capitals of countries in the 2022 FIFA Would Cup, it was the furthest east and at 149 degrees east, it was also the furthest from the prime meridian.

Canberra, Tokyo, and Seoul were also the three furthest east in the 2018 world cup with Tehran being the fourth. In 2022, Doha, the capital of the hosts and first-time participant, Qatar took over from Tehran as the fourth easternmost capital by only 9 minutes of longitude.

Answer: Mexico City, Mexico

At 99 degrees west, Mexico City was 15 degrees further west than San Jose. These two were also the furthest west in the 2018 World Cup. However, third and fourth place in 2018 were Panama City, and Lima, both of which did not qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Ecuador and the United States both qualified in 2022 after failing to qualify in 2018.

Answer: No

Accra lies about 12 minutes west of the prime meridian. It is about 25km southwest of the city of Tema which is on the prime meridian. Accra is on the southern coast of West Africa on the Gulf of Guinea. At 5 degrees, 33 minutes North and 0 degrees, 12 minutes West, Accra is the major city closest to the intersection of the equator and prime meridian in the Gulf of Guinea.

Answer: Paris, France

With Ghana qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, Paris, France moved from being the second to the third closest capital to the prime meridian. It was still the closest capital that is entirely in the eastern hemisphere.

Unlike the breakdown between north and south where only five countries in the tournament had capitals south of the equator, the breakdown between east and west is much more evenly divided with fourteen capitals west of the prime meridian and seventeen east (and London split between the two). Of the fourteen west of the prime meridian, three were in Africa (Accra, Ghana, Rabat, Morocco, and Dakar, Senegal) and three were in Europe (Cardiff, Wales, Madrid, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal). The other eight are all in North and South America.