Sports quiz of the week: Afcon, Ashes, Australian Open and a hefty transfer fee

1. Chris Wood’s £25m move to Newcastle makes him the most expensive thirtysomething ever signed by a Premier League club. Which player – signed by a foreign club – has commanded the highest transfer fee for a player in his 30s?

   1. Gabriel Batistuta

   2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

   3. Marko Arnautovic

   4. Cristiano Ronaldo

2. Which word – that dates back to the sixth century – has been trademarked by a Premier League club?

   1. Clarets

   2. Aplomb

   3. Gunners

   4. Albion

3. 

   Cameron Smith won the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii this week, setting a new record for the lowest ever score on a PGA Tour golf event. What was his final score in the 72-hole event?

   1. 21-under par

   2. 29-under par

   3. 34-under par

   4. 40-under par

4. There were no replays in the third round of the FA Cup, which felt like a departure from the days when teams would play time and time again to find a winner. The longest ever FA Cup tie took place between Alvechurch and Oxford in 1971. How many times did they play each other in the competition that year?

   1. Four

   2. Six

   3. Eight

   4. Ten

5. The police have spoken to Chester FC, who play in the National League North – the sixth tier of English football – about a possible contravention of Covid regulations. What did they do wrong?

   1. They held a 25-minute work meeting on their pitch

   2. They held a Christmas party in their clubhouse

   3. They had a leaving party for their sacked manager

   4. They had a crowd of 2,075 fans at a match when the rules suggest they should be restricted to 50 fans

6. 

   What makes the Test match between England and Australia this week different to their previous meetings in the Ashes?

   1. England have never gone into a final Test having failed to win the previous four

   2. It will be the first day/night Test in Ashes history

   3. It is being played in Tasmania

   4. It will mark the first time that Australia have won the Ashes three times in a row

7. The Japanese footballer Kazuyoshi Miura signed for a new club this week. Why is that remarkable?

   1. Miura was the Yokohama manager but has given up the job to return to playing – with their local rivals

   2. Miura has moved in every transfer window (summer and January) for the last 10 years

   3. Miura is 54 years old

   4. Miura stepped away from the game last year, won a boxing world title last week and is now returning to football

8. As you might have heard, Novak Djokovic is the reigning champion in the men's singles at the Australian Open. Who is the champion in the women's singles?

   1. Emma Raducanu

   2. Naomi Osaka

   3. Ashleigh Barty

   4. Garbiñe Muguruza

9. 

   Lewis Baker joined Chelsea as a nine-year-old in 2005. He made his second appearance for the club on Saturday. When was his first appearance?

   1. Two days earlier

   2. 365 days earlier

   3. 1,320 days earlier

   4. 2,925 days earlier

10. The Africa Cup of Nations kicked off this week. Which country is hosting the tournament?

    1. Cameroon

    2. Cape Verde

    3. Central African Republic

    4. Comoros

11. Tunisia played Mali in the group stage of the tournament this week. What happened in the 86th minute and 89th minute of the game?

    1. Tunisia had their manager sent off in the 86th minute and his assistant sent off in the 89th minute

    2. Mali scored two goals in the 86th minute and two more in the 89th minute to go from 3-0 down to 4-3 up

    3. The referee pulled up injured in the 86th minute and had to be replaced by the fourth official, who pulled his hamstring in the 89th minute (but soldiered on until the full-time whistle)

    4. The referee blew up for full-time

12. Manchester City and Chelsea – the top two teams in the Premier League table – are playing on Saturday. How many goals have their top scorers scored in the league this season? For context, Liverpool's top scorer, Mohamed Salah, has 16 goals in the league this season.

    1. Seven

    2. 11

    3. 19

Solutions

1:D - Juventus paid £99m for Ronaldo when he was 33 years old. , 2:D - Brighton & Hove Albion applied for the trademark more than a year ago, prompting West Bromwich Albion to seek the same protection. They have now both secured 10-year trademarks for the names “The Albion” and “Albion” with respect to merchandise. Historians have not taken the news well, with author Peter Ackroyd saying: “Albion is one of the most ancient names for Britain and cannot be owned.”, 3:C - Ernie Els set the previous record of 31-under par in 2003. , 4:B - Alvechurch finally won the tie 1-0 in the fifth replay. Graham Allner, who played every minute for Alvechurch, later recalled: “We played each other six times in less than three weeks – Saturday, Tuesday, Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, Monday – and four of those games went to extra time. Plus we had a league game in between, and we all had full-time jobs as well. Then we had to play Aldershot in the next round on the Wednesday, two days after we finally beat Oxford, by which time we were on our knees.”, 5:D - Chester is an English city with a history that dates back to the establishment of a Roman fort in 79 AD, but their stadium is in Wales and the police are saying they should have to comply with Welsh coronavirus restrictions rather than the rules for English clubs. , 6:C - For the first time in 140 years of Ashes history, the smallest state in Australia has been given the chance to host a Test. , 7:C - Miura, who turns 55 next month, has played professional football in five decades (1980s–2020s). , 8:B - Osaka won the event in 2019 and 2021 but is just the 13th seed this year., 9:D - Baker has been on the books at Chelsea for nearly 17 years but has only played twice: as a substitute in an FA Cup third-round tie in January 2014 and as a substitute in an FA Cup third-round tie in January 2022., 10:A - Cameroon have won the tournament five times – second only to Egypt’s seven titles. , 11:D - The referee appeared to blow up for full-time twice before the 90 minutes were up – first after 86 minutes and then, having resumed play, he blew up again after 89 minutes and 47 seconds. Strange. Mali won the game 1-0 thanks to a penalty., 12:A - Watford are 17th in the table but their top scorer, Emmanuel Dennis, has eight goals – more than anyone at Chelsea or Manchester City.

Scores

1. 12 and above.

   Perfection. Have a great weekend

2. 1 and above.

   Ah well. You tried

3. 2 and above.

   Ah well. You tried

4. 3 and above.

   That's a decent score. Have a good weekend

5. 4 and above.

   That's a decent score. Have a good weekend

6. 5 and above.

   That's a decent score. Have a good weekend

7. 6 and above.

   That's a fine score. Have a great weekend

8. 7 and above.

   That's a fine score. Have a great weekend

9. 8 and above.

   That's a great score. Have a good weekend

10. 9 and above.

    Superb. Have a great weekend

11. 10 and above.

    Superb. Have a great weekend

12. 0 and above.

    Ah well. You tried

13. 11 and above.

    Superb. Have a great weekend