Football Connections
Find four groups of four · one new puzzle every day · four lives · free, no sign-up.
How to play Football Connections
Football Connections is a daily football brain-teaser built on the same idea as the wildly popular NYT Connections puzzle — only every clue is about the beautiful game. You start with a grid of 16 tiles: a mix of footballers, clubs, countries and football terms. Hidden inside that grid are four groups of four, and your job is to find them all.
Tap four tiles you believe share a connection — for example, four players who all "Played for Real Madrid", or four "Ballon d'Or winners" — then press Submit. Guess all four correctly and the group locks into place with its category revealed. Get it wrong and you lose one of your four lives. Crack all four groups before your lives run out to win the day.
Watch out for the traps
The fun of Connections is the overlap. Some tiles look like they could slot into more than one group — a striker who also won the Ballon d'Or, a club that is also a country's biggest name. Each daily puzzle is hand-checked to have exactly one clean solution, so if you are torn, start with the group you are most certain about and let the rest fall into place. The categories are colour-coded by difficulty once solved: the trickiest group is usually the last to fall.
One puzzle a day, the same for everyone
A single shared puzzle is generated each day using the date, so every player around the world gets the identical grid — perfect for comparing results with friends. Solve it daily to build a streak, tracked privately in your browser along with your games played and solve rate. Miss a day, or fail the puzzle, and the streak resets to zero, so there is always a reason to come back tomorrow.
Tips to solve the grid
- Find your anchor group first. Lock in the four tiles you are completely sure about before risking a life.
- Spell out the categories. Ask yourself "what could connect exactly four of these?" — nationality, club, position, honour or shirt number.
- Beware the obvious. If a group of four feels too easy, it might contain a deliberate decoy that belongs elsewhere.
- Use Shuffle. Rearranging the tiles can help you spot a connection your eyes were skipping over.
Love a daily challenge? Pair this with our Guess the Footballer daily puzzle, push your streak in Football Higher or Lower, merge tiles in Football 2048, or test your knowledge with the football quiz. Browse the whole set on our free football games page.
Frequently asked questions
What is Football Connections?
Football Connections is a free daily football puzzle inspired by the NYT Connections game. You are shown a 4×4 grid of 16 items — footballers, clubs, countries and football terms — and you must sort them into four hidden groups of four, where each group shares a connection such as "Played for Liverpool" or "Ballon d'Or winners".
How do I play?
Tap four items you think belong together, then press Submit. If all four are correct, the group locks in and its category is revealed. If not, you lose one of your four lives. Solve all four groups before you run out of guesses to win the day.
How many mistakes can I make?
You have four lives, meaning up to four wrong guesses. Some items are deliberately tricky and could appear to fit more than one group, so think carefully — the puzzle is designed to have exactly one clean solution.
Is there a new puzzle every day?
Yes. A single shared puzzle is generated for everyone each day and rolls over every 24 hours, so you can compare results with friends. Solve it each day to keep your streak alive — miss a day or fail the puzzle and the streak resets.
Is it free and do I need an account?
It is completely free with no account, no email and no real-money betting. Your streak and stats are stored privately in your browser using local storage — nothing is sent to a server.
Can I share my result without spoilers?
Yes. When you finish, the Share button copies a spoiler-free emoji grid showing the order you solved the groups and your streak — just like the games you already share with friends, without giving the answers away.