Guide · Connections · the daily football grid
How to Play Football Connections
Connections is a daily football grid puzzle. You're shown sixteen footballers and your job is to sort them into four hidden groups of four. It sounds easy — until you realise some players look like they belong in more than one group. Spotting those traps is the whole game. A fresh grid is published every day. Play today's Connections here.
The goal
Find all four secret groups without making too many mistakes. Each group is four players linked by a theme — a club, a nationality, a trophy-winning squad, a position, a transfer, and so on. The links are never labelled; you have to work them out.
How to play, step by step
- Look over the sixteen names and hunt for a set of four you're confident share a link.
- Tap those four names to select them, then submit your guess.
- If you're right, the group locks in as a coloured bar with its theme revealed. If you're wrong, you lose one of your limited guesses.
- Keep going until all four groups are solved — or you run out of tries.
Mistakes and difficulty
You only get a handful of mistakes (four lives), so guessing blindly will end your game quickly. The four groups are also colour-graded by difficulty, from the easiest to the trickiest, so even once you crack three groups the last one can still catch you out.
The trap — the heart of the game
Good Connections grids are built around overlap. A player might be Brazilian and play for Real Madrid and be a forward — so they could plausibly fit three different groups. The puzzle deliberately includes players who fit two categories, and only one of them is correct. Falling for an obvious grouping is the classic way to burn a life.
Strategy tips
- Start with what you're certain of. If four players scream one clear theme and nothing else fits it, that's your safest first guess.
- Watch the overlaps. Before you submit, ask: "Could any of these four belong to a different group?" If yes, you might be walking into the trap.
- Solve by elimination. Sometimes the smartest move is to lock in the three groups you're sure about; the final four are then forced, even if the link isn't obvious.
- Look for the "too obvious" set. If a grouping looks instantly easy, double-check it — Connections loves to bait you with a fake-easy group.
- Think in categories, not just names. Nationalities, current clubs, former clubs, trophy-winning squads, positions and standout transfers are all common themes.
Share your grid
Finish the puzzle and you'll get a coloured grid showing the order you solved the groups and how many mistakes you made — perfect for comparing with friends without giving the answers away.
When does it reset?
A new Connections grid drops every day at 00:00 GMT, the same for everyone. Fancy a different challenge? Try Footle, Tier Drop or Transfer Roulette.