Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app.Star individuals, teams, the language of the sport, anagrams, players with food in their surnames and so much more — there is an enormous amount of fun to be had with soccer trivia and wordplay. Which is why The Athletic has today launched Connections: Soccer Edition for the 2026 men’s World Cup, which runs from June 11 to July 19 and is being played in the United States, Mexico and Canada.You won’t need to be a soccer (or football, depending on where you are from) fanatic to play, enjoy and solve these puzzles though — far from it. The game is accessible for even the most casual fans, though the experts will still enjoy testing themselves against the timer and their family and friends.The first one is live and free to play and throughout the tournament each day’s edition will be prominent on our website and app, as well as being housed in the brand-new Play Center we have recently launched (you may need to update your app to see this). The puzzles will also be promoted in various newsletters and articles over the coming weeks. In short, it will be easy to find them.
You are likely already familiar with the world-renowned Connections game which is made by Wyna Liu of The New York Times and its hugely-popular partner game Connections: Sports Edition — expertly assembled by The Athletic’s Mark Cooper.Connections: Soccer Edition, which going forward will be published every single day throughout the World Cup at midnight in your time zone, is of course similar to these two games, and will retain all of the features that have made them both so successful, but — as the name suggests — will be focused exclusively on the most-popular sport in the world. If you are unsure on how the puzzles will work then there is a brief explainer below (it is very simple).I’m delighted to be making these puzzles and you can play along while following matches, reading one of The Athletic’s live blogs or listening to one of its podcasts, before you go to bed or just in a quiet few moments you may have in your day — whatever works best!And if you ever get stuck on a puzzle then don’t worry, there will be a Connections: Soccer Edition Coach article offering guidance and hints for each one. The first of these pieces will be live shortly.Enjoy the game!How to playThe game’s objective is to group sixteen words or objects into four groups of four based on commonalities within each group as quickly as possible. You are allowed to make three mistakes but fail a fourth time and the game ends with the answers being revealed.Each puzzle has exactly one solution, so watch out for words or items that seem to belong to multiple categories!Category examples:
