Connections: Soccer Edition today: Hints and answers for June 21, 2026, puzzle No. 11

Need help with today’s Connections: Soccer Edition puzzle? You’ve come to the right place.

Welcome to Connections: Soccer Edition Coach — a spot to gather clues and discuss (and share) scores.

A quick public service announcement before we continue: The bottom of this article includes the answers — and hints — for the four categories. So if you want to solve the board hint-free, we recommend you play before continuing.

You can access today’s game here.

Today’s difficulty

Game No. 11’s difficulty: 3 out of 5

Connections: Soccer Edition hints for June 21, 2026

Scroll below for one answer in each of the four categories.

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Yellow: COAST

Green: CHAMPIONS

Blue: KROOS

Purple: DEAL

Connections: Soccer Edition answers for June 21, 2026

Scroll below for the full answers to each of the four categories.

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Yellow

Final word in name of 2026 World Cup teams in English: ARABIA, CONGO, COAST, HERZEGOVINA

Green

_____ League: CHAMPIONS, EUROPA, PREMIER, NATIONS

Blue

Famous German players: NEUER, KROOS, BECKENBAUER, MATTHÄUS

Purple

Associated with transfers: BID, FEE, DEAL, RECORD

What is Connections: Soccer Edition?

Connections: Soccer Edition is a new, daily puzzle for the 2026 World Cup designed for players to find connections between 16 words on the game board.

The 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:
Teams making World Cup debut in 2026: Cape Verde, Jordan, Curaçao, Uzbekistan
Penalty ____: Spot, Kick, Taker, Shootout

Each category group is assigned a color, which is revealed when you solve it, ranging from easy (yellow) to medium (green) to challenging (blue) to difficult (purple). Of course, these group rankings are subject to interpretation, so you may solve a harder one before an easier one!

Who creates the puzzles for Connections: Soccer Edition?

I do! My name is Will Jeanes and I create Connections: Soccer Edition and work as a senior editor at The Athletic. I also do some writing, focusing mostly on soccer history and statistics.

The next puzzle will be available at midnight in your time zone. Thanks for playing — and share your scores in the comments!