Football Sudoku — Daily Nationality and Position Grid
How Football Sudoku works
Nationality down the side, position across the top — and every club allowed only once. That last rule is the whole difference between this and every other football grid. A grid asks twelve separate questions; a sudoku asks one question twelve times, because your twelfth answer can be blocked by your first.
4 rows × 3 columns, 4 of the 12 cells given away, drawn from 10 qualifying nationalities. Every cell holds at least 3 legal players; the widest holds 28.
There is no goalkeeper column, and that is a data decision rather than a design one. The original plan was 4×4 on GK/DEF/MID/FWD. Simulated over 60 days it solved on 15 and produced only 13 distinct boards — the other 45 failures were an entirely empty goalkeeper cell. We hold 48 goalkeepers across 24 nationalities, and only seven nationalities have two or more in all four positions. A board built on that column would serve the same six countries every day.
Without it: 60 of 60 days solve, with 58 different row sets over the same two months. Twelve cells still need twelve disjoint club histories, so nothing about the sudoku rule was softened — only the column our database cannot fill.
Maintained by the PlayFutbol Data Team · First puzzle published September 2026 · Last audited September 14, 2026.
How to play in 3 steps
- 1
Pick an empty cell
It names a nationality and a position.
- 2
Search a player
They must match both — and share no club with anyone already on the board.
- 3
Complete the board
12 guesses for the 8 cells left to you.
How to solve a board
- 1. Spend the giant clubs last. Naming a Real Madrid player early burns Real Madrid for all eleven remaining cells, and half your instincts run through those squads.
- 2. Journeymen are the cheapest picks — and the most expensive. A player with eight former clubs fills one cell and blocks eight; a one-club veteran costs you almost nothing.
- 3. Start where the pool is thinnest. The nationality with the fewest names is the cell that will strand you; solving it first makes the rest routine.
- 4. Read the given cells as constraints, not gifts. Four names are supplied, and every club those four have played for is already gone before you touch the board.
- 5. Domestic leagues cluster. Picking four players from one country's top division almost guarantees a shared club somewhere in their histories.
A worked example
An English midfielder cell looks like the easiest on the board — dozens of names qualify. It is also the one most likely to be blocked, because almost every English midfielder in the database has passed through the same five or six clubs. The cell to fill first is the one that feels hardest, not the one that feels obvious: a narrow cell has one or two ways through, and if you spend its clubs elsewhere there is no way back.
About the authors
Football Sudoku is maintained by the PlayFutbol Data Team. Every board is proved solvable before it is served — a complete legal solution is constructed by backtracking, and only then are cells hidden. A grid that checks each cell separately can still be globally impossible, which is why this one is built in the other direction.
A valid answer rejected? Email data@playfutbol.app
Frequently asked questions
What is Football Sudoku?
A daily 4×3 football grid. Rows are nationalities, columns are positions, and the sudoku rule is that no club may appear twice anywhere on the board.
How is it a sudoku and not just a grid?
Because the constraint is global rather than per cell. A normal football grid only asks whether each cell has a valid answer. Here your twelfth pick can be blocked by your first, so the board has to be solved as a whole.
What counts as "the same club"?
Every club a player has ever turned out for, not just their current one. Sign a former Real Madrid player and Real Madrid is spent for the rest of the board.
How many guesses do I get?
12, and every attempt counts whether it lands or not. 4 cells are given to you at the start.
Why is there no goalkeeper column?
Because our data cannot support one. Simulated over 60 days, a 4×4 board including goalkeepers solved on 15 of them and produced only 13 distinct boards — the goalkeeper cell was simply empty the rest of the time. Only 7 nationalities have two or more players in all four positions, so a board with that column would serve the same six countries forever.
Is every cell guaranteed a real answer?
Yes, at least 3 of them. A cell with a single possible occupant is a memory test rather than a puzzle, so rows are only used when all their cells clear that floor.
Is the given solution the only one?
No. The generator builds one complete legal board to prove the day is solvable, then hides most of it — but any set of players that satisfies every cell and shares no club is accepted. Your board will usually not match ours.
How was the board built?
Backwards. A full legal solution is found first by backtracking over the most-constrained cells, and only then are cells hidden. Picking axes and hoping a solution exists is exactly how you ship an unsolvable board.
How wide is the pool?
10 nationalities qualify as rows. The widest cell holds 28 legal players, the narrowest 3.
Does everyone get the same board?
Yes. A seeded generator gives every player worldwide the same rows, columns and given cells for a given date.
Is there an archive?
Yes, the last 30 days are replayable and do not affect your daily streak.
Is it free?
Yes. No signup, no paywall, no ads inside the game.
Related daily football games
- Futbol Grid — the same shape without the club rule.
- Trophy Grid — competitions against nationalities.
- Shirt Number XI — shirts 1–11 across eleven nations.
Football Sudoku is maintained by the PlayFutbol Data Team · 12 cells · 10 qualifying nationalities · Last audited September 14, 2026 · Report corrections at support@playfutbol.app.