Board #961 — 18 August 2026
The daily soccer grid for 18 August 2026: its six categories, 878 valid answers across nine cells, and where the difficulty sat.
This was the daily board on 18 August 2026 — the 961st since the game began. Boards are generated from their date rather than stored, so this one can be rebuilt exactly, and you can still play it from the Archive tab in the game.
The six categories
Down the side
- Played for Chelsea
- Olympic gold medalist
- Played for AC Milan or Inter
Across the top
- Born in the 1980s
- Played for Juventus
- Played in La Liga
How the nine cells broke down
"Valid answers" is how many players in the dataset satisfied both categories. "Most obvious" is the best-known of them — the name most people reach for, and correspondingly the cheapest. "Best available" is the highest score anybody could have taken from that cell.
| Cell | Valid answers | Most obvious | Its value | Best available |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Played for Chelsea × Born in the 1980s | 132 | Olivier Giroud | +47 | 🦄 +166 |
| Played for Chelsea × Played for Juventus | 10 | Didier Deschamps | +25 | 🟪 +48 |
| Played for Chelsea × Played in La Liga | 77 | Cesc Fàbregas | +48 | 🦄 +130 |
| Olympic gold medalist × Born in the 1980s | 6 | Lionel Messi | +7 | 🟪 +47 |
| Olympic gold medalist × Played for Juventus | 4 | Ángel Di María | +13 | 💎 +80 |
| Olympic gold medalist × Played in La Liga | 11 | Lionel Messi | +13 | 🦄 +102 |
| Played for AC Milan or Inter × Born in the 1980s | 374 | Ronaldinho | +48 | 🦄 +166 |
| Played for AC Milan or Inter × Played for Juventus | 68 | Zlatan Ibrahimović | +36 | 🦄 +166 |
| Played for AC Milan or Inter × Played in La Liga | 196 | David Beckham | +47 | 🦄 +166 |
Where this board was won
The tightest cell was Olympic gold medalist × Played for Juventus, with just 4 valid answers in the entire dataset. The roomiest was Played for AC Milan or Inter × Born in the 1980s at 374, a spread of 370.
That gap is the whole game. The roomy cells are where a careless player burns their obvious names for a handful of points each; the tight ones are where the board is actually decided. Anyone who spent Ángel Di María early would have found the last cell considerably harder — a player can only be used once per board.
Who actually qualified
A sample of up to 6 valid answers per cell, spread across the full range rather than taken from the top of it, so each list runs from the obvious pick down towards the deep cuts. The number beside a name is what that answer would have paid in that cell — the same player is worth a different amount in a different cell, which is most of the strategy.
Played for Chelsea × Born in the 1980s
- Olivier Giroud+47
- Nemanja Matić+60
- Yūki Nagasato+68
- Momodou Ceesay+93
- Carl Magnay+137
- Sunday Olayemi+166
…and 126 more.
Played for Chelsea × Played for Juventus
- Didier Deschamps+25
- Álvaro Morata+28
- Juan Cuadrado+34
- Adrian Mutu+37
- Tiago Mendes+39
- Pierluigi Casiraghi+48
…and 4 more.
Played for Chelsea × Played in La Liga
- Cesc Fàbregas+48
- Fernando Torres+56
- Khalid Boulahrouz+62
- Christian Atsu+67
- Winston Bogarde+77
- Jude Soonsup-Bell+130
…and 71 more.
Olympic gold medalist × Born in the 1980s
- Lionel Messi+7
- Samuel Eto'o+32
- Sergio Agüero+33
- Ángel Di María+35
- Carlos Tévez+43
- Javier Mascherano+47
Olympic gold medalist × Played for Juventus
- Ángel Di María+13
- Dani Alves+16
- Carlos Tévez+20
- Sunday Oliseh+80
Olympic gold medalist × Played in La Liga
- Lionel Messi+13
- Pep Guardiola+39
- Sergio Agüero+39
- Dani Alves+44
- Javier Mascherano+54
- Geremi+102
…and 5 more.
Played for AC Milan or Inter × Born in the 1980s
- Ronaldinho+48
- Fabricio Coloccini+76
- Ezequiel Schelotto+94
- Erminio Rullo+137
- Daniel Offredi+166
- Francesco Brunetti+166
…and 368 more.
Played for AC Milan or Inter × Played for Juventus
- Zlatan Ibrahimović+36
- Fabio Cannavaro+55
- Angelo Peruzzi+62
- Pierre Kalulu+68
- Mame Thiam+85
- Oumar Toure+166
…and 62 more.
Played for AC Milan or Inter × Played in La Liga
- David Beckham+47
- Alessandro Florenzi+74
- Márcio Amoroso+78
- Borja Valero+85
- Michael Essien+96
- Chedric Seedorf+166
…and 190 more.