Daily Football Grid

The Board

Each square needed a footballer who satisfied both its row and its column. The number shown is how many players in the database qualified — the lower it is, the tighter the square.

How to Approach It

The squares marked in red had the fewest qualifying players, so they were the ones worth solving first — spend a versatile name somewhere easy and you may find the tight square has no answer left that you know.

Remember that each footballer can only be used once per grid, which is what makes a board with several overlapping categories harder than it looks. There is more on this in the strategy guide.

Answers

Every footballer in the database who satisfied each square on this board. Only nine could be used in a single grid, and never the same name twice.