Need help with today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle? You’ve come to the right place.
Welcome to Connections: Sports Edition Coach, a place to collect tips and discuss (and share) the results.
Before we continue, a quick announcement to the public: At the bottom of this article are answers and tips for four categories. So if you want to solve the board without hints, we recommend that you play around before continuing.
You can access today’s game here. And when you’re done, try our limited-edition Connections: Soccer Edition – special for this summer’s World Cup – for an extra challenge.
Today’s challenge
Difficulty of game No. 650: 3 out of 5.
Connections: Sports Edition Hints for July 5, 2026
Scroll below to see one answer in each of the four categories.
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Yellow: WASHER
Green: BALL
Blue: Premier League
Purple: CAPITAL letters
Connections: Sports Edition Answers July 5, 2026
Scroll below to see the complete answers for each of the four categories.
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Yellow
Hockey equipment: HELMET, PUCK, SKATES, STICK.
Green
NBA Defenders: BALL, GIRLAND, HARDEN, MAXI.
Blue
European football leagues: Bundesliga, EREDIVISIE, PREMIER LEAGUE, SERIE A.
Violet
Begins with the DC command in the singular: CAPITALIZE, MYSTICAL, NATIONAL LEAGUE, WIZARD OF OZ.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
Connections: Sports version Athleticthe first ever game, a daily puzzle game designed to allow players to find communications between 16 words on the playing field.
The goal of the game is to group words or objects into four groups of four as quickly as possible based on commonalities within each group. Find the groups without making four mistakes. Each puzzle has only one solution, so keep an eye out for words and objects that belong to multiple categories!
Examples of categories:
Sports ____: Fan, Car, Bar, Radio
American Summer Olympians: Biles, Phelps, Ledecky, Lyles
Each group of categories is assigned a color that is displayed as they are solved: from easy (yellow) to medium (green), from difficult (blue) to difficult (purple).
Who creates the puzzles for Connections: Sports Edition?
It’s me! My name is Mark Cooper, I create Connections: Sports Edition and serve as the managing editor of the college sports magazine here at Athletic. I’ve been before AthleticEditor-in-Chief of the latest news.
The next puzzle will be available at midnight in your time zone. Thanks for playing – share your results in the comments!