Wikipedia:WikiProject Football/Notability of footballers

This page is part of the WikiProject on Football and aims to provide guidance on the notability of footballers. It outlines the circumstances in which players can be considered eligible for an article on Wikipedia.

In order to be regarded as notable enough for a Wikipedia article, footballers will need to meet either the general notability guideline or the sports-specific notability, for which this page provides the detail related to association football. These guidelines and the football interpretation of them are explained further below.

The general notability guideline
If it can be shown that a player meets the general notability guideline, through sourcing present in the article itself, he or she is eligible for an article on Wikipedia. The purpose of the content further down this page is to establish a theshold of presumption; a level of appearances above which it can be automatically presumed that sourcing exists for a player to meet the GNG.(Comment - not sure if we should be introducing the threshold issue here. This section should be focused specifically on GNG and sources)

'''Need to provide a brief summary of GNG here and outline our interpretation of what is regarded as significant coverage. Should discuss stats databases, local coverage, match reports, whether mention of a transfer is notable etc'''.

Notability of sportspeople
Guidelines on the notability of sportspeople have been produced, and this includes information on what is regarded as inclusion criteria for a range of individual sports. The football section of this guidance currently states that (extract): "2.Players who have appeared, and managers who have managed, in a fully-professional league (as detailed here [i.e. this page]), will generally be regarded as notable." It may be that subject to consensus for this page that the wording at NSPORT/football will change accordingly.

International footballers
Footballers who have played a full international match for their country are deemed notable, and thus do not have to meet the specific notability criteria at this page.

List of fully professional leagues
This section provides a list of known professional leagues. It should not generally include semi-professional leagues, but a reasonable approach to inclusion here can be taken, if a league is known to be mostly professional.

'''Note that the list of leagues below has been copied directly from WP:FPL, with the only change being that the list here has been split into top and lower level leagues. WP:FPL is still currently regarded as the "master page" for these leagues, and further changes should not be made directly here, or if they are deemed necessary, the same changes should be made to the FPL article'''.

In countries where the top division of football is professional, the coverage that the league receives is usually substantial. As such, it is presumed that players who have made a handful of appearances will have received significant enough coverage to meet the requirements of the general notability guideline. As such, players who have made at least five appearances will be presumed to meet the GNG. Players with fewer appearances may still be eligible for articles, if the sourcing in the article itself demonstrates that the individual meets the GNG.

Notable international/regional club competitions
Players may also be deemed notable if they have played in the later stages of a notable international club competition i.e. not the qualifying stages.

Need a complete list of acceptable competitions.

Primary continental tournaments

 * Played in the UEFA Champions League
 * Played in the Copa Libertadores
 * Played in the AFC Champions League
 * Played in the CONCACAF Champions League
 * Played in the CAF Champions League
 * Played X games in the OFC Champions League

Includes previous incarnations of the same cup e.g. European Cup or Asian Club Championship

Secondary continental tournaments

 * X games in the UEFA Europa League
 * X games in the AFC Cup

Includes previous incarnations of the same cup e.g. UEFA Cup

Top level leagues which are not fully professional
'''Note that the list of leagues below has been copied directly from WP:FPL. WP:FPL is still currently regarded as the "master page" for these leagues, and further changes should not be made directly here, or if they are deemed necessary, the same changes should be made to the FPL article'''.

Ranking status of national leagues
A number of the regional football federations that are part of FIFA produce ranking lists regarding the status of the national leagues within their jurisdiction. These lists can provide guidance as to the notability of leagues. The current UEFA league ranking shows the ranking list of European leagues.

Other federations to be added (list)

Attendance figures for football leagues
The attendance figures for matches within football leagues can provide a steer as to the notability of the league, and thus the likelihood of players from that league meeting the general notability guideline. This page provides a list of average attendances for most European leagues.

More explanation needed, and info for other regions where available.

Reporting of leagues in external sources
The notability of a league can also be determined via the degree of reporting at other locations.


 * Soccerway is a reliable website which includes information on various leagues around the world, and for a number of these leagues information is supplied on players. It may be worth investigating the league entries in detail to ascertain which ones have squad info and which don't e.g. there is no squad info for Phillipines, but this is listed for Libya.


 * The Guardians Stats Centre contains information on a number of leagues around the world, including player stats e.g. Olympiakos in the Greek League].

More can be added here, but to some extent, the detail of this section will depend on the consensus view above on whether these "stats database sites" are regarded as notable.