Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Football/Football match article notability guidelines (proposal)

These are proposed guidelines. Please go to to comment on them!

The following proposed guidelines outline suggestions for the notability of association football matches on Wikipedia. It begins with an overview of what articles exist, and is based on keeping those which I think have value, but also in creating the scope for articles which might be worth while, particularly outside of England. The main points that I emphasise, and have based these suggestions on are that:


 * A match result is almost never enough, in and of itself, to justify an article, no matter how surprising or unlikely
 * That said, some football matches do shape culture or footballing history and thus deserve a mention. However, this needs to be disentangled from the large amount of coverage that football matches generate in the news
 * Conversely, too, some matches are notable because of their status, despite being irritatingly dull.

Major National and International Finals
The first football matches to gain articles on Wikipedia were international and national cup finals. In knock-out competitions, finals are clearly important as the moment at which a competition title is awarded. Few would question the validity of 2006 FIFA World Cup Final as a Wikipedia article, or even 2006 Norwegian Football Cup Final, 2006 FA Cup Final, 2006 Coupe de la Ligue Final, 1934 Cupa României Final, etc. Similarly, articles for play-off finals of leagues such as the MLS which have a play-off system to decide the champion are also valid - see MLS Cup 2010 as an example.

None of these matches (to my knowledge) have ever been challenged and few, I would expect, would seek to challenge them.

Others
It's difficult to gauge how many further matches exist on Wikipedia, because of the lack of a standard categorisation method. However, recent weeks have seen another raft of AfD's looking at football matches - as of December 8th 2010, there are four ongoing (Articles for deletion/FC Barcelona 5-0 Real Madrid C.F., Articles for deletion/Real Madrid C.F. 2–6 FC Barcelona, Articles for deletion/Manchester United F.C. 7–1 Blackburn Rovers F.C., Articles for deletion/Celtic v Aberdeen (6 November 2010)). In August 2010, the AFD for Manchester United F.C. 9–0 Ipswich Town F.C. closed with no consensus. It therefore seems appropriate to broadly classify some of the existing articles:

Sub-National Cup Finals/Super Cup Matches/Play-off Finals
These are most prevalent in England, where we have articles for many Football League play-off finals, and even articles such as 2004 Football Conference play-off Final and 2010 FA Trophy Final, the latter involving the mighty and beloved Barrow A.F.C.. There are also a number of matches covering various super-cup style finals, whether these be matches between clubs from different nations, such as 2007 Baltic League Final, or domestic matches such as 1974 FA Charity Shield. I think it might be relevant re-opening the discussion on these.

Matches with unusually high or unexpected scores
Arguments for keeping Manchester United F.C. 9–0 Ipswich Town F.C.were, mainly, that it was the highest ever scoring match in the Premier League. We have articles for the highest ever scoring recognised, professional and international matches. Other matches are included because they represent a victory against the odds - such as Sutton United 2–1 Coventry City (1989) - or an extremely unusual score (Charlton Athletic F.C. 7–6 Huddersfield Town F.C.). Other high scoring matches to have articles include Spain vs Malta 1984 UEFA European Football Championship qualifying match, or because of an unlikely win Bayern Munich v Norwich City. Again, I think this category needs rethinking.

Unusual or Charity Matches
Such as The Other Final, Sir Bobby Robson Trophy match or 90 Minutes for Mandela. Presumably the notability for these is based upon the fact that they were particularly unusual occurrences which would not be documented in the normal course of Wikipedia articles on football, but received sufficient attention to make them notable events. This category might also include competitions for one-off trophies, such as the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Trophy Play-Off.

Named or Milestone matches
These matches include debuts of national sides (Scotland v Wales (1876), Ukraine v Hungary (29 April 1992)), politically intriguing games (China v Hong Kong (1985), Poland v Hungary (1939)), matches that have otherwise been shown to imprint themselves on the public conciousness (England v Germany (2000), Battle of Highbury) and games which are notable other than for the fact that they were football matches (The Death Match). Again, this group needs considering.

Proposals
I make the following proposals, in light of these categorisations, with brief explanations (as I'm aware you've already read a lot). Note that some of the figures chosen are arbitrary (eg 12 goals); I'd be happy to alter these!

-- Football matches are not generally considered to be notable occurrences. Furthermore, even the most mundane league fixture can attract levels of press attention and discussion which make it possible to write a verifiable article on them. Therefore, guidelines are required to judge the notability of football matches. These are, however, only guidelines: remember that you can ignore all rules and create articles on any match, particularly if you think they pass general notability guidelines.

Unless states otherwise, it is presumed that all matches below are competitive matches between professional teams. A football match is notable if one (or more) of the following criteria apply:

1. The match is the final of:

a. a nation's premier cup competition (eg FA Cup), whether the nation's league is professional or not

b. the play-offs of a top tier league competition (eg MLS Cup)

c. any senior (that is, non-junior or reserve team) tournament organised by FIFA or one of the continental confederations (eg FIFA World Cup).

d. a nation's secondary cup competition, providing it involves top tier teams (eg Coupe de la Ligue)

e. a domestic or international super-cups ( eg FA Community Shield or Baltic League

f. a play-off gaining promotion to the top tier of a national league system, where both the top and second tier leagues are professional (eg Football League Championship play-offs)

Finals of play-offs or cups at lower levels are not considered to be, in and of themselves, notable, but may pass the criteria below.

2 The match score represents the largest margin of victory of a top tier league, on the date of the match, providing that said league has operated for 20 years or more.

3 The combined total number of goals scored is greater than 12

4 The match broke one of the world: club-match; professional club-match; or international match goal-scoring records at the time. This excludes scoring records achieved before Arbroath 36–0 Bon Accord. It does not preclude articles on international scoring records prior to Australia 31–0 American Samoa, though a lower limit of 12 goals scored may be reasonably applied.

5 The match is notable enough to have received a widely-used name or label, not relating directly to the result (eg Battle of Highbury, The Other Final)

6 The match marked a significant step in the development of football (eg Scotland v England (1872))

7 The match was, in and of itself, a final decider of the title of a top tier league AND occured during the final round of fixtures (eg Liverpool 0–2 Arsenal (26 May 1989))

8 The match contained an event or events which themselves would pass WP:N (eg Argentina v England (1986 FIFA World Cup quarter-final))

9 The match was notable as part of a wider event, that is, for non-sporting reasons (eg The Death Match)

10 The match is a significant footballing or cultural reference point within a nation's history. This might be determined through repeated references in non-news cultural formats, repeated high positions in lists of best or memorable moments, or significant repeated references in histories of football.

Specifically, matches are not notable solely on the basis of:
 * An unexpected victory, no matter how unlikely
 * Being the first or last match of a club, a competition, a nation, a league, or a stadium
 * Being regarded as an excellent victory, or an exceptional performance
 * Receiving significant media coverage purely based on the result

It is not expected that these guidelines will be able to, on their own, provide a definitive answer for the notability of all matches, significantly with regards to points 5-10.