The following is a rough draft for a season article about league competitions. Feel free to leave comments about it on the discussion page!
The lead should contain season and league name. Start and end dates should also be given, as well (if available) the defending champions. An infobox can optionally be added here as well. However, any information in it not directly contained in the article itself or a cross-reference (e.g. winning/losing streaks or attendance figures) must be sourced.
The 2222–23 season of League XYZ will be the 1234th season of (top-tier) football in Absurdistan (OR: ...will be the 567th season since its introduction). It will begin on <exact date here, not wikified> and end on <exact date here, not wikified>. Team ABC are the defending champions.
Team changes to <preceding season>
editAny team changes compared to the preceding season, including relegations, promotions, mergers, withdrawals etc., go in this section. A change of the number of teams competing in this league in comparison to last season (for example, a reduction from 18 to 16 teams) would also be listed here, as well as name changes of teams between seasons.
Team Losers were relegated at the end of last season after finishing in 10th and last place. They were replaced by Division XYZ champions Team ABC.
Overview
editThis section holds any information about the participating teams in a table. At least the club name and the stadium/ground the club plays its season home matches in (together with its capacity) should be included. If the city name of the team cannot be extracted from the club name, add a column named "Location" between the name and ground columns.
A map depicting the locations of the participating clubs would preferrably be added to this section, either on the right side or directly above/under the (first, see below) table.
For top leagues, head coaches, team captains, kit suppliers and kit sponsors can also be added. However, if the size of the table would clash with the map to be added, consider splitting up the information to two or three tables under appropriate subsections.
If coaches (in the United Kingdom: managers) are to be listed, add another subsection named "Managerial changes" and list all coaching changes happening during the season. Any change (for example sacking/resignation of the current coach or installation of a new coach) has to be sourced.
| Team | Venue (aka stadium) | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Team ABC | ABC Stadium | 23,456 |
| DEF FC | DEF Park | 56,789 |
| GHI United | GHI Stadium | 10,000 |
| add more teams | and their venues | 12,345 |
League table
editThe league table should ideally be formatted using the {{Fb cl ...}} templates. For details how to use those, follow those links: header, table rows, footer, qualification and relegation entries, head-to-head. However, using them is not mandatory as the data displayed is still rather simple.
Examples for how those templates will look like can be found here and here.
The colors for formatting prominent lines are given in the following table. Note: Every team qualifiying for the exact same round of a competition receives the same color.
| Reason for highlighting | Color and HTML code | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Champion | #D0F0C0 | --- |
| Direct promotion to higher league | #D0F0C0 | --- |
| Eligiblity for promotion via play-off | #E8FFD8 | --- |
| Qualification for UEFA Champions League (or a similar tournament), higher round | #D0F0C0 | The standard color is the darker one. If the league has spots for two different rounds of UCL, the team(s) entering in the earlier round shall be marked with the lighter hue. If (under the current format) a league has their best two teams entering in QR3 each, the team entering in the best-placed section shall be marked with the lighter hue to acknowledge the fact that they will be drawn against different pools of teams. |
| Qualification for UEFA Champions League (or a similar tournament), lower round | #E8FFD8 | |
| Qualification for UEFA Europa League (or a similar tournament), highest round | #97DEFF | The standard color is medium blue. If the league has spots for two different rounds of UEL, the team(s) entering in the earlier round shall be marked with the lighter hue. For spots in three rounds: The later the team enters the competition, the darker the shade of blue. In a rare case of four spots in four different rounds (e.g. Scottish Premier League 2008–09), use the lighest shade as well. |
| Qualification for UEFA Europa League (or a similar tournament), higher round | #BBEBFF | |
| Qualification for UEFA Europa League (or a similar tournament), lower round | #CCF3FF | |
| Qualification for UEFA Europa League (or a similar tournament), lowest round | #DDFDFF | |
| Qualification for UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (defunct) | #FFFF99 | --- |
| Qualification for UEFA Intertoto Cup (defunct) | #DDDDFF | --- |
| Eligiblity for demotion via play-off | #FFE6E6 | --- |
| Direct demotion to lower league | #FFCCCC | --- |
A note regarding the use of the "qualified=y" parameter during the season: It should only be applied if a team has mathematically secured the participation in a certain round of a competition. If the league offers qualification spots for different rounds of the same tournament, the parameter must not be set until
Results
editThe results should be formatted using the {{Fb r2 header...}}, {{Fb r team...}} and {{Fb r footer...}} templates. For details how to use those, see the documentation of these templates.
Statistics
editAny statistics, including goalscorers, go in here with separate subsections and must be properly and thoroughly sourced.
Top goalscorers
editAs this information tends to be very simple, usually only consisting of a player, a club and a number of goals, a list format is to be preferred over a table format.
Only up to the best ten scorers plus those who are equal on goals with the tenth-best scorer should be listed. Lists where every single goalscorer of the league is listed are considered a violation of WP:NOT#ALMANAC and thus should not be installed.
Top assistants
editIf available, a list of assistants can be provided. Such a list should be formatted like the goalscorers list. If both scorers and assistants lists are to be included, a two-column format using {{Col-start}}, {{Col-2}} and {{Col-end}} should be used.
Other statistics
editMore statistics, for example "first goal of the season" or "latest goal in a match", go after the scorers and assistants under a suitable heading. Note that any of those stats must be properly sourced.
Honours
editThe honour section usually contains any information like "Team of the year", "Player/coach of the month" and so on. Only official awards given out by the league should be listed.
See also
editSection for cross references to other season articles of the same year(s), e.g. domestic cup.
References
editLists the encyclopaedic references for the article; this is usually done by adding {{Reflist}} immediately below the section header.
External links
editThis section contains external links for further information, e.g. a link to the official league page.
Bottom templates, categories and interwiki links
editA season article should use an appropriate set of bottom templates. Those are usually added as following:
{{fb start}}
{{XYZ league teams}}
{{XYZ league seasons}}
{{XXXX-XY in Absurdi football}} or {{Football in Absurdistan}}
{{XXXX-XY in confederation football}}
{{fb end}}
After the templates, categories and interwiki links (if available) should be added.