MatchWire relies on publicly available match records, official competition information, club sources and reputable sports databases to produce its match coverage, statistics and historical archives. Accuracy is the foundation of our wire service, and every statistic, scoreline and player detail is reviewed before publication.
Source of match data
Our editorial team sources match data from several categories of information:
- Official competition materials: line-ups, match reports, disciplinary records and fixture lists published by leagues, federations and governing bodies.
- Club sources: press offices, official websites and verified social-media channels of the clubs we cover.
- Live match feeds: in-stadium data streams and trusted third-party data partners, clearly labelled as live figures where time-sensitive.
- Historical archives: records from reputable sports databases, official yearbooks and reference-grade statistical repositories that maintain publicly accessible, auditable records.
Where possible, the Sports Data & Statistics Lead, Tom Caldwell, cross-references data from at least two independent sources before it enters our match centres or historical tables.
Verification process
Before publication, every statistic goes through a multi-step review:
- Raw data is ingested from the source and checked for obvious anomalies (e.g. incorrect player numbers, impossible shot totals).
- The Standards & Fact-Checking Lead, Robert Kavanagh, reviews match statistics for internal consistency against official competition feeds.
- Any discrepancy between sources triggers a hold on the data until the editor covering the match can confirm the correct figure.
- Historic records are audited periodically, and readers can always flag a suspected error via corrections@matchwire.org.
We do not publish crowd-sourced or user-submitted statistics unless the user is a verified club or league official.
Live data and labelling
Live match data — including real-time scores, shots, possession, cards and substitutions — is clearly marked as live on match centres and liveblogs. Once a match concludes, the data is recategorised as final after verification against the official match report. Readers can expect the final record to be reconciled within two hours of the final whistle for major competitions.
Corrections and updates
If an error is identified — whether by the editorial team, a reader, a club or a governing body — we will correct the record promptly. The process is as follows:
- Email corrections@matchwire.org with the page URL, the incorrect data and the correct information plus a source reference.
- The Standards & Fact-Checking Lead will review the claim, usually within one working day.
- If the error is confirmed, the data is updated and a short correction note is appended to the affected page or dataset.
- Substantial errors affecting historical records are highlighted in our corrections log, which readers can request by contacting the same address.
We commit to correcting verified data errors within two working days of confirmation.
Historical archives
MatchWire maintains historical records for major leagues and competitions, including past seasons of the Premier League, EFL, SPFL, League of Ireland and UEFA competitions. These archives are sourced from original match reports, official season reviews and reference-grade databases. Where data is incomplete or contradictory, we note the uncertainty in the relevant entry.
Contact
For questions about a specific statistic or dataset, readers can contact the Sports Data & Statistics Lead Tom Caldwell at tom.caldwell@matchwire.org or the Standards & Fact-Checking Lead Robert Kavanagh at robert.kavanagh@matchwire.org.