Wiki Loves Fútbol: Frequently Asked Questions
Editing Track
National team articles: what counts?
Improving a Latin American national team article. That can mean adding a sourced 2026 squad section, filling in cultural or historical context, or expanding an article that's currently thin. Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Curaçao, Panama, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Brazil all qualify, along with others. Ask if you're not sure about a team.
Player BLPs: what's allowed?
Expanding a player biography with reliably sourced material. These are biographies of living persons, so every claim needs a strong source, and anything contentious without one will be removed. Career details, club history, and national-team call-ups are all good targets. Rumor and speculation are not.
Immigration / belonging articles: won't these get reverted?
Not if they're neutral and well-sourced. Add documented context from high-quality sources (human-rights organizations, established news outlets, academic work) and let it stand on its own. Don't editorialize. Picking which reliably-sourced facts to include is normal editing; adding your own opinion isn't. If someone challenges an edit, take it to the talk page instead of re-adding it.
Economic empowerment articles: what's in scope?
Improving articles like Liga MX, Major League Soccer, and related business-impact topics with sourced material on the Latino fan economy, broadcast footprint, or consumer-market data. Cite the source for any statistic you add.
History articles: what qualifies?
Improving articles on past tournaments or relevant history (1994 FIFA World Cup, Estadio Azteca, and so on) with sourced context. Well-documented history that's currently missing, like fan or protest history, counts.
Commons Track
Best match-day snacks: what do I upload?
Your own photo of your watch-party food, uploaded to Wikimedia Commons under a free license. It has to be a photo you took.
Best team spirit: what counts?
Your own photo showing fandom: flags, jerseys, face paint, a decorated room. Your work only.
Fútbol culture: what kind of photo?
Your own photos of community leagues, street soccer, local fields, neighborhood fútbol life.
Can I upload a photo of a player, a match, or the TV broadcast?
No. Those almost always carry copyright or venue restrictions and get deleted from Commons. Stick to your own photos of fans, food, and community life. They're the safest option and the most useful for the campaign.
Does the photo need to be used in an article to count?
No. A valid, freely-licensed upload to Commons in the right category earns the stamp. If it ends up in an article too, that's a bonus.
I don't own the rights to a great photo I found online. Can I use it?
No. Upload only images you took yourself or that are verifiably under a compatible free license. When in doubt, leave it out.
Translation Track
Which direction can I translate?
Either way: English to Spanish, or Spanish to English.
Do I have to translate a whole article?
Aim for a complete, meaningful translation rather than a single paragraph. If the article is very long, check with an organizer about scoping a reasonable section before you start.
Do I have to attribute the original?
Yes. Translations have to credit the source article. The Content Translation tool does this for you automatically. The sourcing also needs to hold up in the target language.
Can I use machine translation?
As a starting point, sure. But raw machine output won't pass, and unedited machine translations often get deleted. Clean it up so it reads naturally and is properly cited.
Creation Track
What can I create?
A new article where there's a clear, sourceable gap. It counts once the article is published to mainspace, not while it's still a draft.
How do I know a topic is notable enough?
It has to meet Wikipedia's notability guideline: significant coverage in reliable, independent sources. If you're eyeing something borderline, like a list article, check with an organizer first. Some ideas work better folded into an existing article than as a standalone page.
My new article got nominated for deletion. What now?
Don't panic. Reply on the deletion discussion with the sources that establish notability, and ask an organizer for help in our talk page. A well-sourced article usually survives.