[4] The magazine includes interviews, a skills school, quizzes and a weekly round-up of results, tables and player ratings from the four main English divisions and the Scottish Premier League in MatchFacts.

[5] The first issue came with an 80-page sticker album and included columns by Tottenham star Ossie Ardiles, Manchester United's Steve Coppell and Nottingham Forest manager, Brian Clough.

[citation needed] On its launch in 1979, the magazine initially failed to catch the dominant circulation of its main weekly football rival, Shoot.

[1] Under his editorship Match was transformed, finally overtaking Shoot to become the biggest-selling football title in Britain, with its weekly sales peaking at 242,000 during this period.

[7] In the face of such market dominance by Match, during this period many of its rival titles either closed or, in the case of Shoot, changed frequency to monthly.