Freelance writer Matthew Adams shares 10 tips for writing engaging sports articles that readers love.

The world of sport has always been one of the most exciting freelance writing niches for content creators, but it is also among the most competitive. That is especially the case today with a surge in niche subscription platforms and fan-led media. More and more prominent writers are building subscription-based followings for sports content on publishing networks like Substack and Medium. The substantial growth of independent digital platforms and women’s sport has generated a new explosion for fan-led communities. 

There are numerous ways you can jump into sports writing, but translating the energy of sport into engaging articles requires a little more than a mere passion for the game, be it baseball, soccer, cricket, basketball, rugby, etc. There are a few core pillars of sports writing for keeping readers hooked on articles. Here are a few pointers for crafting more engaging sports articles that make readers feel as if they’re sitting in the front rows. 

Stick to the Active Voice 

One of the better ways to capture the energy of sport in articles is to stick to the active voice. The active voice places players (the doers) at the beginning of sentences as the subjects. In contrast, the passive voice makes objects (typically balls in sports) the subjects. These two examples show the distinction between the active and passive voice: 

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Passive voice: The winning goal was scored by Arsenal’s Havertz in the dying minutes. 

Active voice: Arsenal’s Havertz scored the winning goal in the dying minutes. 

(The Difference Between the Active and Passive Voice and Which Is Better) 

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The active voice is better for sports writing because it drives forward the narrative with greater urgency and force. It is more preferable than the passive alternative because it places athletes at the center of sporting action. The passive voice drains energy from sports articles by slowing the narrative. 

Remain Objective 

More credible sports journalism depends on stricter objectivity. Don’t let your passion for a sport cloud your objectivity by allowing personal biases for teams you support to creep into articles. You should always apply the same level of descriptive energy for both teams involved in a match. Try to avoid first-person pronouns such as we, I, our, and us in sports articles that aren’t explicitly opinion pieces, for the sake of preserving a neutral, third-person perspective. Let the facts and stats dictate the stories about which teams truly deserved to win matches. 

Incorporate Multimedia Elements 

Website articles can incorporate a variety of multimedia elements, such as videos, graphics, images, interactive components, and even background audio. You can draft more engaging sports articles by integrating multimedia elements into your content. For example, I often incorporate YouTube video clips for relevant sports action to show what happened during matches. Including some YT clips can bring your articles to life a bit more, as in these examples: 

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Images are the most straightforward multimedia elements to include, but make sure you add freely available (non-copyrighted) pictures to your articles. Utilizing web-based data visualization tools is more complicated, but graphs and charts like those included in the BBC website content can add more visual pizazz to sports articles. Alternatively, try creating graphical chart images for sports articles with spreadsheet software like Excel or Calc. 

(How to Find Free-to-Use Images for Writing Projects) 

Provide Analysis and Context 

It’s no longer enough for sports articles to simply summarize events in an era when fans can receive instant score updates on smartphones. To deliver more engaging sports articles, you must explain why things happened and speculate what match outcomes, sporting injuries, or controversial refereeing might mean for the future. For example, the VAR decision in the 2026 West Ham vs. Arsenal Premier League match inspired a deeper examination of the Video Assistant Replay trend in sports articles. Adding deeper context and analysis to your sports articles will make them more engaging. 

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Find Unique Angles 

To make your sports articles stand out from the crowd, try to identify unique angles that others might overlook. For example, a match report for the FIFA World Cup final will be reported across the globe. To make yours stand out, you could examine more subtle tactical changes or write about unsung heroes that shaped the final’s outcome. So, try not to simply repeat what everybody else is saying within your sports pieces. 

Add Short, High-Impact Quotes 

Although not essential, adding short, high-impact quotations to sports pieces can bring them to life with real voices, which makes for a more engaging read. Adding quotations from coaches can add more tactical insights to your articles. A player quote that breaks down a specific play can also enrich a game’s analysis. However, avoid adding less meaningful sports cliché quotes like “we gave it 110 percent.” Sift through the noise to find some of the most high-impact and reasonably concise quotes to include within your sports articles. 

Remember the Inverted Pyramid Structure 

The inverted pyramid structure is the classic journalist model that places the most crucial information at the beginning of sports articles, with supporting details following it and general background information at the end. This inverted pyramid is how you should generally try to structure most sports articles, such as news, opinion, and match reports. The sporting pyramid can be summarized as follows: 

  • The Lead: Who, what, when, where, and why 
  • Supporting details (core analysis): Quotations, statistics, and important plays 
  • Background (historical or future context): Table stats, upcoming fixtures, etc. 

Introductory passages in sports articles are the widest part of the pyramid that should cover the five Ws of who, what, when, where, and why by summarizing the story. We can see that the core analysis fills up the middle areas of sports articles after the lead sections. The context is best left to the closing passages of the article.  

Double-check Player Name Spellings 

Most sports articles will usually need to include some foreign player and manager names. These can be quite easily misspelled, and most spell checkers don’t include many foreign names in their dictionary databases. Thus, you can’t rely on spell checkers to identify foreign name misspellings. Don’t forget to double-check the spellings for foreign players and managers in match (or round) lineup details included on official websites, such as UEFA, FIFA, PGA Tour, Wimbledon, etc. 

Stick to AP Style 

Associated Press is the definitive standard for sports newswriting. Its stylebook even includes a dedicated section that provides comprehensive stylistic guidelines for sports articles. Some digital and print sports publications insist that contributors submit articles in accordance with AP style. Sticking to Associated Press style rules will give your sports articles a more polished, consistent, and professional edge. These are some AP style entries worth noting for sports articles: 

  • Abbreviations: Don’t spell out more common sporting abbreviations like PGA, FIFA, NFL, NBA, etc. 
  • Collective nouns: Sports team names, such as Orlando Magic, take plural verbs and pronouns regardless of whether they end in s. 
  • Halftime: Spell halftime without a hyphen. 
  • Premier League: Do not refer to the Premier League as the Premiership. 
  • Versus: Spell out versus in general narratives, but vs. is permissible for short expressions like Clippers vs. Warriors. 
  • Scores: Always use figures for scores with a hyphen placed in between, such as 2-1 (soccer), 12-6 (American football), 1-under-par (golf). 
  • Offseason: No hyphen is required for offseason. 
  • Playoff: Playoff is one word as a noun but two as a verb phrase, such as now it’s time to play off the match. 
  • Runners-up: Always include a hyphen for runners-up or runner-up. 

Clarify Sporting Jargon 

Many sports have their sporting jargon, such as soccer’s gegenpressing, American football’s Cover 2 defense, and cricket’s a sticky wicket. There’snothing wrong with including more technical and tactical sporting jargon in your articles. However, you can alienate and confuse readers by stuffing your sports articles with too much sporting jargon without clarification. 

Try to strike a reasonable balance by clarifying sporting jargon and terminology that some casual readers might not be familiar with. One way you can do that is to add parentheses after jargon with a brief explainer for what it means. Alternatively, adding a non-restrictive clause is another way you can clarify sporting jargon. For example, Klopp’s Liverpool played gegenpressing, a soccer tactic where a team immediately attempts to win back possession after losing the ball. 

You can raise your game in sports writing by striking that delicate balance of factual accuracy and creative flair. To elevate sports articles, we must mix the basic hard facts with some engaging storytelling for more dramatic narratives and interesting human angles. The one thing you must never forget is that there’s a lot more to sport than mere scores and statistics. The most engaging sports articles capture the raw energy and emotion of players (or athletes), coaches, and fans alike. 

Matthew Adams is a freelancer who has produced a variety of articles for various publications and websites, such as Swing Golf Magazine, TripAdvisor, Windows Report, Tech Junkie, MakeUseOf, Naval History, Military History Matters, Artilleryman, dotTech, and Bright Hub. He has been a freelance tech writer for more than 10 years. Matthew is also the author of Battles of the Pacific War 1941-1945. Check out the book’s blog at battlesofthepacificwar.blogspot.co.uk.

Source: Writersdigest.com