“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack in will.”
— Vince Lombardi
Be a creator: submit articles, writings, and analyses; gain followers who are curious about your opinions; showcase your expertise; enrich the growing In Medias Sport community with your presence, and eventually become a regular contributor.
Rate The Game
This category is about interpreting and assessing a sporting event as a complete experience — not by assigning a score, but by exploring what made it meaningful, memorable, compelling or disappointing.
A sporting event can affect us in many different ways. Its significance may be shaped by the stakes involved, the quality of the performance, the level of excitement, the personal connection we feel towards the athletes or teams, and the place the event occupies in sporting history.
A little help when considering the evaluation criteria:
In my humble opinion, there are four main factors that most strongly determine what kind of sporting experience we ultimately get:
The Stakes → If an event has high stakes, it will automatically be more captivating. Every move and every moment carries greater weight. A friendly match simply cannot be compared to a World Cup final.
The Quality → One cannot ignore the level of performance shown by the athletes practicing the given sport. This probably does not need much explanation, but when we see outstanding individual or team performances that represent the very peak of the sport, the event is automatically elevated to a higher level.
The Excitement → Of course, these factors are connected to each other to some extent, but generally speaking, if an event is very exciting, it can compensate even for possible shortcomings in quality. On the other hand, even an event with little action can come under the spotlight if the stakes are high.
Personal Involvement → Regardless of the quality or how exciting the event is, if we have a personal connection to athletes or teams, it overrides everything. Experiencing the success of our favorites as our own, as fans, brings joy into everyday life.
I mentioned four factors, but in reality there is a fifth one: history. When history comes alive—when historic moments, events, or records are created—it can almost without exception guarantee that the overall experience will be elevated.
Naturally, scoring is an extremely subjective matter, but we are happy to receive analyses, experiences, viewpoints, and ratings of all kinds, so that we can then, in some cases, have a good discussion about them.
Moments
This article series is about recalling moments from the past and doing so using slightly lyrical, gently poetic phrases—for example, by presenting what the world was like when that sports moment happened: what music was playing, what films we were watching, and what cultural events were taking place. Alongside all of this, naturally, the articles also focus on the event itself and on the players and teams involved.
The essence is that we are looking for entertaining, beautifully written, and passionate articles built around a single sporting moment.
Of course, these are only examples; creative freedom is given.
Personal Experiences
Under the Personal Experiences articles, as the name suggests, we are looking for submitted writings that the author personally experienced, attended the sporting event on site, and wishes to share that experience and its circumstances with the community. Naturally, we are not only looking for reports about the sport itself, but also about the journey, the city, or any related experiences connected to it.
If the author wishes to share them, we also warmly welcome any videos or photos created by you to be included in the article.
Portrait of 10
Choose a subject from the world of sport — this can be an athlete, a team, a stadium, a coach, or practically anything. Present it in 10 points, highlighting 10 aspects related to it that will form the backbone and at the same time the subheadings of the article. Introduce your chosen subject in an articulate, entertaining way, in your own style.
Imagine that you are painting a portrait with words, and you have 10 brushstrokes to present the subject you have chosen. This is a great opportunity to show your knowledge within guided, structured boundaries, while still freely expressing yourself and presenting the athlete.
Versus Series
In the Versus Series, we are looking for comparisons between entities in the world of sport. This can include player vs. player, coaches, teams, general managers, or practically anything that places two subjects either against each other or side by side. An important requirement in this category is professional impartiality and analysis supported by data; this is a key condition for these articles to be published.
Time Travel
Choose a historical date, a past point in time — this can be a specific day or even a month — and tell us, in an entertaining and high-quality way, what happened in the world of sport during that period. This is an excellent article series for those who, alongside storytelling and the presentation of facts, wish to showcase their writing skills.
Analysis
This is the central category for writers who want to examine sport in depth and help readers understand not only what happened, but why it happened and what it means.
An analytical article may focus on a match, a tournament, a player, a team, a coach, a tactical decision, a sporting trend, or any other relevant subject. The aim is to go beyond description and offer a clear, well-reasoned interpretation supported by facts, statistics, context, observation, or other relevant evidence.
Strong analysis identifies patterns, explains causes and consequences, examines different perspectives, and connects individual events to the wider sporting picture. It should not merely repeat the result or list what happened. Instead, it should answer deeper questions:
What shaped the outcome?
Which decisions mattered?
Why did one approach succeed while another failed?
What can we learn from the event?
Analytical writing does not have to be dry or overly technical. A successful analysis can also be elegant, engaging, and highly readable. However, its central value must come from the quality of its reasoning, its accuracy, and its ability to make the subject clearer to the reader.
Writers are encouraged to develop their own arguments and viewpoints, but those viewpoints should be grounded in verifiable information and presented with intellectual honesty. A strong analytical piece may reach a clear conclusion, while still acknowledging complexity, uncertainty, and reasonable alternative interpretations.
Opinion Articles
This category is for personal viewpoints, arguments and reflections on the world of sport.
You may write about a player, team, coach, event, decision, controversy, sporting trend, or any other subject that interests you. There are no strict thematic limitations, provided that the article has a clear central idea and offers genuine value to the reader.
An opinion article does not need to present itself as completely neutral. Its purpose is to express a recognisable personal position. However, opinions should still be informed, fair and responsibly argued. Strong opinion writing does not simply make a claim; it explains the reasoning behind that claim and gives the reader something meaningful to consider.
Personal voice, originality and conviction are welcome. Unsupported assertions, misleading claims and empty provocation are not.
What We Look For
Every submission should meet at least one of two standards.
It can stand out because it is well written — engaging, polished and enjoyable to read, like a strong article or a piece of storytelling.
Or it can stand out because it is sharp on the sporting side — accurate, insightful and backed by facts, evidence or solid reasoning.
An article does not have to be great in both ways. It can succeed because of its writing, its analysis, or ideally both. But at least one of these qualities should be clear.
Whatever the category, every submission should have a clear point, show real effort and offer something worthwhile to the reader.