Block Types - Football Leagues Docs

Each Layout Builder v1 layout offers a different set of blocks, decided by its layout type. A Match layout has up to twenty-six to choose from; a Staff layout has four. This page lists all of them and shows what the less obvious ones render, so you can pick blocks before you start rearranging a layout.

For how layouts, tabs and display rules fit together, start at Layout Builder. This page is the block reference that page points at.

🌐 Global blocks

Three blocks appear in every layout regardless of type.

Block	What it does
Text	Your own text or HTML, with an optional heading above it. Shortcodes inside it run, but dynamic variables such as %match_id% aren’t substituted – use Shortcode or Raw HTML for those.
Shortcode	Runs any shortcode inside the layout, with dynamic variables substituted. See Shortcode Block.
Raw HTML	Your own HTML in a plain full-width wrapper, with no heading. Shortcodes inside it still run and dynamic variables are still substituted. It takes no heading, width, class or spacing options.

Block options

Click the tools icon on a placed block to open Edit Block. Which fields you see depends on the block, so a Header block shows fewer than a Latest Matches block.

Option	Where it appears	What it does
Header	Most blocks	A heading printed above the block. Leave it empty for no heading.
Text	Text, Shortcode, Raw HTML	The content of the block. On Shortcode it lists the dynamic variables you can click to insert, plus an open Shortcode Builder button.
Width	Most blocks	full, 1/2 or 1/3. Half width starts at medium screens. A 1/3 block is half width on medium screens and a third only on extra-large ones. Below that, blocks stack at full width.
Custom Classes	Every block except Raw HTML	Extra CSS classes on the block. See Custom Classes.
Inline CSS	Every block except Raw HTML	Added to the block’s style attribute, for example color:blue;text-align:center;
Margin Top / Margin Bottom	Every block except Raw HTML	Spacing from 0 up to 3 rem, or a small negative margin to pull blocks closer.
Disable HTML Wrapper	Text, Shortcode, Raw HTML	Outputs only your content, without the block’s wrapper div, heading, width or classes.
Stage Number / Group Number	Competition match lists, Matchweek Slides, Standing Tables, Results Matrix (Stage Number on Multistage layouts only; Bracket takes Stage Number)	Limit the block to one stage or group, counted from 1. Empty shows all.
No Data text	Match Latest Matches, Head-to-head matches	Text shown when there’s nothing to list, instead of hiding the block.
Show on Player Position	Shortcode block on a Player layout	Show the block only for goalkeepers, or only for field players.

🧱 Blocks by layout type

Blocks below are grouped by what they do rather than in picker order, so a long list is easier to scan. Nearly all of them accept a heading and a width. Header blocks, the Match Scoreboard and the Player Stats Panel accept neither, and the Home and Away Club Header blocks take a width but no heading.

Club

Block	What it shows
Header	Club logo with its details: city, country, address, website, founded, stadium, kit and social links.
Info	The club’s description text.
Fixtures	The club’s upcoming matches.
Latest Matches	The club’s finished matches.
Squad	The squad for the current season.
Players Stats	A player statistics table for the club’s players.
Club Stats	The club’s own match statistics, not the players’.
Transfers	Transfers in and out.
Birthdays	Upcoming player birthdays.
Gallery	The club’s image gallery.
Bottom Content	The custom content saved on the club itself.

Players Stats and Club Stats are not the same block. Players Stats lists per-player numbers; Club Stats shows the team’s own match statistics. Sites often want both, side by side at half width.

Competition and Competition Multistage

Both types offer the same eleven blocks. Which one renders is decided automatically: a multistage competition, or one created by the API’s Lazy Import, uses the Competition Multistage layout, and everything else uses Competition.

Block	What it shows
Header	Competition logo, title and season.
Matches All	Every match in the competition.
Matches Finished	Played matches only.
Matches Upcoming	Fixtures only.
Matchweek Slides	Matches grouped into a matchweek slider.
Standing Tables	The league table, or one table per group.
Results Matrix	The home-against-away results grid.
Bracket	The knockout bracket.
Players Stats	Season leaders across the competition.
Transfers	Transfers recorded in the competition’s season.
Bottom Content	The custom content saved on the competition.

Match

The largest set, and the one most sites customise. Twenty-five blocks, or twenty-six when the Prediction block is available.

Block	What it shows
Header	The standard match header: competition and matchweek, date and time, both clubs, the score with half-time and full-time status. An upcoming match can show a countdown instead.
Scoreboard	The scoreboard with an image background, with goal scorers listed under each club. See Match Scoreboard.
Summary	The match preview or summary text.
Home Club Header	A bar with the home club’s logo and name, linked to the club page.
Away Club Header	The same for the away club, aligned right.
Goals	Goals scored, both sides, with the minute and any assist.
Cards	Yellow and red cards, including second yellows.
Substitutes	Substitutions made, player out and player in.
Missed Penalties	Penalties not converted.
Penalty Shootout	The shootout, when there was one.
LineUps	Starting elevens and benches.
Formation	The formation graphic on a field. See Match Formation.
Missing Players	Injured and suspended players.
Timeline	Events on a minute-by-minute bar. See Match Timeline.
Commentary	Events and text entries as a vertical feed. See Match Commentary.
Stats	Team match statistics. See Match Statistics.
Custom Player Stats	Your own per-player statistic columns. See Custom Player Statistics.
Referees	The match officials.
Head-to-head matches	Up to 10 earlier finished meetings between the two clubs.
Latest Matches	Recent form for both clubs: each club’s last 5 results up to the day of this match, with form badges.
Odds	Bookmaker odds imported from API-Football. Odds you enter by hand don’t appear in this block. See Import Odds.
Prediction	The match prediction: verdict, win percentages and team comparison. See Game Prediction.
Video	The match video.
Match Gallery	Match photos.
Custom Code	Custom code saved on the match itself.
Bottom Content	The custom content saved on the match.

Prediction only shows up in the picker after you turn on API-Football prediction data (Text advice + Comparison) or odds import. Without either, a Match layout offers twenty-five blocks.

Header or Scoreboard?

Both sit at the top of a match page, and you’ll normally use one or the other. Header is the plain match header. Scoreboard puts the same score on a background picture and adds the goal scorers.

Match events: Goals, Cards and Substitutes

These three blocks read the match events and list them minute by minute, home club on the left and away club on the right. Missed Penalties uses the same row style. Goals and Cards fit well side by side at 1/2 width.

Team form: Latest Matches and Head-to-head matches

Both are useful on a preview page. Latest Matches shows each club’s last 5 results up to the day of the match – so once the match is finished, it’s the first row in both lists. The form badges next to each club name are that club’s latest 5 results on the whole site, so on an older match they can be newer than the games listed below them. Head-to-head matches shows the two clubs’ earlier meetings. Give either one a No Data text if you’d rather print a message than hide the block when there’s no history yet.

LineUps, Timeline and Commentary

LineUps lists both teams’ players with shirt numbers, positions and event icons. Timeline and Commentary are often confused: Timeline is one horizontal bar across both halves, while Commentary is a vertical feed you read from top to bottom.

Team statistics or player statistics: Stats and Custom Player Stats

Stats compares the two teams, one bar per statistic. Custom Player Stats is a per-player table built from the columns you set up yourself, split into goalkeepers and field players. It stays empty until those columns exist.

Home Club Header and Away Club Header

Use these to label a two-column layout. Put Home Club Header at 1/2 width above the home side’s blocks, Away Club Header next to it, and each column reads as that club’s section.

Where the match text, video and custom code come from

Five Match blocks print content you type on the match edit screen. The field names there don’t match the block names, so here’s the mapping.

Block	Match edit screen section	Field
Summary	Text Content	Text 1 – Match Preview or Summary
Bottom Content	Text Content	Text 2 – Custom Content
Video	Media	Video Source, Video ID (or URL), Video File, Video Description
Match Gallery	Media	Gallery, Text below gallery
Custom Code	Custom Code	Custom Code

Match LIVE

Twenty-one blocks, or twenty without Prediction. A match is routed to this layout while it is live, then falls back to the Match layout once it finishes, so the two layouts usually differ only in emphasis.

It offers the same blocks as Match with five exceptions. Not available: Goals, Cards, Missed Penalties, Penalty Shootout and Odds. For goals and cards during a live match, use Scoreboard, Timeline or Commentary. Everything else carries over, including Scoreboard, Substitutes, LineUps, Formation, Timeline, Commentary, Stats, Custom Player Stats, Referees, Head-to-head, Latest Matches, Prediction, Video, Match Gallery, Custom Code and Bottom Content.

Player

Block	What it shows
Header	Photo with the player’s details: full name, position, current club or national team, nationality, birth date and age, height and weight.
Stats Panel	The headline statistics panel.
Player Stats	The full statistics table, season by season.
Player Matches	Matches the player appeared in.
Missed Matches	Matches missed through injury or suspension.
Transfers	The player’s transfer history.
Bio	The player’s description text.
Gallery	The player’s image gallery.
Bottom Content	The custom content saved on the player.

Referee

Block	What it shows
Header	Photo with the referee’s details: full name, job title, nationality, place and date of birth, age and custom fields. A season dropdown sits below it.
Upcoming Games	Every upcoming match the referee is appointed to, grouped by role: Referee, Assistant Referee, Fourth official and any other role.
Finished Games	Matches already officiated in the selected season, grouped by role the same way. Games as main referee show the cards given. Prints “no data” when the season is empty.
Bio	The referee’s description text, from the Bio tab.
Bottom Content	The custom content saved on the referee, from the Bottom Content tab.

Stadium

Block	What it shows
Header	The stadium photo and a details table: city, clubs, address, capacity, opened, surface, website and custom fields. A season dropdown sits below it.
Info	The stadium’s description text, from the Info tab.
Upcoming Matches	All upcoming fixtures at this stadium, soonest first.
Finished Matches	Matches played there in the selected season, newest first.
Map	A Google map with the stadium’s location.
Gallery	The stadium’s image gallery and the text below it.
Bottom Content	The custom content saved on the stadium, from the Bottom Content tab.

Everything the stadium blocks show is typed on the stadium edit screen. The Header reads the General tab plus the photo and Custom Fields, Info reads the Info tab, and Gallery reads Gallery and Text below gallery on the Media tab.

The Map block needs two things or it prints nothing: a Google Maps API key in Settings & Tools > Settings > Configuration > API Keys, and a location set with the Map field on the stadium’s General tab. If you need visitor consent before Google loads, switch on Require consent before loading Map in Settings & Tools > Settings > Display > Stadium. The block then shows your consent text and a Load Map button in place of the map.

Want a video on a stadium page? There’s no Video block for stadiums. Add the video to the stadium’s Info or Bottom Content text instead – both run shortcodes, so the WordPress shortcode works there.

Staff

Block	What it shows
Header	Photo with the staff member’s details: current club (or clubs), job title, nationality, place and date of birth, age and custom fields.
History	A career table with Club, Job Title, From and To, one row per entry on the Staff History tab.
Bio	The staff member’s description text, from the Bio tab.
Bottom Content	The custom content saved on the staff member, from the Bottom Content tab.

Staff is the smallest layout type, and there’s no block listing the matches a coach managed. If a staff page needs more than these four blocks, add a Global :: Shortcode block and run any shortcode you like inside it.

Starting from a predefined layout

Three layout types ship with ready-made arrangements you can load instead of placing blocks one by one. Click Load Predefined Layout on the builder screen, then Load next to the one you want.

Layout type	Preset	What it places
Match	Finished Game	Scoreboard, Timeline and a matchweek scoreboard slider on top; tabs Commentary, Line Ups (Formation, LineUps, Substitutes), Stats (Stats, Custom Player Stats) and Events (Goals, Cards); Referees at the bottom.
Match	Upcoming Game	Scoreboard, Head-to-head matches, a matchweek scoreboard slider and Latest Matches.
Match LIVE	LIVE Game	Scoreboard, Timeline and a matchweek scoreboard slider on top; tabs Commentary, LineUps (Formation, LineUps) and Latest Matches; Referees at the bottom.
Competition Multistage	Default Layout	The recommended layout for multistage and Lazy Import competitions, starting with the Header and a standings shortcode.

Loading a preset replaces the top area, the tabs and the bottom area, so load it first and edit afterwards. The other six layout types start empty.

🆘 Troubleshooting

A block I expected is not in the list

Check the layout’s type against the tables above. Blocks do not move between types – there is no Standing block on a Match layout, and no Formation block on a Club layout. If you need competition data on a club page, place a Global :: Shortcode block instead.

On a Match or Match LIVE layout, a missing Prediction block means neither prediction data nor odds import is switched on for API-Football.

The block is placed but renders nothing

Most blocks output nothing when the underlying data is empty: a Penalty Shootout block on a match without a shootout, a Transfers block on a club with no transfers recorded, a Gallery block with no images attached. That is expected, and it is why a layout can look different from one match to the next. On Latest Matches and Head-to-head matches you can set a No Data text to print a message instead.

A few blocks need a setting as well as data. Map needs a Google Maps API key and a stadium location, Custom Player Stats needs your custom player statistic columns, and Odds needs odds imported from API-Football.

Do I have to create every goal scorer as a player?

No. In the match’s Lineups, the add player dialog has a Temporary Player option that adds a player as a name, position and nationality without creating a profile on the site. Temporary players can then be picked in goal events, and the Goals block shows their name, just without a link to a player page.

📚 Related

• Layout Builder – layouts, tabs, display rules and the move to v2
• Shortcode Block – run any shortcode inside a layout
• Custom Classes – styling individual blocks
• Match Scoreboard – where the scoreboard background picture comes from
• Game Prediction – turning on the data behind the Prediction block