Title: invalid date
Last modified: July 18, 2025

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# invalid date

 *  Resolved [robb1e](https://wordpress.org/support/users/robb1e/)
 * (@robb1e)
 * [8 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/invalid-date-9/)
 * every time, without fail, my imported matches show as invalid dates when imported
   and it imports every match with todays date and time. I have imported the matches
   in the exact same format as the example ‘export matches’ file i created.
 * Has anyone else had issues with the dates while importing matches? can someone
   show me exactly what they enter in the ‘play_date’ field while importing matches?

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  Plugin Author [AntoineH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/antoineh/)
 * (@antoineh)
 * [8 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/invalid-date-9/#post-18561689)
 * Best format is `Y-m-d H:m:s`. That should work out of the box with the least 
   chance of conversion problems. Example: `2025-07-19 08:30:00` (8:30 AM, July 
   19).
 * If that still doesn’t work, then check the following:
    1. Do you have the following constant in your wp-config: `FOOTBALLPOOL_CSV_DATE_FORMAT`?
       If yes, remove it.
    2. Check the encoding of your text file in an editor like [notepad++](https://notepad-plus-plus.org/).
       It should be UTF-8. If it isn’t, then use the convert function from that tool.
 * Hope this helps.
 *  Thread Starter [robb1e](https://wordpress.org/support/users/robb1e/)
 * (@robb1e)
 * [8 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/invalid-date-9/#post-18562437)
 * Hi Antoine,
 * Thanks for the suggestions. I have checked both of them and I do NOT have the
   constant in wp-config and the coding is indeed in UTF-8.
 * Do you have any other suggestion? It is a great plugin but this issue is making
   it quite cumbersome and irritating each time you need to import and set up competitions.
 * Thanks
 *  Plugin Author [AntoineH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/antoineh/)
 * (@antoineh)
 * [8 months, 3 weeks ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/invalid-date-9/#post-18562910)
 * Can you send me an example file that is giving you this issue? I would like to
   try it on my install (I’m on a short holiday, but can check in 2 weeks).
 *  Plugin Author [AntoineH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/antoineh/)
 * (@antoineh)
 * [7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/invalid-date-9/#post-18626566)
 * Hi, are you still experiencing problems? If so, can you send me an example file?

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

The topic ‘invalid date’ is closed to new replies.

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 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [AntoineH](https://wordpress.org/support/users/antoineh/)
 * Last activity: [7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/invalid-date-9/#post-18626566)
 * Status: resolved