boxing (BrE, AmE), chess (BrE, AmE), football (BrE), rugby (BrE), soccer (usually football match in BrE and soccer game in AmE), tennis (BrE, AmE), wrestling (BrE, AmE), etc.
final, quarter-final, semi-final
He almost made it to the final match.

friendly (= not part of a competition)
away, home (both BrE)
Some fans travel miles to go to away matches.

grudge
a grudge match between two of the best teams in the league

big, crucial, important
exciting, thrilling
title
championship, competitive, cup (BrE), league (BrE)
sparring
We were just having a little verbal sparring match. (figurative)

screaming, shouting (figurative)
The two of them then got into a shouting match (= an argument with a lot of shouting).

play
The match will be played in the new stadium.

have
The team had an excellent match.

go to, see, watch
be defeated in, lose
clinch, win
A late goal clinched the match for Porto.

draw (BrE), tie (AmE)
We drew our first match of the season 1–1.
Lubov fought back to tie the match.

level (esp. BrE)
They managed to level the match, then went 2–1 ahead.

take place

during a/the match
an incident which took place during Saturday's match

in a/the match
She was injured in last week's match.

match against
the match against Wales

match between
the match between Japan and Brazil

match with
They lost their match with Estonia.

lighted, lit (esp. AmE)

book, box

light, strike
He lit a match so they could see in the cave.

blow out

put a match to sth
Someone had put a match to the pile of papers.

excellent, good, perfect
The blouse and skirt are a perfect match.
Freddie and Kate are a perfect match.

find, make
Our job is to find the right match for our clients.
This fabric makes a good match for the wallpaper.

match between
an excellent match between our goals and what your company offers

match for
That sweater should be a good match for your skirt.

meet your match (= meet someone equally good, strong, etc.)
I think he's finally met his match in Lisa.

the right match
You need to feel confident that the candidate is the right match.

exact

find
She has a rare blood type, and finding a match could take years.

match for
To forge the certificate, she needed an exact match for the paper and the fonts.

well
As a couple they are not very well matched (= they are not very suitable for each other).

nicely, perfectly
The music perfectly matches the tone of the movie.

exactly, precisely
They found a paint that exactly matched the existing paint on the walls.

closely
He chose wine that closely matched each dish.
The students' results closely matched their predicted scores.

not quite
The room was full of old furniture that didn't quite match.

to match
I bought a duvet cover and some curtains to match.

carefully
correctly
up
We have to match up the right pet with the right owner.

seek to, try to

for
The control group in the experiment was matched for age and sex.

to
The aim of the competition is to match the quote to the person who said it.
The available organs are carefully matched to people in need of transplants.

with
The agency tries to match single people with suitable partners.

almost, nearly
She found that his determination almost matched her own.

not quite
Nothing quite matches the fine, subtle taste of this cheese.

rarely
Her lovers rarely match her wit and intelligence.

be able to, be unable to
The company was unable to match his current salary.

try to
fail to
Children can be made to suffer when they fail to match their parents' expectations.

for
No other rock band comes even close to matching their talent.

come close to matching
be equally matched, be evenly matched, be well matched
The teams were very evenly matched.

be unevenly matched

Match is used with these nouns as the subject:
colour

Match is used with these nouns as the object:
background, colour, description, dress, expectation, feat, fingerprint, finish, mood, offer, pair, personality, profile, prowess, record, requirement, scale, size, skill, splendour, stride, taste, tone, wit