The first friction match was invented by English chemist John Walker in 1827. This matches produced rather unpleasant odour when burning, and in 1831, Frenchman Charles Sauria added poisonous white phosphorus to remove the smell. The workers involved in production of these dangerous new matches suffered phossy jaw, a type of bone cancer, while young girls carrying boxes of matches on their heads were bald by age 15.

Early matches were made manually, and a diligent worker could produce about 5000 match sticks per hour.

Sweden is now the biggest producer of matches in the world. In the United States the largest wooden match manufacturer is Diamond. It produces 12 billion matches each year.

Three on a match (third on a match) was a superstition during the World War I, meaning bad luck. It was believed, that if the tree soldiers lit their cigarettes using the same match, one of them would be killed. The explanation was: a sniper would see a match, take aim at the second soldier lighting up, and pick off the third. Some believed that this superstition was invented by the Swedish match tycoon between the two world wars Ivar Kreuger to make people use more matches.

The collectors of match covers, matchbox labels and other match-related items are called phillumenists, from the Greek philo- (love) and Latin lumen (light). The word was first used in 1943, but some collectors prefer philopytist, or philophosist.

By U.N. 1994 safety matches are classified as dangerous goods, and are not forbidden on aircraft, but should be declared as Dangerous Goods.