Wikipedia:Notability (sports)

This guideline is used to help evaluate whether or not a sportsperson, sports league, or an amateur/professional sports league organization will meet the general notability guideline, and thus merit an article in Wikipedia. The article must provide reliable sources showing that the subject meets the criteria. It is not enough to make vague claims about the person's importance—the sourcing in the article itself must document notability.

If the article does meet the criteria set forth below, then it is likely that sufficient sources exist to satisfy the inclusion criteria for a stand-alone article. Failing to meet the criteria in this essay means that notability will need to be established in other ways.

Please note that the failure to meet these criteria does not mean an article must be deleted; conversely, the meeting of any of these criteria does not mean that an article must be kept. These are merely rules of thumb which some editors choose to keep in mind when deciding whether or not to keep an article that is on articles for deletion and relevant guidelines such as Wikipedia:Verifiability and Wikipedia:Reliable sources.

Applicable policies and guidelines

All information included in Wikipedia, including articles about sports, must be verifiable. In addition, standalone articles are required to meet the General Notability Guideline. This essay provides bright-line guidance to enable editors to determine quickly if a subject is likely to meet the General Notability Guideline. Information about living persons must meet the more stringent requirements for those types of articles.

Basic criteria

Main page: Wikipedia:Notability

A person is presumed to be notable if he or she has been the subject of multiple published secondary sources which are reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject.

• If the depth of coverage is not substantial, then multiple independent sources may be needed to prove notability; trivial coverage of a subject by secondary sources may not be sufficient to establish notability.
• Primary sources may be used to support content in an article, but they do not contribute toward proving the notability of a subject.
• Some sources must be used with particular care when establishing notability, and should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Local sources must be clearly independent of the subject. Listings of statistics must clearly satisfy the requirement for significant coverage.

Notability guidelines on sportspersons

Generally acceptable standards

Sports figures are presumed notable (except as noted within a specific section) if they:

1. have participated in a major international amateur or professional competition at the highest level such as the Olympics.
2. meet any of the qualifications in one of the sports specific sections below.

Any athletic entertainment event where the results are at least partially predetermined or scripted is not covered by this page. For participants in such events (e.g. Professional wrestling), see WP:ENTERTAINER.

Professional sports persons

American football/Canadian football

American football/Canadian football figures are presumed notable if they

1. Have appeared in at least one game in any one of the following professional leagues: the Arena Football League, the Canadian Football League, the National Football League, the All-America Football Conference or the United States Football League, or any other top-level professional league.
2. Note: Players who play in minor or semi-professional leagues (such as af2) are not presumed notable unless they meet another criterion, such as notability arising from their college football days.

Athletics/Track & Field and Cross Country

Athletes who compete in the field of Athletics are deemed notable if they meet any of the criteria below

1. Has competed in the Olympics or senior IAAF World Championships
2. Finished top 8 in a competition at the highest level outside of the Olympic games and world championships. Individual events in these championships must contain either several heats or extended fields (e.g. European Athletics Championships, Commonwealth Games, or any of the 5 Major Marathons).
3. Finished top 3 in any other major senior level international competition (this includes prestigious small field meets, e.g. IAAF Diamond League/IAAF Golden League meets, less prestigious large scale meets, e.g Asian Games, and any IAAF Gold Label Road Race that is not explicitly mentioned above)
4. Has won an individual gold medal at the IAAF World Junior Championships, Youth World Championships or World Masters Athletics Championships.
5. Has won their country's senior national championship, with the exception of those that have never been ranked in top 40 on the IAAF world leading list at the end of a given calendar year
6. Has won the elite division of multiple notable* road races (including the same race multiple times) or has established a history of highly competitive, non-winning performances in many notable races
7. Has at any time held a world or continental record (including world junior records, world youth bests and masters age-group world records) ratified or noted by the appropriate official body
8. Owns a mark that placed the athlete in the top 12 in the world for that calendar year in a non-relay event contested or admitted to the senior IAAF World Championships or Olympics, or an equivalent performance over a closely matching imperial distance
9. Has a non-relay mark listed on the IAAF senior all-time list or equivalent list
10. Has been inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame

To non-athletes associated with the sport (or athletes whose main claim to notability is non-athletic activity) the following criteria of notability apply:

1. Coaches are also assumed notable if they have coached many notable athletes, including at least one (non-relay) Olympic medalist, World champion or senior World Record holder during the time of the athletes' notable accomplishments.
2. A coach who does not meet (1) is notable if he/she introduces a notable technique or training method, and is widely credited as the originator.
3. A club is notable if it receives major international coverage for its successes and has a résumé composed of many successful Olympians over a long period of time (e.g. Irish American Athletic Club). If a club's success is mainly due to one leading coach, then generally only the coach is notable. Individual High Performance Training Centres (HPTCs) do not merit articles.

*Many notable Road Racing events might not be officially sanctioned by the IAAF, its national affiliates or other sanctioning bodies. Hence the notability of a road race is determined by meeting any one of the following criteria

1. It has an international elite (as defined by the IAAF standards for that year) field of at least 5 different nationalities.
2. It receives broadcast or cable television coverage beyond the local market (if coverage is through the internet, the site must be independent of the sport, for example Universal Sports).
3. It is a directly competitive meeting between several notable performers.
4. It awards prize money in excess of $5,000 to the winner.

The following criteria may also be used to satisfy road race notability, but does not necessarily count towards the notability of athletes who compete in these races

1. It has been the site of exceptional performances or records (bests).
2. It regularly has over 5,000 competitors, or has been held over a unique course or distance consistently over a period of 25 years.

Australian Rules Football

Athletes who compete in Australian Rules Football are presumed notable if they meet any of the criteria below

1. Has appeared in a match of the Australian Football League.
2. Before 1990, appeared in a match of the Victorian Football League.
3. Is known, and has received significant coverage in reliable sources, for major individual achievements in a state football league.

Coaches are presumed notable if they have been the head coach of an Australian Football League team or, before 1990, a Victorian Football League team.

Baseball

Baseball figures are presumed notable if they

1. Are a member of a major Hall of Fame, such as the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum or the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame.
2. Have appeared in at least one game in any one of the following active major leagues: Major League Baseball, Nippon Professional Baseball, Korea Baseball Organization, Chinese Professional Baseball League or any other top-level national league (active or defunct).
3. Have appeared in at least one game in any of the following defunct leagues: All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, American Association, Cuban League, Federal League, Japanese Baseball League, National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, Negro Major Leagues, Players League, Union Association.
4. Have served as a commissioner, president, general manager, owner, coach, or manager in one of the above-mentioned leagues.
5. Have served as a Major League Baseball umpire on a regular league staff.
6. Minor league players, managers, coaches, executives, and umpires are not assumed to be inherently notable. To establish that one of these is notable, the article must cite published secondary source material which is reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject. Fan sites and blogs are generally not regarded as reliable sources, and team sites are generally not regarded as independent of the subject. Although statistics sites may be reliable sources, they are not sufficient by themselves to establish notability.
7. Some minor league players receive some coverage from reliable sources, but not enough to satisfy the notability criteria for an independent article. In these cases, it may be appropriate to write a short, stub-length bio as a section within the article on the franchise's minor league players (for example, Minnesota Twins minor league players). Please note that such mini-bios should cite reliable sources and conform with Wikipedia policies such as WP:BLP.

Basketball

Basketball figures are presumed notable if they

1. Have appeared in one game in the American Basketball Association, Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto, Euroleague, National Basketball Association, National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (United States), Serie A, Women's National Basketball Association, or a similar major professional sports league.
2. Were selected in the first two rounds of the NBA Draft.
3. Have won an award, or led the league in a major statistical category of the Continental Basketball Association or NBA Development League.

Cricket

For further information see: Wikiproject Cricket notability guideline

A cricket figure is presumed notable if he or she

1. Has appeared in at least one Test, ODI, ICC Trophy match from 2005, or ICC Trophy final prior to 2005 as player, umpire, coach or administrator; or
2. Has appeared in at least one major (i.e., first-class or List A) match as a player.

The term "first-class cricket" can be misleading since, officially, it did not begin until 1947 and should not be applied retrospectively according to the MCC definition. Whereas in practice the term is loosely applied to major matches since the 17th century, it is better to think of major cricket as an all-embracing term that includes ListA as well as first-class. Hence, a player who represented Kent in the county match in 1709 is equally notable with a player who represented Kent CCC in the Twenty20 Cup in 2007.

In addition, non-players who have made a notable contribution to cricket should have pages. These include benefactors, administrators, umpires, coaches, writers, broadcasters, historians and so on. With these, it is important to ensure that the article's content outlines the person's notability in terms of his or her contribution to the sport. There is bound to be a more subjective view of such contributions whereas an appearance in a first-class match enables a purely objective view to be taken. Note especially that the person must have earned notability in their own right; they are not notable if they are a member of a club.

Cycling

Cyclists are presumed notable if they

1. Have competed at an Olympics or World Championship.
2. Have finished on the podium at a UCI World Cup event.

Additional criteria for male road bicycle racing

1. Have competed at a UCI World Calendar, UCI ProTour (2005–2008), UCI Road World Cup (1989–2004), Super Prestige Pernod International (1959-1987) or Challenge Desgrange-Colombo (1948–1958) event
2. Have competed at the Tour de France, the Giro d'Italia or the Vuelta a España.
3. Have competed at Milan – San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, Paris–Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège or the Giro di Lombardia.
4. Have won a stage or an overall classification in a UCI Continental Circuits event (or an equivalent prior to the introduction of those classifications).

Figure skating

Figure skaters competing at the highest level of international competition are by definition not "professional" skaters, they are "eligible" skaters, because they are eligible to compete in the Olympics. Eligible skaters earn money only from ISU-approved and sanctioned events and competitions. Ineligible skaters have no such restrictions and so are considered to be "professionals".

Figure skating figures are presumed notable if they

This is modified from Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Figure Skating#Notability for figure skaters. Notability for competitive figure skaters, in descending order of notability:

1. Competed at an Olympics or at an ISU senior World Figure Skating Championships (In years with large fields, competing in a world championship qualifying round does not always guarantee notability.)
2. Competed in the free skate at the following ISU Championships: World Junior Figure Skating Championships, European Figure Skating Championships, Four Continents Figure Skating Championships
3. Won their country's senior national championships.
4. Competed at a Grand Prix of Figure Skating event (Skate America, Skate Canada International, Trophee Eric Bompard, Cup of China, Cup of Russia, NHK Trophy, Bofrost Cup on Ice)
5. Medaled at a non-Grand Prix international senior-level event (commonly referred to as "senior B" competitions, as opposed to "A" competitions, which are the Grand Prixs and ISU championships. See figure skating competitions for more information and List of figure skating competitions for a list of events. Notable examples of senior Bs are the Nebelhorn Trophy, one of the oldest senior international events, and the Karl Schäfer Memorial and the Golden Spin of Zagreb, which have both been used many times as the Olympic qualifying competition.)
6. Won on the ISU Junior Grand Prix

Notability for persons associated with skating who were not notable as eligible skaters:

1. A coach who has coached many notable skaters, including at least one Olympic or senior World Championship medalist (ex: Pam Gregory)
2. A choreographer who has worked with many notable skaters, including at least one Olympic or senior World Championship medalist (ex: David Wilson)
3. Heads of national and international federations.
4. Individual members in the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, or a major national figure skating hall of fame, such as the U.S. Figure Skating Hall of Fame.

Football (soccer)

Football figures are presumed notable if they meet the following:

1. Players, managers and referees who have represented their country in any officially sanctioned senior international competition (including the Olympics) are notable as they have achieved the status of participating at the highest level of football. The notability of these is accepted as they would have received significant coverage as outlined above in the general notability criteria.
2. Players who have appeared, and managers who have managed, in a fully-professional league (as detailed here), will generally be regarded as notable.

Note: A player who signs for a domestic team but has not played in any games is not deemed to have participated in a competition, and is therefore not generally regarded as being notable. Youth Players are not notable unless they satisfy one of the statements above, or if they can be shown to meet the wider requirements of WP:GNG.

Golf

Golf figures are presumed notable if they

1. They have competed in the Ryder Cup, Presidents Cup, Solheim Cup or similar international competition
2. They are enshrined in one of golf's recognized Halls of Fame (ex: World Golf Hall of Fame)
3. They have won at least one professional golf tournament (ex: PGA, LPGA, European Tour, Champions Tour)
4. They have won at least one recognized amateur golf tournament (ex: US Amateur, British Amateur)
5. They have made the cut in one of the major tournaments:

   • Men (under 50): US Open, British Open, The Masters, PGA Championship
   • Women: Current majors — US Women's Open, Women's British Open, Kraft Nabisco Championship, LPGA Championship; or past majors — du Maurier Classic, Western Open, Titleholders Championship
   • Senior men: Senior PGA Championship, US Senior Open, Senior Players Championship, Senior British Open, The Tradition (note, however, that almost all of the players who would qualify by this criterion would also qualify by virtue of having made the cut in one of the under-50 majors)

6. They have competed as a professional on the PGA, LPGA, European, or Champions Tour for at least one full year
7. They hold a golf record (ex: lowest score) recognized by the USGA, PGA, LPGA or St Andrews

Ice hockey

Ice hockey figures are presumed notable if they

1. Played one or more games in an existing or defunct top professional league such as the National Hockey League, World Hockey Association, Elitserien, SM-liiga, or Kontinental Hockey League;
2. Played one or more games in an amateur league considered, through lack of a professional league, the highest level of competition extant, such as the 19th century Amateur Hockey Association or the Soviet League;
3. Played at least 100 games in a fully professional minor league such as the American Hockey League, the International Hockey League, the ECHL, the Mestis, the HockeyAllsvenskan or other such league;
4. Achieved preeminent honours (all-time top ten career scorer, won a major award given by the league, first team all-star, All-American) in a lower minor league such as the Central Hockey League or the United Hockey League, in a major junior league such as the Ontario Hockey Association or the Western Hockey League or in a major collegiate hockey league (Note: merely playing in a major junior league or major collegiate hockey is not enough to satisfy inclusion requirements);
5. Was a first-round draft pick in the NHL Entry Draft;
6. Played on a senior national team (such as at the Olympic Games or World Championship);
7. Is an honoured member of a national or multi-national Hall of Fame;

Motorsports

Motorsport figures are presumed notable if they

1. Have driven in a fully professional series. A fully professional series is one where prize money is not trivial compared to the cost of the series. For example, the SCCA Trans-Am Series is considered professional while the SCCA Spec Miata National Championship would not be.

2. For drivers that predate the sharp distinction between professional and amateur (prior to World War II), drivers who competed in a series or race of worldwide or national interest (for example, the American Championship or 24 Hours of Le Mans).

3. Have owned or been team principal for a team in a major racing series (NASCAR Sprint Cup, Formula One, IndyCar, A1GP, CART, IMSA) for a full season or more. This includes Sprint Cup crew chiefs.

4. Have been enshrined in any notable motorsports hall of fame.

5. Founded, owned, or managed any notable professional racing series.

6. Designers or engineers who have been covered extensively by the media or motorsports historians.

7. Hold or have held a significant motorsports record, such as a land speed record.

Rugby

Rugby league

A player of rugby league is presumed notable if they have played first grade rugby league (depending on the country).

Other personalities surrounding the game are notable if they are:

1. a consistent first grade rugby league commentator.
2. a referee who has refereed at least 100 games.

Rugby union

A rugby union person is presumed notable if they:

1. have appeared in at least one test match, sevens competition, or domestic rugby competition, as player, umpire, coach or administrator.
2. have appeared in at least one first class rugby union match.

Players from the early days of rugby cannot meet these criteria, as they pre-date the era of first-class rugby, and must therefore pass WP:GNG.

Sumo

Sumo wrestlers are presumed notable if they have been ranked in either the top makuuchi division or second highest juryo division. Wrestlers who have only appeared in lower divisions are generally not notable as they have not reached fully professional status.

Tennis

Tennis figures are presumed notable if they

1. Are a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, either in the contributor or player category.
2. Have competed in at least one Grand slam tournament (the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, or the US Open), an ATP World Tour Finals, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event or a WTA Premier Tournament.
3. Have won a match in a second level event, such as one of the ATP International Series Gold events, or the ATP World Tour 500 series or WTA Tour.

This guideline applies equally to singles and doubles players. Junior players are not presumed notable.

Amateur sports persons

College athletes

College athletes and coaches are notable if they have been the subject of non-trivial media coverage beyond merely a repeating of their statistics. Examples would include head coaches, well-known assistant coaches, or players who:

1. Have won a national award (E.G. a College Football Award), or established a major division one NCAA record.
2. Were inducted into the hall of fame in their sport (for example, the College Football Hall of Fame).
3. Gained national media attention as an individual, not just as a player for a notable team.

Gaelic games

Gaelic games players who have

1. Gaelic footballers who have played at senior inter county level in the League or Championship
2. Gaelic handballers who have won at senior inter county level
3. Hurlers who have played at senior inter county level in the League or Championship

Gymnastics

Gymnasts are deemed notable if they meet any of the criteria below

1. Has competed in the Olympics or senior World Gymnastics Championships
2. Has won a senior individual medal at one of the following competitions: Artistic Gymnastics World Cup, Goodwill Games, European Gymnastics Championships, Pan American Games, Pacific Rim Championships, or Asian Games
3. Has won an individual gold medal at the senior level at any other major elite international event (e.g. the American Cup, Commonwealth Games, All-Africa Games, South American Games)
4. Has won their country's senior all-around national championship while competing for a country who qualified a full team into either the preceding or succeeding Olympics
5. Has been inducted into a major hall of fame, such as the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame

To non-athletes associated with the sport (or athletes whose main claim to notability is non-athletic activity) the following criteria of notability apply:

1. Coaches are assumed notable if they have coached many notable athletes, including at least one individual Olympic medalist, or World champion
2. Coaches are also assumed notable if they have been the official head coach of an Olympic or World Championship team.

High School Athletes

Athletes who have

1. Won a major national award (e.g. Gatorade U.S. High School Athlete of the Year Award)
2. Set a major national high school record as established by reliable secondary sources.
3. Gained substantial national media attention as an individual.

Organizations and games notability

Olympic and Paralympic Games

• Athletes from any sport are presumed notable if they have competed at either the Summer or Winter, Olympic or Paralympic Games. e.g. Ian Thorpe or Laurentia Tan
• Nations participating at an individual Summer or Winter, Olympic or Paralympic Games are considered notable, e.g. United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics or Great Britain at the 2002 Winter Paralympics
• Sports at individual Summer or Winter, Olympic or Paralympic Games are considered notable, e.g. Archery at the 2004 Summer Olympics or Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics
• Events at individual Summer or Winter, Olympic or Paralympic Games are considered notable, e.g. Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's road race or Skeleton at the 2010 Winter Olympics – Women's

For details on suggested content for the above article types see Wikipedia:WikiProject Olympics/Manual of Style.

Individual seasons

Articles can be created on individual seasons of teams in the top leagues, as these articles meet the notability requirements.

Team season articles should consist mainly of well-sourced prose, not just statistics and lists of players. Wikipedia is not a stats directory. It is strongly recommended that those articles be redirected to the team page if no sourced prose can be created.

Seasons of college sports teams are not notable unless:

• For football, any Division I FBS school's seasons are considered notable. A high-profile team in Division I FCS, such as Appalachian State, may also be notable. If the article on the individual season college football season is short, consider grouping several seasons by a logical criteria - such as the tenure of one head coach.
• For basketball, any Division I men's team in a generally recognized "major" basketball conference (the BCS conferences, Missouri Valley, Mountain West, A-10) is automatically notable. Gonzaga and Memphis, as established "major" programs within the "mid-major" conferences, are also automatically notable. Other men's teams are considered on a case-by-case basis. Women's teams are not automatically notable except for well-established national powers, including but not limited to Tennessee and UConn.

Individual games or series

Some games or series are inherently notable, including but not limited to the following:

• The final series (or single game when there is not a series) determining the champion of a top league, e.g. 2009 Stanley Cup Finals, or Super Bowl XLIII, or 2006 FIFA World Cup Final
• College bowl games (not limited to BCS bowl games, see e.g. 2009–10 NCAA football bowl games).
• All-star or similar exhibition games, e.g. 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
• A game that is widely considered by independent reliable sources to be notable, outside routine coverage of each game, especially if the game received front page coverage outside of the local areas involved (e.g. Pacers-Pistons brawl or the Blood in the Water match)

Articles about notable games should have well-sourced prose, not merely a list of stats. Regular season games in professional and college leagues are not inherently notable.

Rivalries

Sports rivalries are not inherently notable. Articles on sports rivalries, such as Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, should satisfy the general notability guideline, and additionally must tell why the rivalry is important with multiple non-trivial, reliable sources.