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Revision as of 02:05, 13 March 2022 by Bagumba (talk | contribs) (Restored revision 1076797052 by RandomCanadian (talk): Fundamental change, no consensus that it was a "correction")(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff) Notability guideline "WP:ATHLETE" redirects here. Not to be confused with Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Biography/Sports and games or Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Athletics.
Blue tickThis page documents an English Misplaced Pages notability guideline.
Editors should generally follow it, though exceptions may apply. Substantive edits to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on this guideline's talk page.		Shortcuts
This page in a nutshell: An athlete is presumed to be notable if the person has actively participated in a major amateur or professional competition or won a significant honor, as listed on this page, and so is likely to have received significant coverage in reliable secondary sources that are independent of the subject.
? view · edit Frequently asked questions Relation to general notability guideline Q1: How is this guideline related to the general notability guideline? A1: The topic-specific notability guidelines described on this page do not replace the general notability guideline. They are intended only to stop an article from being quickly deleted when there is very strong reason to believe that significant, independent, non-routine, non-promotional secondary coverage from multiple reliable sources is available, given sufficient time to locate it. Misplaced Pages's standard for including an article about a given person is not based on whether or not they have attained certain achievements, but on whether or not the person has received appropriate coverage in reliable sources, in accordance with the general notability guideline. Also refer to Misplaced Pages's basic guidance on the notability of people for additional information on evaluating notability. Q2: If a sports figure meets the criteria specified in a sports-specific notability guideline, does this mean they do not have to meet the general notability guideline? A2: No, the article must still eventually provide sources indicating that the subject meets the general notability guideline. Although the criteria for a given sport should be chosen to be a very reliable predictor of the availability of appropriate secondary coverage from reliable sources, there can be exceptions. For contemporary persons, given a reasonable amount of time to locate appropriate sources, the general notability guideline should be met in order for an article to meet Misplaced Pages's standards for inclusion. (For subjects in the past where it is more difficult to locate sources, it may be necessary to evaluate the subject's likely notability based on other persons of the same time period with similar characteristics.) Q3: If a sports figure does not meet the criteria specified in a sports-specific notability guideline, does this mean they do not meet Misplaced Pages's notability standards? A3: No, it does not mean this—if the subject meets the general notability guideline, then they meet Misplaced Pages's standards for having an article in Misplaced Pages, even if they do not meet the criteria for the appropriate sports-specific notability guideline. The sports-specific notability guidelines are not intended to set a higher bar for inclusion in Misplaced Pages: they are meant to provide some buffer time to locate appropriate reliable sources when, based on rules of thumb, it is highly likely that these sources exist. Q4: What is considered a "reasonable amount of time" to uncover appropriate sources? A4: There is no fixed rule, as it may differ in each specific case. Generally, though, since there is no fixed schedule to complete Misplaced Pages articles, given a reasonable expectation that sources can be found, Misplaced Pages editors have been very liberal in allowing for adequate time, particularly for cases where English-language sources are difficult to find. For a contemporary sports figure in a sport that is regularly covered by national media in English, less leeway may be given. Proposing revisions to Notability (sports) Q5: I want to create a new sports-specific notability guideline or revise an existing one. What approach should I take? A5: Consider what criteria that, if met, means that the sports figure is highly likely to have significant, independent, non-routine, non-promotional secondary coverage from reliable sources. Test your proposed criteria by trying to find persons who meet them but do not have appropriate secondary coverage. It's best to keep your criteria fairly conservative, since for most contemporary persons, establishing notability via the general notability guideline is straightforward enough and the additional buffer time provided by a sports-specific notability guideline isn't needed, so trying to draw a more liberal line isn't worth the effort.

Many discussions on rules of thumb start with, "This league/championship is important," or "This sport is popular in country X." While these arguments provide indirect evidence, a much better way to reach an agreement is to double-check if everyone meeting the proposed criteria has appropriate sources meeting the general notability guideline. For example, for an individual championship, you can list everyone who has won the championship and, for each person, the corresponding sources that show they meet Misplaced Pages's standards for inclusion.

Subsequent to the discussion at Misplaced Pages:Village pump (policy)/Sports notability, proposing a guideline for the notability of an athlete purely based on their participation in a non-championship final or non-Olympic event is likely to meet opposition.

Note the "nutshell summary" and the "Basic criteria" section are high-level descriptions of the type of criteria used by each sport. This does not mean that any criteria that fit these descriptions are suitable. You must demonstrate that the proposed criteria are effective as a way to determine if a subject meets the general notability guideline. Q6: What constitutes "non-routine" secondary coverage for sports? A6: Routine news coverage of sporting events, such as descriptions of what occurred, is not considered to be sufficient basis for an article, following Misplaced Pages's policy of not being a place for routine news coverage. There should be significant coverage directly related to the subject. In addition to Misplaced Pages's guidance on reliable sources, also see Misplaced Pages's guidance on biographies of living persons for more information. Q7: But these athletes have won championship X; surely that makes them notable? A7: For better or worse, discussions in Misplaced Pages use the term "notable" as a shorthand for "meets Misplaced Pages's standards for inclusion in the encyclopedia". As a result, there are many subjects that can meet the everyday meaning of notable, yet fail to meet Misplaced Pages's standards for having an article.

References

  1. Request for Comments discussion that established the sports-specific notability guidelines: Misplaced Pages talk:Notability (sports)/Archive 4 § RfC: Promote Notability (sports) to a guideline
  2. Discussion in June 2011: Misplaced Pages talk:Notability (sports)/Archive 8 § Applicable policies and guidelines
  3. Discussion in October 2011: Misplaced Pages talk:Notability (sports)/Archive 9 § Relation to GNG (again)
  4. Discussion in February 2013: Misplaced Pages talk:Notability (sports)/Archive 16 § Second sentence
Notability
General notability guideline
Subject-specific guidelines
See also

This guideline is used to help evaluate whether or not a sports person or sports league/organization (amateur or professional) is likely to meet the general notability guideline, and thus merit an article in Misplaced Pages. The article should provide reliable sources showing that the subject meets the general notability guideline or the sport specific criteria set forth below.

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 guideline means that notability will need to be established in other ways (for example, the general notability guideline, or other, topic-specific, notability guidelines).

Please note that the failure to meet these criteria does not mean an article must be deleted; conversely, meeting 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, along with relevant policies and guidelines such as Misplaced Pages:Verifiability and Misplaced Pages:Reliable sources.

Applicable policies and guidelines

All information included in Misplaced Pages, including articles about sports, must be verifiable. In addition, the subjects of standalone articles should meet the General Notability Guideline. The guideline on this page 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.

Subjects that do not meet the sport-specific criteria outlined in this guideline may still be notable if they meet the General Notability Guideline or another subject specific notability guideline.

Any athletic entertainment event at which the results are at least partially predetermined or scripted is not covered by this page. For participants in such events (for example, professional wrestling), see WP:ENTERTAINER. At this time there is no consensus that electronic sports participants are covered by the criteria of this guideline.

Basic criteria

Main page: Misplaced Pages:Notability See also: Misplaced Pages's basic criteria for the notability of people Shortcuts

A person is presumed to be notable if they have been the subject of multiple published non-trivial secondary sources which are reliable, intellectually independent, and independent of the subject. The guidelines on this page are intended to reflect the fact that sports figures are likely to meet Misplaced Pages's basic standards of inclusion if they have participated in or achieved success in a major international competition at the highest level.

  • Trivial coverage of a subject by secondary sources may be used to support content in an article, but it is not sufficient to establish notability. This includes listings in database sources with low, wide-sweeping generic standards of inclusion, such as Sports Reference's college football and basketball databases.
  • 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 independent of the subject, and must provide reports beyond routine game coverage. Listings of statistics must clearly satisfy the requirement for significant coverage.
  • Sports biographies must include at least one reference to a source providing significant coverage of the subject, excluding database sources. Meeting this requirement alone does not indicate notability, but it does indicate that there are likely sufficient sources to merit a stand-alone article.

Professional sports people

American football/Canadian football

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for American football/Canadian football players and head coaches if they
  1. Have appeared in at least one regular season or post-season game in any one of the following professional leagues: the Canadian Football League, the National Football League, the 1960s American Football League, the All-America Football Conference, the United States Football League.
  2. Note: Players who play in minor or semi-professional leagues (such as the Arena Football League) are not presumed notable unless they meet another criterion, such as notability arising from their college football days.
  3. Note: This does not apply to assistant coaches or coaching assistants.

Association football (soccer)

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for association football (soccer) figures if they meet the following:

  1. Players who have played in, and managers who have managed in, any Tier 1 International Match as defined by FIFA, or in a competitive senior international match at confederation level regardless of whether or not the teams are members of FIFA.
  2. Players who have played, and managers who have managed, in a competitive game between two teams from fully professional leagues. See a list of fully professional leagues kept by WikiProject Football.
Note: For the purposes of this guideline, "played" means having appeared in a match either in the starting lineup or coming on as a substitute. Youth players, or players at the Olympics, are not presumed notable unless they satisfy one of the statements above, or if they can be shown to meet the wider requirements of WP:NBASIC.

Athletics/track & field and long-distance running

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for athletes who compete in the field of athletics if they meet any of the criteria below
  1. Have competed in the IAAF World Championships in Athletics, the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics, the IAAF World Cross Country Championships, or the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships (former IAAF World Road Running 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 6 World 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. Have won an individual gold medal at the IAAF World Junior Championships, or Youth World Championships.
  5. Have won their country's senior national championship, with the exception of those that have never been ranked in the top 60 on the IAAF world leading list at the end of a given calendar year
  6. Have won the elite division of multiple notable* road races (including the same race multiple times), or have established a history of highly competitive, non-winning performances in many notable races (at least 10 top-threes)
  7. Have 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 relevant 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. Have a non-relay mark listed on the IAAF senior all-time list or equivalent list
  10. Have been inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame or the Road Runners Club of America Hall of Fame.

To non-athletes associated with the sport (or athletes whose main claim to notability is non-athletic activity), significant coverage is likely to exist if they meet the following criteria:

  1. Coaches who 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. Coaches who have been the official head coach of an Olympic track and field team for a country with multiple medalists.
  3. Coaches who introduced a notable technique or training method, and are widely credited as the originator.
  4. Clubs that have received major international coverage for their successes and have a résumé composed of many successful Olympians over a long period of time (for example, Irish American Athletic Club). If a club's success is mainly due to one coach, then only the coach is notable.
*Significant coverage is likely to exist for a road race is determined if it meets 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 (at least 5).

The following criteria may also be used to satisfy road race notability, but does not 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 more than 5,000 competitors.
  3. It has been held over a unique course or distance consistently over a period of 25 years.

Australian rules football

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for athletes who compete in Australian rules football if they meet any of the criteria below
  1. Have appeared in a match of the Australian Football League or AFL Women's.
  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.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for coaches if they have been the head coach of an Australian Football League or AFL Women's team or, before 1990, a Victorian Football League team.

Badminton

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for athletes in badminton if they meet any of the criteria below
  1. Participation at the Olympic Games, or World Championships,
  2. Competed in the quarter-finals at a tournament of the highest level outside of the Olympics or World Championships (e.g., Continental Championships, BWF Super Series, BWF World Tour, or Commonwealth Games) in teams or singles or doubles competitions.
  3. Medalist at the highest international teams or singles/doubles championships of a country (e.g., Canadian Open, German Open, Slovak International).
  4. Medalist at tournaments of the BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix.
  5. Gold medalist at a national teams or singles/doubles championship, for countries that regularly send athletes to the Olympics.

Baseball

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for baseball figures 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, KBO League, or have participated in a major international competition (such as the World Baseball Classic or the Baseball World Cup) as a member of a national team.
  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.

Players and other figures who do not meet the criteria above are not presumed by this guideline to meet Misplaced Pages's standards for notability. 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.

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). Such mini-bios should cite reliable sources and conform with Misplaced Pages policies such as WP:BLP.

Basketball

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for basketball figures if they
  1. Have appeared in one game as either a player or head coach in the original American Basketball Association, Liga ACB, EuroLeague, National Basketball Association, National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (United States), Lega Basket Serie A, Women's National Basketball Association, Greek Basket League, or Israeli Basketball Premier 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 G League.

Boxing

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for a boxer is presumed notable if they:

  1. Have fought for a world title (for example, super, regular/full, interim) for one of the following current or historical major sanctioning bodies:
  2. Have won a regular/full (non-interim) non-world title listed at Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Boxing/Title Assessment.
  3. Have been ranked in the world top ten of any weight class by the IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO, or The Ring magazine.
  4. Have fought, as an amateur, in the final of a national amateur championship for an International Boxing Association/Association Internationale de Boxe Amateur (AIBA) affiliated and World Amateur Boxing Championship medal-winning country (for Men, see Medal table (1974–present), for Women see Medal table (2001–present)), or have represented their AIBA affiliated country in a continental (or higher) tournament.

Cricket

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Further information: WP:CRIN
Significant coverage is likely to exist for a cricket figure if they
  1. Have appeared as a player in at least one cricket match that is judged to have been played at the highest international or domestic level
  2. Have appeared as a player for an Associate team in a Twenty20 International match after 1 July 2018 in either a World T20 (men or women) or Global Qualifier (men or women)
  3. Have appeared prior to 2005 as a player in an ICC Trophy final, or have appeared since 2005 in at least one match in any of the ICC World Cup Qualifier, Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier, ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier, or ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier competitions
  4. Significant coverage is likely to exist for umpires if they've been a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires or meet another of the above points
Note: understanding of what constitutes a match played at the highest international or domestic level is central to these criteria, and qualification of a given match is dependent on its inclusion in a substantial source. Youth players (for example, members of under-19 teams) are not notable unless they satisfy one of the statements above, or if they can be shown to meet the wider requirements of WP:NBASIC. The criteria have been taken from WP:CRIN, which should be consulted for details. Major individual matches (i.e., played outside organised competitions) are those shown to be significant, especially if historically significant, by substantial sources as outlined in Historical sources.

Cue sports (snooker, pool, billiards)

See Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Cue sports/Notability, which covers players and other persons, as well as governing bodies, manufacturers, periodicals, tournaments, rulesets, equipment, and venues. It is a WP:PROJPAGE, explaining how WP:Notability applies to the topic area and outlining what is likely/unlikely to be found notable, rather than setting rules or attempting to establish any variances from WP:NBASIC and NSPORT in general.

Curling

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for a curler if they
  1. Have won a World Curling Tour event or participated in a Grand Slam of Curling event.
  2. Have participated at the World Curling Championships or the World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship.
  3. Have won a medal at one of the following World Curling Federation sanctioned events: the World Junior Curling Championships, World Senior Curling Championships, European Curling Championships, World Mixed Curling Championship, or Pacific-Asia Curling Championships.
  4. Have participated in the Brier or the Tournament of Hearts.
  5. Have won a medal at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships.
  6. Have won the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, Canadian Senior Curling Championship, or Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials.
  7. Have participated in the Continental Cup of Curling, Canadian Olympic Curling Trials, TSN Skins Game, or Canada Cup of Curling.
  8. Are member of the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame or the WCF Hall of Fame.

Cycling

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for a male cyclist if he:

  1. Has competed in a UCI World Tour;
  2. Has competed in a Grand Tour or Monument;
  3. Has competed at the Olympics or UCI World Championships or UCI World Cup;
  4. Won Gold at an international multi-sport event (games) (also includes races like the World University Cycling Championship);
  5. Won a UCI category race (minimum classification 1.1 / 2.1, including Continental and National Championships).

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a female cyclist if she:

  1. Has competed in a UCI Women's team;
  2. Has competed at the Olympics or UCI World Championships or UCI World Cup;
  3. Won a UCI category race (including Continental and National Championships);
  4. Won Gold at an international multi-sport event (games) (also includes races like the World University Cycling Championship).

A team is presumed notable if it is:

  1. A men's road team in the 1st (UCI WorldTeam), 2nd (UCI ProContinental), or 3rd (UCI Continental) tier;
  2. A UCI team (UCI women's team, UCI track team, UCI mountain bike team, UCI cyclo-cross team, etc.).

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a race if it:

  1. Is ranked with the UCI (WT, 1HC, 1.1, 1.2, 2HC, 2.1, 2.2, CDM, JO, CM, GT, CC, CN);
  2. Is part of an international multi-sport event (games) (also includes races like the World University Cycling Championship);
  3. Holds significant recognition (for example, Parel van de Veluwe and the People's Choice Classic).

Equestrian sport

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This section does not encompass notability issues for individuals in rodeo, which is addressed at WP:NRODEO, or horse racing, which is covered at WP:NHORSERACING.

Equestrians competing at the highest level of international competition are not always "professionals", some earn money and some do not, but most have sponsors or receive money to support their activities. Both professionals and non-professionals have been put in the professional sports category for convenience.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for individual people and horses who are involved in equestrian sport if they
  1. Have participated at the Pan American Games as a rider, driver, or official team coach
  2. Have participated at the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) as a rider, driver, or official team coach
  3. If prior to a competition becoming part of the combined WEG, medaled individually or been on a team that won gold, silver, or bronze at the Eventing World Championship, Show Jumping World Championships, or Dressage World Championship, Combined Driving World Championships, Endurance World Championships or World Vaulting Championships
  4. Have won a FEI World Cup competition.

Persons or horses associated with equestrian competition who are not notable per the criteria outlined above may be presumed notable if they meet WP:NBASIC (or WP:GNG, for horses) for any of the following achievements:

  1. A coach or horse trainer who worked with many competitors (human or animal) considered notable by the criteria above, including at least one individual Olympic medalist or World Equestrian Games champion.
  2. Individual inductees into a major equestrian-oriented national hall of fame dedicated to sports with international-level competition, such as the United States Show Jumping Hall of Fame.
  3. Heads of national and international federations, for example, United States Equestrian Federation, Fédération Equestre Internationale.
  4. A horse breeder who was the breeder of record for many notable horses including the mounts of at least one Olympic medal or World Equestrian Games championship competitor.
  5. A horse notable for being a parent or ancestor of a major competitor.
  6. Some but not all winners of national-level championships, particularly those considered the highest honor within a particular discipline or horse breed competition (especially where there is no significant international championship level).
  7. Individuals who made major contributions to the equestrian industry such as veterinarians, researchers, artists, and inventors.

Figure skating

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Figure skaters competing at the highest level of international competition are not "professional" skaters, but they are also not amateurs since they do receive money. They are called eligible skaters but have been put in the professional sports category for convenience.

For notability guideline for all figure skating-related subjects, see Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Figure Skating/Notability.
Significant coverage is likely to exist for figure skating figures if they
  1. Have competed at an Olympics or at an ISU senior World Figure Skating Championships (Competing in a world championship qualifying round does not guarantee notability.)
  2. Have 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, with the exception of those countries that do not regularly send multiple skaters to the Olympic Games (consult this Olympic athlete tally to check whether the country qualifies).
  4. Have competed at an ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating event (Skate America, Skate Canada International, Internationaux de France, Cup of China, Rostelecom Cup, NHK Trophy, Bofrost Cup on Ice, Grand Prix of Helsinki)
  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 Grands Prix 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, the Karl Schäfer Memorial, and the Golden Spin of Zagreb.)

Significant coverage is likely to exist for persons associated with skating:

  1. A coach or choreographer who has worked with many notable skaters, including at least one Olympic medalist or senior World Champion (for example, Pam Gregory and David Wilson)
  2. Heads of national and international federations.
  3. Individual members of 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.

Golf

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for golf figures if:

  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 (example: World Golf Hall of Fame)
  3. They have won at least one professional golf tournament (examples: PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, European Tour, PGA Tour Champions)
  4. They have won at least one recognized amateur golf tournament at the national or international level (examples: U.S. Amateur, British Amateur)
  5. They have made the cut in one of the four Men's major golf championships, one of the Women's major golf championships (past or present), or one of the Senior major golf championships (past or present)
  6. They have competed as a professional on the PGA, LPGA, European, or Champions Tour for at least one full year

Gymnastics

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for artistic gymnasts if they meet any of the criteria below
  1. Competed at the World Championships
  2. Won a senior individual medal at an elite international competition*
  3. Won their country's senior all-around or individual event finals national championship while competing for a country that qualified a full team into the most recent Olympics or senior World Championships
  4. Won an individual medal at the senior national championships for any country that medaled in the team competition at the most recent Olympics or World Championships
  5. Have been inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
Significant coverage is likely to exist for junior gymnasts if they meet any of the criteria below
  1. Won an individual gold medal at the junior national championships for any of the following countries: USA, Russia, China, Romania (females only)
  2. Won an individual gold medal, in the junior division, at an elite international competition*
  3. Won an individual medal at the Youth Olympic Games or Junior World Championships
Significant coverage is likely to exist for coaches if they
  1. Have coached many notable athletes, including at least one individual Olympic medalist or world champion
  2. Have been the official head coach of an Olympic or World Championship team
*An elite international competition is
any competition with considerable international WP:GNG coverage between at least eight notable athletes (examples of such competitions include: Pan American Games, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, European Championships, and Pacific Rim Championships).

Horse racing

Shortcut For expanded notability guidelines for all horse racing-related subjects, see Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Horse racing/Notability.

Not all participants in horse racing are athletic "professionals", particularly owners and breeders, but due to purse money and profit motive throughout the sport they are put in the professional sports category for convenience.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for Horse racing figures, including horses and/or their human "connections" (horse trainers, jockeys, or horse owners and horse breeders) if they have accomplished any of the following:

  1. Individuals who win a Grade I/Group I stakes race or the equivalent level in their respective nations. (Horses, due to their relatively short careers, at least once; humans best to have done so more than once)
  2. Individuals who have won multiple significant Grade/Group 2 or 3 graded stakes races or the equivalent level in their respective nations.
  3. Individuals who have won year-end championship titles, such as an Eclipse Award.
  4. Members of a national Racing Hall of Fame.

Notability for horses or persons associated with horse racing who were not competitors or do not meet the criteria above may be presumed notable if they meet GNG or NBASIC for any of the following:

  1. Individual humans who were significant for new advancements or trailblazing achievements. (examples: Andrew Beyer, Florence Nagle, Diane Crump)
  2. Horses that may not have raced to any significant degree (usually due to injury), but had multiple significant progeny, such as Tapit.
  3. Horses who are ranked the leading sire or broodmare for a given year in their respective nations (again, see Tapit)
  4. Breeding farms or farm owners that do not race many horses themselves, but have produced or currently stand horses who became notable winners. (i.e., Adena Springs)
  5. Agents, race track announcers (e.g., Larry Collmus), racing journalists (e.g., Steve Haskin), venue owners (e.g., Frank Stronach) and other business professionals with a significant connection to horse racing.
  6. Horses and individuals involved in highly publicized thefts or other crimes, e.g., Shergar, scandals, or other nefarious activities, such as substitution scams, e.g., Fine Cotton.
  7. An individual person with a connection to a notable horse is not inherently notable for that reason only, see WP:BIO1E, though if the individual's role is a large one, a significant connection to a single notable horse might justify a spinoff article (e.g., Eddie Sweat, groom of Secretariat). Conversely, a horse is not presumed notable just because the owner is famous – of Jim Rome's racehorses, Shared Belief is notable, Gallatin's Run is probably not.

Ice hockey

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for ice hockey players if they

  1. Played one or more games in the National Hockey League, Czech Extraliga, Liiga, Kontinental Hockey League, or the Swedish Hockey League, a top-level Canadian amateur league prior to 1909, the Soviet Championship League, the Czechoslovak First Ice Hockey League or the World Hockey Association;
  2. Played at least 200 games (90 games for a goaltender) or achieved preeminent honors (all-time top-10 career scorer, First Team All-Star) in the Mestis, Deutsche Eishockey Liga, Slovak Extraliga, HockeyAllsvenskan, National League, or American Hockey League;
  3. Achieved preeminent honors (all-time top-10 career scorer or First Team All-Star) in the Eishockey Liga, Belarusian Extraleague, DEL2, GET-ligaen, ECHL, Elite Ice Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, Western Hockey League, Elite.A, or Beneliga;
  4. Achieved preeminent honors (all-time top-10 career scorer or First or Second Team All-American) in the men's play versions of the Atlantic Hockey, Big Ten Conference, Central Collegiate Hockey Association, ECAC Hockey, Hockey East, National Collegiate Hockey Conference, or NCAA Division I independent;
  5. Are a first-round draft pick of the NHL Entry Draft; or
  6. Played on a senior national team for the World Championship, in the highest pool the IIHF maintained in any given year (Note: playing in lower pools that do not actually contest for the World Champion title is not enough to satisfy inclusion requirements).

For coaches or managers of ice hockey teams, substitute "coached" or "managed" for "played" in the player guidelines.

For participants in defunct leagues who satisfy any of these achievement standards, please see the ice hockey league assessment maintained by the Ice Hockey WikiProject. For leagues still in existence, only those listed above satisfy the specified criteria.

Kickboxing

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for a kickboxing athlete if they:

  • Fought for a world title of a major organization or promotion (K-1, WMC, ISKA, WAKO-Pro, Glory, It's Showtime, WKN, WBC Muaythai, PKA (through 1986), or WKA (through 2000)),
  • Have been ranked in the world top-10 by a major, preferably two, independent publication that meets the definition of a reliable source, or
  • Have been a Lumpinee or Rajadamnern champion.

Kickboxers that have an amateur background exclusively are not notable unless the person has been the subject examined in detail (more than a single paragraph) in several reliable third-party sources (at least four), excluding local publications.

Mixed martial arts

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for mixed martial artists if they
  1. Have fought at least three professional fights for a top-tier MMA organization, such as the UFC (see WP:MMATIER); or
  2. Have fought for the highest title of a top-tier MMA organization; or
  3. Have been ranked in the world top 10 in their division by either Sherdog (sherdog.com) or Fight Matrix (fightmatrix.com).

Motorsports

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for motorsport figures if they are
  1. A driver or rider who has qualified for any of the following events:
  2. A driver or rider who has competed for at least one full season in any of the following series:
  3. A driver or rider who has finished on the overall podium of any of the following events:
  4. A driver, rider, or co-driver who has won any of the following events overall:
  5. A driver or rider who has won any of the following championship titles:
    • The overall championship title of any series in the previous category without winning a race (a relatively common occurrence in series whose points-scoring systems favour consistent finishes over inconsistent victories).
    • A major championship in which a large number of the competitors are amateur "gentleman" drivers or privateers, such as the European Le Mans Series, Intercontinental GT Challenge, or European Rally Championship.
  6. Any driver who does not meet the previous criteria who has received an FIA platinum driver categorisation. Significant coverage is likely to exist for Drivers who have received an FIA gold driver categorisation, although a minority of drivers in this group may not meet the general notability guideline.
  7. A current or former owner or team principal for a team in a major racing series (Formula One, the World Rally Championship, MotoGP, Formula E, Indycar, DTM, Super GT, the NASCAR Cup Series, V8 Supercars, CART, or top-level IMSA) for a full season or more. This includes Cup Series crew chiefs.
  8. Enshrined in any notable motorsports hall of fame.
  9. A current or former holder of significant motorsports record, such as a land speed record.

Orienteering

Significant coverage is likely to exist for an athlete who competes in the field of orienteering if they meet any of the criteria below
  1. Have finished top 3 in the World Orienteering Championships or the European Orienteering Championships.
  2. Have finished top 3 in any other major senior level individual international competition according to the criterion below. Presently that means the three medalists in H21E and D21E in O-Ringen, except for the competitions until 1968, when there were not so many runners.
  3. Have won an individual gold medal at the Junior World Orienteering Championships, in a World Ranking Event (Swedish League etc)
  4. Have won a senior national championship in a country whose athletes have received a medal in the World Orienteering Championships.
Significant coverage is likely to exist for an orienteering club if it meets any of the criteria below
  1. Has got a medal in a major relay (according to the criteria below, which mean presently Tiomila (both the Tiomila relay and the women’s relay, since 1970 when the number of team became so large that it could not anymore be organized from point A to point B) and the Jukola relay (both Jukola, from 1972, and Venla).
  2. Has won a senior national championship in relay in a country whose athletes have received a medal in the World Orienteering Championships.
  3. Has been represented by ten runners who fulfill the criteria above.
Significant coverage is likely to exist for an event apart from the championships mentioned above if it meets all the following criteria
  1. It has an international elite field.
  2. It regularly has more than 5,000 competitors.
  3. It has been held over a period of 25 years.

Presently that means O-Ringen, Tiomila, and the Jukola relay.

Rodeo

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for individuals who participate in the sport of rodeo if they
  1. Have participated as athletes at the highest level of professional competition such as the Calgary Stampede, Canadian Finals Rodeo, National Finals Rodeo, or National Finals Rodeo (Australia);
  2. Have been inducted into a national or international rodeo hall of fame such as the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Rodeo Hall of Fame, National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, or Bull Riding Hall of Fame.
  3. College rodeo athletes in NIRA competition will follow NCOLLATH and younger rodeo competitors will follow NHSPHSATH.
  4. Named animals participating in rodeo, such as bucking horses and bucking bulls, are presumed notable if they have been named to a rodeo hall of fame such as those noted above.

Rugby league

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for a player or coach of rugby league football if they:

  1. Have appeared in at least one match at a Rugby League World Cup tournament, Rugby League Four Nations tournament, Pacific Cup or Rugby League European Cup, or
  2. Have appeared in at least one match between Great Britain, England, Wales, France, New Zealand, or Australia prior to 1995, or
  3. Have appeared in at least one match of a fully professional club rugby league competition:

Other players and personalities in the game are notable if they meet WP:NBASIC.

Note 1: or their earlier iterations in the UK, Australia or New Zealand.

Rugby union

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for a rugby union person if they have played for, coached, or administered:

  1. A "High Performance Union" at any time or another test nation during an appearance at the men's Rugby World Cup or,
  2. A team in a notable fully professional rugby union competition since 1995 or,
  3. A team in the Rugby World Cup Sevens, World Rugby Sevens Series, Commonwealth Games, or
  4. A women's national team in at least the semi-finals of the Women's Rugby World Cup.

Note 1: "High Performance Unions" for men are: Argentina, Australia, British and Irish Lions, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Georgia (at Rugby World Cups 2003, 2017, 2011 and 2015 and from 2016–present), Ireland, Italy, Japan, Namibia (at Rugby World Cups 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015 and from 2016–present), New Zealand, Romania, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, Tonga, United States, Uruguay (at Rugby World Cups 1999, 2003 and 2015 and from 2016–present) and Wales. Women do not have this criterion.
Note 2: Non-High Performance Unions nations that have appeared at the World cup are: Ivory Coast (1995), Portugal (2007), Spain (1999), Russia (2011 and 2019) and Zimbabwe (1987 and 1991)
Note 3: Nations that have played at the Women's World cup at the semi-final level are: Australia (2010), Canada (1998, 2002, 2006 and 2014), England (1991, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2017), France (1991, 1994, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2017), Ireland (2014), New Zealand (1991, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2017), United States (1991, 1994, 1998 and 2017), and Wales (1994).

The above parameters apply to all rugby union persons regardless of professional or amateur status. A player who signs for a team in a fully professional rugby competition 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 under these criteria. 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:NBASIC.

Sumo

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for sumo wrestlers if they have been ranked in either the top (makuuchi) division or second-highest (juryo) division. Significant coverage is not likely to exist for wrestlers who have only appeared in lower divisions, as they have not reached fully professional status.

Tennis

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for tennis figures if they
  1. Are a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, either in the contributor or player category
  2. Have competed in one of the following international team competitions: Hopman Cup or World Team Cup.
  3. Have competed in the main draw in one of the highest-level professional tournaments:
  4. Have won at least one title in any of the ATP Challenger tournaments.
  5. Have won at least one title in any of the ITF Women's $50,000–$100,000+ tournaments, or any of the WTA 125K tournaments. Until 2007, the notability threshold shall be winning a $25,000 tournament based on the lowest payout for a men's challenger tournament in the same year.
  6. Hold a tennis record recognized by the International Tennis Federation, ATP, or WTA.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for junior players if they have won at least a junior Grand Slam title, have been in the top-3 of the junior ITF world rankings, or can be shown to meet the wider requirements of WP:NBASIC.

This guideline applies equally to singles and doubles players.

More detailed tennis notability information can be found at WikiProject Tennis/Article guidelines.

Triathlon

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for triathletes if they
  1. Have had a podium finish at the Commonwealth Games.
  2. Have had a top-ten finish in the final World Triathlon Series standings (or in the final World Triathlon Cup standings, prior to 2009).
  3. Have had a top-ten finish in an World Triathlon sanctioned championship event.
  4. Have an elite level podium finish at an World Triathlon Continental Championship.
  5. Have had a professional division top-ten finish at the Ironman World Championship or at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.
  6. Have had a podium finish at the XTERRA Triathlon championships.
  7. Have won an event that has a starting pro/elite field of at least 15 male or 10 female competitors.
  8. Have set a record for a standard distance event or leg.

Amateur sports persons

College athletes and coaches

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

  1. Have won a national award (such as those listed in Template:College Football Awards or the equivalent in another sport), or established a major NCAA Division I 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. Very rarely, a player may gain national media attention despite not being on a notable team, such as Lauren Hill.
  4. Have won multiple NCAA Division I national championships as an individual in an individual sport.
  5. Served as a full-time (as opposed to interim) head coach for NCAA Division I/University Division football (since the establishment of divisions in 1957), men’s basketball (since 1957) or women’s basketball (since 1982). Other college coaches in other divisions and/or other sports may also meet notability guidelines via WP:NBASIC.

Gaelic games

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Significant coverage is likely to exist for GAA figures if that figure is or has been a:

  1. Gaelic footballer who has played in the National League or at senior inter-county level in the Championship
  2. Gaelic handballer who has won at senior inter-county level
  3. Hurler who has played in the National League or at senior inter-county level in the Championship

High school and pre-high school athletes

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High school and pre-high school athletes are notable only if they have received, as individuals, substantial and prolonged coverage that is: (1) independent of the subject; and (2) clearly goes beyond WP:ROUTINE coverage. The first clause excludes all school papers and school websites that cover their sports teams and other teams they compete against. The second clause excludes the majority of local coverage in both news sources and sports specific publications. It especially excludes using game play summaries, statistical results, or routine interviews as sources to establish notability.

Organizations, venues and games notability

Teams and clubs

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This guideline does not provide any general criteria for the presumed notability of sports teams and clubs. Some sports have specific criteria. Otherwise, teams and clubs are expected to demonstrate notability by the general notability guideline.

Since notability is not inherited, the notability of an athlete does not imply the notability of a team or club, or vice versa.

Olympic and Paralympic Games

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

Individual seasons

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

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

For college sports teams, weigh both the season itself and the sport (for example, if a US college or university's football and fencing teams enjoy the same level of success, the football team is likely to receive a significantly greater amount of coverage):

  • A national championship season at the top collegiate level is generally notable.
  • A national championship season at a lower collegiate level might be notable
  • A season including a post-season appearance (or, if there is no post-season competition, a high final ranking) in the top collegiate level is often notable.
  • For programs considered elite in a sport (for example, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, in men's basketball; Tennessee and UConn in women's basketball; Michigan, Notre Dame, Alabama, USC in football, etc.) many or all seasons might be notable regardless of the outcome (the amount written by reliable sources on a weekly basis for some of these programs is enough that almost anything or anyone having any relation to them is likely to meet the General Notability Guideline).
  • In cases in which the individual season notability is insufficient for an article, multiple seasons may be grouped together in a single article. This grouping might be based on head coaches, conference affiliation, or any other reasonable standard that results in sufficient coverage for the period to warrant an article.

Individual games or series

Shortcuts Further information: Misplaced Pages:Notability (events)

Regular season games in professional and college leagues are not inherently notable. To be notable, games should be extraordinary and have a lasting impact on the sport; news coverage should be extensive (e.g., outside of the week of its occurrence and in non-local newspapers).

Some games or series are likely or almost certain to be considered notable, including but not limited to the following:

Articles about notable games should have well-sourced prose, not merely a list of stats.

For a games or series that is already covered as a subtopic in another article, consider developing the topic in the existing article first until it becomes clear that a standalone article is warranted. Although a game or series may be notable, it may sometimes be better to present the topic in an existing article on a broader topic instead of creating a new standalone page.

Rivalries

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Sports rivalries are not inherently notable. Articles on sports rivalries, such as Yankees–Red Sox rivalry, should satisfy the general notability guideline.

Arenas, stadia and other athletic venues

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As with teams and clubs (see WP:NTEAM), sporting arenas, stadia and other venues do not have presumed notability, and are expected to demonstrate notability through meeting the general notability guideline. Since notability is not inherited, neither the notability of a sports team nor of competitions played there imply the notability of a venue.

Research links

See also: Misplaced Pages:List of online newspaper archives

The following are some potential places to look for sources to establish sports notability:

Notes

  1. "Statement to exclude Esports from this guideline" discussion, October–November 2011
  2. What constitutes a "published work" is deliberately broad.
  3. Non-triviality is a measure of the depth of content of a published work, and how far removed that content is from a simple directory entry or a mention in passing that does not discuss the subject in detail. A credible 200-page independent biography of a person that covers that person's life in detail is non-trivial, whereas a birth certificate or a 1-line listing on an election ballot form is not. Database sources such as Notable Names Database, Internet Movie Database, and Internet Adult Film Database are not considered credible since they are, like wikis, mass-edited with little oversight. Additionally, these databases have low, wide-sweeping generic standards of inclusion.
  4. Sources that are pure derivatives of an original source can be used as references, but do not contribute toward establishing the notability of a subject. "Intellectual independence" requires not only that the content of sources be non-identical, but also that the entirety of content in a published work not derived from (or based in) another work (partial derivations are acceptable). For example, a speech by a politician about a particular person contributes toward establishing the notability of that person, but multiple reproductions of the transcript of that speech by different news outlets do not. A biography written about a person contributes toward establishing their notability, but a summary of that biography lacking an original intellectual contribution does not.
  5. Autobiography and self-promotion are not routes to having an encyclopaedia article. The barometer of notability is whether people independent of the subject itself have actually considered the subject notable enough that they have written and published non-trivial works that focus upon it. Thus, entries in biographical dictionaries that accept self-nominations (such as the Marquis Who's Who) do not prove notability.
  6. "Regulations Governing International Matches" (PDF). FIFA. p. 8–9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2018-05-18.
  7. Articles that are not sourced to published material providing significant coverage of the subject (beyond just statistics sites) may be nominated for deletion.
  8. World Rugby (2017). "Current High Performance Investment Unions". High Performance Playbook 2016–2020 (PDF). World Rugby. p. 8.
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