Wikipedia:Notability (sports)

"WP:ATHLETE" redirects here. Not to be confused with Wikipedia:WikiProject Biography/Sports and games or Wikipedia:WikiProject Athletics.

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 Wikipedia. The article should provide reliable sources showing that the subject meets the general notability guideline.

If the article meets 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 Wikipedia:Verifiability and Wikipedia:Reliable sources.

Applicable policies and guidelines

All information included in Wikipedia, 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 who 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 esports participants are covered by the criteria of this guideline.

Sports which are not listed on this page should defer to the § Basic criteria for guidance. This includes both those which were never listed, and those which were but have since been removed, most recently following an RfC from January–March 2022.

Basic criteria

Main page: Wikipedia:Notability

See also: Wikipedia's basic criteria for the notability of people

A person is presumed to be notable if they have been the subject of significant coverage, that is, 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 Wikipedia's basic standards of inclusion if they have 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.
• Fan sites and blogs are generally not regarded as reliable sources. Team sites and governing sports bodies are not considered independent of their players. Although statistics sites may be reliable sources, they are not sufficient by themselves 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 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

Athletics/track and field and long-distance running

Significant coverage is likely to exist for athletes who compete in the field of athletics if they meet any of the criteria below:

1. 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).
2. 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)
3. Have won an individual gold medal at the IAAF World Junior Championships, or Youth World Championships.
4. Have won their country's senior national championship, with the exception of those who have never been ranked in the top 60 on the IAAF world leading list at the end of a given calendar year
5. 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)
6. 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
7. 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
8. Have a non-relay mark listed on the IAAF senior all-time list or equivalent list
9. 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 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.

Badminton

Significant coverage is likely to exist for athletes in badminton if they meet the following criterion:

1. Have had a podium finish at tournaments of the BWF Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix (until 2017) or the BWF World Tour or Super 100 level (from 2018 onwards).

Basketball

Significant coverage is likely to exist for basketball figures if they:

1. Were selected in the first two rounds of the NBA draft.
2. Have won an award or led the league in a major statistical category of the Continental Basketball Association or NBA G League.

Boxing

"WP:NBOX" redirects here. For horizontal navigation templates placed at the bottom of pages ("navboxes"), see WP:NAVBOX.

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

1. Have been ranked in the world top ten of any weight class by the IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO, or The Ring magazine.

Cricket

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a cricket figure if they:

• Have played at the international level for a Test-playing nation
• (for umpires) Have been a member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires

Additionally, cricketers who have played at the highest domestic level or in the lower levels of international cricket may have sufficient coverage about them to justify an article, but it should not be assumed to exist without further proof. For both of these, a detailed listing of which leagues or competitions are more likely (or not) to have such coverage is maintained by the cricket wikiproject: see WP:OFFICIALCRICKET.

Cue sports (snooker, pool, billiards)

See Wikipedia: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

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 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.
3. Have won a medal at the Canadian Junior Curling Championships.
4. Have won the Canadian Mixed Curling Championship, Canadian Senior Curling Championship, or Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials.
5. Are a member of the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame or the WCF Hall of Fame.

Cycling

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

1. Won a UCI World Tour;
2. Won (a stage, or an overall individual classification) a Grand Tour or finished on the podium of a Monument;
3. Won the 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. Won the UCI World Championships or UCI World Cup;
2. Won a UCI category race (including Continental and National Championships);
3. Won gold at an international multi-sport event (games) (also includes races like the World University Cycling Championship).

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

1. Is a men's road team in the 1st (UCI WorldTeam), 2nd (UCI ProContinental), or 3rd (UCI Continental) tier;
2. Is a UCI team (including 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, 1.Pro, 1.1, 1.2, 2.Pro, 2.1, 2.2, CDM, JO, CM, GT, CC, CN, .HC);
2. Is part of an international multi-sport event (games) (also includes races like the World University Cycling Championship);
3. Has received significant recognition (for example, Parel van de Veluwe and the People's Choice Classic).

Equestrian sport

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 medaled at the Pan American Games as a rider, driver, or official team coach
2. Have medaled at the FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG) as a rider, driver, or official team coach
3. Have medaled individually or were 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 an FEI World Cup competition.

Significant coverage is also likely to exist for persons or horses associated with equestrian competition who do not meet the criteria outlined above if they are or have been:

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

Significant coverage is likely to exist for figure skating figures if they:

1. Have won a medal at an international senior-level event or the World Junior Figure Skating Championships
2. 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).
3. As coach or choreographer, have worked with many notable skaters, including at least one Olympic medalist or senior World Champion (for example, Pam Gregory and David Wilson)
4. Have been the head of a national and international federation.
5. Are a member 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

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

Significant coverage is likely to exist for artistic gymnasts if they meet any of the criteria below:

1. Won a senior individual medal at an elite international competition (see below)
2. 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
3. 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 (see below)
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 include:

• Pan American Games
• Asian Games
• Commonwealth Games
• European Championships
• Pacific Rim Championships.

Horse racing

Notability for people involved in sport horse disciplines other than horse racing are covered at WP:NEQUESTRIAN or WP:NRODEO

For notability essay for all horse racing-related subjects, see Wikipedia: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 US Grade I/Group I graded 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 US 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 the Eclipse Award.
4. Members of a national racing hall of fame.

Significant coverage is also likely to exist for horses or persons associated with horse racing who were not competitors or do not meet the criteria above, if they meet 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 presumed 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

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

1. 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;
2. 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;
3. 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; or
4. Were a first-round draft pick of the NHL entry draft.

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

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a kickboxer if they:

• Have been ranked in the world top-10 by one, preferably two, major independent publications that meet the definition of a reliable source, or
• Have been a Lumpinee or Rajadamnern champion.

Kickboxers who have an amateur background exclusively are not notable under this guideline unless they have 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

1. Have been ranked in the world top 10 in their division by either Sherdog (sherdog.com) or Fight Matrix (fightmatrix.com).

Motorsports

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a motorsport figure if they are:

1. A driver or rider who has qualified for any of the following events:
   • A Formula One World Championship Grand Prix or a 500cc/MotoGP World Championship motorcycle Grand Prix.
   • The Indianapolis 500.
2. A driver or rider who has competed for at least one full season in any of the following series:
   • Any primarily-professional single-class series of significant international importance, such as the Superbike World Championship, Formula E, or the World Touring Car Championship.
   • Any category of a multi-class series of significant international importance in which there is not a requirement to run "amateur" or "gentleman" drivers, such as the LMP1 and GTE Pro classes of the FIA World Endurance Championship, or as a manufacturer entry in the World Rally Championship.
   • A top-level feeder series to Formula One or MotoGP, such as the GP2 Series or the Moto2 World Championship.
   • The modern-era (1972 or later) NASCAR Cup Series.
3. A driver or rider who has finished on the overall podium of any of the following events:
   • Any round of a series in the previous category, if the driver or rider in question did not complete a full season.
   • The Le Mans 24 Hours, the Bathurst 1000 Kilometres, or a pre-World Championship Grande Épreuve.
4. A driver, rider, or co-driver who has won any of the following events overall:
   • A round of any primarily-professional series of significant national importance, such as the British Touring Car Championship, Stock Car Brasil, or Super GT.
   • A high-profile international rally as a driver (such as the Dakar Rally, Coupe des Alpes, or non-world championship editions of the Monte Carlo or RAC rallies), or a round of the World Rally Championship as a co-driver.
   • A non-championship national Grand Prix (including the Macau Grand Prix and the Gordon Bennett Cup) for cars or motorcycles.
   • Various major road races, such as one of the high-profile inter-city races of the 1890s and 1900s, an Isle of Man TT event, the Targa Florio, or the Mille Miglia.
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, the European Orienteering Championships, the overall Orienteering World Cup at the end of a season or the World Games.

Significant coverage is likely to exist for an orienteering club if it meets any of the criteria below:

1. Has won 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 teams became so large that it could not be organized anymore from point A to point B) and the Jukola relay (both Jukola, from 1972, and Venla).
2. 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. In addition, an event is also likely to receive significant coverage if it is a competition for developing elite athletes; this includes the Junior World Orienteering Championships, the World University Orienteering Championships and the European Youth Orienteering Championships.

Rodeo

Significant coverage is likely to exist for individuals who participate in the sport of rodeo if they:

1. 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.
2. College rodeo athletes in NIRA competition will follow NCOLLATH and younger rodeo competitors will follow NHSPHSATH.
3. Significant coverage is likely to exist for named animals participating in rodeo, such as bucking horses and bucking bulls, if they have been named to a rodeo hall of fame such as those noted above.

Sumo

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

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a tennis player if they:

1. Are a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame, either in the contributor or player category
2. Have competed in the main draw in one of the highest-level professional tournaments:

   • Grand Slam tournaments (the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, or the US Open).
   • Men: ATP Tour tournaments (the ATP Finals, ATP Tour Masters 1000, ATP Tour 500, or ATP Tour 250).
   • Women: WTA Tour tournaments (the WTA 1000, the WTA 500, the WTA 250, or the WTA Finals).

3. Have won at least one title in any of the ATP Challenger tournaments.
4. Have won at least one title in any of the ITF Women's $40,000–$100,000+ tournaments, or any of the WTA 125 tournaments. (From 1978–2007 it was a $25,000 tournament, and 2008–2022 it was a $50,000 tournament, roughly based on the lowest payout for a men's challenger tournament in the same year).
5. 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.

Triathlon

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a triathlete 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

A college athlete or coach is likely to 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 if they:

1. Have won a national award (such as those listed in Template:College football award navbox 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.
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

Significant coverage is likely to exist for a GAA figure if they are or have 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 Hurling League or at senior inter-county level in the Championship

High school and pre-high school athletes

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

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

• Significant coverage is likely to exist for an athlete in any sport if they have won a medal at the modern Olympic Games, including the Summer Olympics (since 1896) or the Winter Olympics (since 1924), e.g., Ian Thorpe, or have won a medal at the Paralympic Games, e.g. Laurentia Tan, unless the athlete competed in an event with fewer than four competitors or teams (i.e., when all participants received a medal). Other exceptions may be listed at sport-specific guidelines.
• Significant coverage is likely to exist for nations participating at an individual Summer or Winter Olympic or Paralympic Games, e.g., United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics or Great Britain at the 2002 Winter Paralympics
• Significant coverage is likely to exist for sports at individual Summer or Winter Olympic or Paralympic Games, e.g., Archery at the 2004 Summer Olympics or Wheelchair curling at the 2006 Winter Paralympics
• Significant coverage is likely to exist for events at individual Summer or Winter Olympic or Paralympic Games, e.g., Cycling at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Men's individual 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

Individual season articles for top-level professional teams are highly likely to meet Wikipedia notability requirements. If the article is not for a top level professional team (such as for a college team) 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

Further information: Wikipedia:Notability (events)

Regular season games in professional and college leagues are not presumed 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:

• 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 2009 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship final, or Super Bowl XLIII, or 2006 UEFA Champions League final
• College bowl games (not limited to BCS or College Football Playoff bowl games, e.g. see 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., The Malice at the Palace, 2009 Republic of Ireland v France football matches, or the Blood in the Water match)

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

For a game 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

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

Arenas, stadia and other athletic venues

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: Wikipedia:List of online newspaper archives

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

• Chronicling America Library of Congress, historic newspapers from 1836–1922 (free)
• Google news search (mostly free)
• LA84 Foundation Digital archive of the LA84 Foundation research library; digitized books, periodicals, and magazines on sports (free)
• Newspaper archive Digitized newspapers, broad coverage (free search, paid access)
• NewsLibrary Digitized newspapers, broad coverage (free search, paid access)
• Newspapers.com Digitized newspapers, broad coverage (free search, paid access)