Cap (sport)


In sport, a cap is a metaphorical term for a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of association football. In the early days of football, the concept of each team wearing a set of matching shirts had not been universally adopted, so each side would distinguish itself from the other by wearing a specific sort of cap.
An early illustration of the first international football match between Scotland and England in 1872 shows the Scottish players wearing cowls, and the English wearing a variety of school caps. The practice was first approved on 10 May 1886 for association football after a proposal made by N. Lane Jackson, founder of the Corinthians:
The act of awarding a cap is now international and is applied to other sports. Although in some sports physical caps may not now always be given the term "cap" for an international or other appearance has been retained as an indicator of the number of occasions on which a sportsperson has represented a team in a particular sport. Thus, a "cap" is awarded for each game played and so a player who has played x games, for the team, is said to have been capped x times or have won x caps.
The practice of awarding a physical cap varies from sport to sport. It may be awarded prior to a player's debut or, particularly for national teams, a commemorative cap may be awarded after a player reaches the 100th cap.

Association football

As an example, the men's association football teams still awards physical caps. Players are awarded one cap for every match they play — unless they play in a World Cup or European Championship finals tournament. Then they are given a single cap for the competition — with the names of all their opponents stitched into the fabric of the cap itself. For example, when David Beckham made his one hundredth appearance for England, because a number of his appearances had been at World Cup and European Championship final tournaments for which he only one cap, he received only his 85th physical cap. In Scotland, for many years the practice was to present caps only for appearances in the British Home Championship, meaning that several players never received one ; this anomaly was rectified retrospectively in the 2000s after pressure from players' families.

Records

The world record holder for the highest number of international caps as of 5 November 2010 is retired American player Kristine Lilly, who has 354 caps. In men's association football, the record belongs to former player Ahmed Hassan of Egypt; he surpassed Claudio Suárez with his 178th cap on 27 March 2012. The first footballer to win 100 international caps was Billy Wright of England's Wolverhampton Wanderers. Wright went on to appear 105 times for England, 90 of them he obtained whilst he was a captain.
Bold denotes players currently active in international football.

Men

RankCapsNameCountry
1184Ahmed Hassan1995–2012
2179Ahmed Mubarak2003–2019
3178Mohamed Al-Deayea1993–2006
3178Bader Al-Mutawa2003–2019
5177Claudio Suárez1992–2006
6176Gianluigi Buffon1997–2018
7170Hossam Hassan1985–2006
7170Sergio Ramos2005–2019
9168Iván Hurtado1992–2014
9168Amer Shafi2002–2019

Women

RankCapsNameCountry
1354Kristine Lilly1987–2010
2311Christie Pearce1997–2015
3291Christine Sinclair2000–2020
4290Carli Lloyd2005–2020
5276Mia Hamm1987–2004
6274Julie Foudy1988–2004
7255Abby Wambach2001–2015
8241Joy Fawcett1987–2004
9231Heather O'Reilly2002–2016
10219Pu Wei1997–2014

Cricket

As in association football, cricket still awards a physical cap. Caps are awarded both at international and domestic level, however the criteria for winning a cap differs between international and domestic cricket.
In international cricket, a player is awarded a cap for every appearance made. It is common for a player to be presented with their cap in a ceremony on the first morning of their maiden Test match, although a physical cap may not be presented for every occasion on which a player represents his country. International caps are numbered according to the number of players who have represented the country before. For example, cap number 50 is awarded to the fiftieth player to represent the country.
In some domestic cricket competitions, caps are also awarded. However, they are often not awarded automatically for every appearance made, rather at the discretion of the administrators of the club for whom the recipient plays. The most prevalent example of the latter system is in English county cricket, in which many First Class counties award a "county cap" to players.

Records

As of July 2020, 67 players have won 100 or more caps in Test cricket. The most capped players are:
Players still active at Test level are in bold type.
RankCapsNameCountry
1200Sachin Tendulkar India1989–2013
2168Ricky Ponting Australia1995–2012
2168Steve Waugh Australia1985–2004
4166Jacques Kallis South Africa
ICC World XI		1995–2013
5164Shivnarine Chanderpaul West Indies1994–2015
5164Rahul Dravid India
ICC World XI		1996–2012
7161Alastair Cook England2006–2018
8156Allan Border Australia1978–1994
9153James Anderson England2003–2020
10149Mahela Jayawardene Sri Lanka1997–2014

;Notes

Rugby union

In rugby union, 64 players have reached 100 international caps as of 27 Oct 2019. Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are eligible for selection to the British and Irish Lions touring squad. Lions matches are classed as full international tests, and caps are awarded. The Pacific Islanders team, composed of players from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Niue and Cook Islands have a similar arrangement, although no players involved have so far reached 100 caps.
Players still active at Test level are in bold type.
RankCapsNameCountry
1148Richie McCaw2001–2015
2147Alun Wyn Jones
2006–2020
3142Sergio Parisse2002–2019
4141Brian O'Driscoll
1999–2014
5139George Gregan1994–2007
6134Gethin Jenkins
2002–2016
7132Keven Mealamu2002–2015
8130Ronan O'Gara
2000–2013
9129Stephen Moore2005–2017
10127Victor Matfield2001–2015
10127Kieran Read2008–2019

Rugby league

The International Rugby League honours players that have made 50 international appearances in their career with a special golden cap. The record for most caps is held by former Australian Kangaroos player & captain Darren Lockyer with 59 matches.
Players still active at Test level are in bold type.
RankCapsNameCountry
159Darren Lockyer Australia1998–2011
256Cameron Smith Australia2006–2017
355Ruben Wiki New Zealand1994–2006
454Jim Sullivan Wales
Great Britain
England		1921–1934
553James Graham Great Britain
England		2006–2019
553Adrian Morley Great Britain
England		1996–2012
751Adam Blair New Zealand2006–2019
751Petero Civoniceva Australia
Fiji		2001–2014
950Mick Sullivan Great Britain
England		1954–1962
1046Gary Freeman New Zealand1986–1996
1046Stacey Jones New Zealand1995–2006
1046Mal Meninga Australia1982–1994

Netball

Physical caps are not distributed by the International Netball Federation but the term is still widely used to signify appearances. Irene van Dyk has won the most international caps having represented two nations after her switch to the Silver Ferns, a move that was allowed as the INF rules only prohibited players from representing two nations in one calendar year. Mary Waya is the only other woman to have earned over 200 caps in her thirty year career, with exact numbers being difficult to confirm.
Players still active at Test level are in bold type.
RankCapsNameCountry
1217Irene van Dyk South Africa
New Zealand 		1994–2014
2205Mary Waya Malawi1984–2014
3176Jade Clarke England2002–
4159Nadine Bryan Jamaica1997–
5151Laura Langman New Zealand2003–
6150Maria Folau New Zealand2005–2019
7146Geva Mentor England2001–
8138Leana de Bruin South Africa
New Zealand 		1996–2016
9137Katrina Rore New Zealand2008–
10127Lesley MacDonald Scotland1999–2014