Cap (sport)

A cap is an appearance for a select team, such as a school, county or international team in sports. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap (meaning an item of headgear) to every player in an international match of Association Football; however, the act of awarding a cap is now international and is applied to other sports. The practice was first approved on 10 May 1886 for Association Football, after a proposal made by N. L. Jackson, founder of the Corinthians:

That all players taking part for England in future international matches be presented with a white silk cap with red rose embroidered on the front. These to be termed International Caps.

Today it might seem an unusual and perhaps even a bizarre practice to present a player with an actual cap but in the early days of football the concept of each team wearing a set of matching shirts had not been universally adopted, with the result that a team's players would often take the field in a variety of different coloured shirts, and each side would distinguish itself from the other by wearing a specific sort of cap or other headgear. An early illustration of the first international football match between England and Scotland in 1872 shows the Scottish players wearing cowls and the English wearing a variety of school caps.

Actual caps are not usually given any more (caps for friendly matches still exist, and each player gets one cap per international competition), but the term "cap" for an international or other appearance has been retained. 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.

Association football (soccer)

The world record holder for the highest number of international caps on January 24, 2006 is American Kristine Lilly, who has over 300 caps in women's association football. In men's association football, the record is held by Mohamed Al-Deayea from Saudi Arabia who has 181 caps. The first footballer to win 100 international caps was Billy Wright of Wolves and England. Wright went on to appear 105 times for England, 90 of them as captain.

Records

Some current leading holders of association football caps (Women as of 21 October 2007, Men as of 17 August 2007) are:

Women

• 340 - Kristine Lilly, United States world record holder (300th set on 18 January 2006; current to 21 October 2007)
• 275 - Mia Hamm, United States
• 271 - Julie Foudy, United States
• 239 - Joy Fawcett, United States
• 204 - Tiffeny Milbrett, United States
• 192 - Brandi Chastain, United States
• 192 - Fan Yunjie, China
• 191 - Li Jie, China
• 188 - Hege Riise, Norway
• 182 - Zhao Lihong, China
• 176 - Christie Rampone, United States
• 175 - Shannon MacMillan, United States
• 173 - Liu Ailing, China
• 171 - Bente Nordby, Norway
• 171 - Birgit Prinz, Germany
• 169 - Kerstin Stegemann, Germany
• 168 - Kate Markgraf, United States
• 168 - Carla Overbeck, United States
• 167 - Briana Scurry, United States
• 166 - Sun Wen, China

The United States has had the most women with 100 or more caps, with twenty to date.

Men

• 181 - Mohamed Al-Deayea, Saudi Arabia world record holder (set on 11 May 2006)
• 178 - Claudio Suarez, Mexico
• 178 - Basil Kazi, Pakistan
• 169 - Hossam Hassan, Egypt
• 164 - Cobi Jones, United States
• 164 - Adnan Al Talyani, United Arab Emirates
• 163 - Sami Al Jaber, Saudi Arabia
• 156 - Martin Reim, Estonia
• 150 - Lothar Matthäus, Germany
• 149 - Ali Daei, Iran
• 144 - Ahmed Hassan, Egypt
• 143 - Mohammed Al-Khilaiwi, Saudi Arabia
• 143 - Marko Kristal, Estonia
• 143 - Iván Hurtado, Ecuador
• 143 - Thomas Ravelli, Sweden
• 142 - Cafu, Brazil
• 142 - Lilian Thuram, France

The United States has had the most men with 100 or more caps, with eleven to date.

Cricket

In cricket, there are two types of caps. Firstly, there is the international type, as described above. Some countries also award a domestic type generally known as a "county cap". The latter system is most commonly applied in English county cricket. Most counties do not automatically award caps to players on their first appearance; instead, they have to be "earned" through good performances. Indeed, one can play at the highest domestic level for several years, and have a quite significant career in first-class cricket, without ever winning a cap.

Records

The world record for the number of caps in Test cricket is held by the former Australian captain Steve Waugh who has 168. In One Day International cricket the current record holder is Sachin Tendulkar of India with 417.

See List of Test cricket records and List of ODI cricket records for further details.

Rugby league

In rugby league, this record is held by former New Zealand captain, Ruben Wiki, who has 55.

Rugby union

In rugby union, nine players have reached 100 or more international caps (as of 30 August 2008):

• George Gregan, — 139
• Jason Leonard, — 119 (114 for England, 5 for the British and Irish Lions)
• Fabien Pelous, — 118
• Philippe Sella, — 111
• Gareth Thomas, — 103 (100 for Wales, 3 for the British and Irish Lions)
• Stephen Larkham, — 102
• Percy Montgomery, — 102
• David Campese, — 101
• Alessandro Troncon, — 101

None of these players are currently active at Test level. The last player in the group who played in a Test was Montgomery, who announced his international retirement immediately after his final Test appearance on 30 August 2008. Thomas is still available for national selection, but has not played in a Test since 2007.

Notes and references

External links

• FIFA story on Kristine Lilly's Caps
• FIFA - Men's Records and Facts
• RSSSF - Players with 100+ Caps (men)
• National Museum of Scotland - Picture of International Football Cap
• Gallery of International Caps and Honours Caps