Cap (sport)
In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at the international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football.
The practice was first approved on 10 May 1886 for association football after a proposal made by N. Lane 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.
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 (whether at all or for each appearance) 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 before a player's debut or, particularly for national teams, a commemorative cap may be awarded after a player reaches the 100th cap.
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. When Aston Villa Football Club played their first match in 1874, they played in royal blue caps and stockings, scarlet and royal blue hooped shirts and white shorts. The club rules stated "No member can take place in a match unless in the above uniform".
Some men's association football teams still award 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 could only receive 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 (including those in their 1958 FIFA World Cup squad); this anomaly was rectified retrospectively in the 2000s after pressure from players' families.
FIFA recognises certain international games as ones where a player can be awarded a cap – these games are regarded as International "A" games. These are matches in which both nations field their first Representative Team.
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. Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal holds the most caps among men only; he surpassed Bader Al-Mutawa with his 197th cap on 23 March 2023, before extending his record to 198 caps on 26 March 2023. 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
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Women
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Cricket
As in association football, cricket still awards a physical cap. Caps are awarded both at international and domestic level, however the criterion 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 not awarded automatically for every appearance made, but instead at the discretion of the administrators of the club for whom the recipient plays, and are a one-off recognition that the recipient is now a regular, established player for the club. The most prevalent example of this system is in English county cricket, in which many First Class counties award a "county cap" to players.
As of April 2021, 70 players have won 100 or more caps in Test cricket.[citation needed]
Records
Players still active at Test level are in bold type.
Rugby union
In rugby union, 92 players have reached 100 international caps as of 27 October 2023. Players from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland are eligible for selection to the British & 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 (Fijian Nicky Little is closest with 71 caps).
Players still active at Test level are in bold type.
- As of 21 July 2025
| Rank | Caps | Name | Country | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 170 | Alun Wyn Jones |  Wales  British & Irish Lions | 2006–2023 |
| 2 | 153 | Sam Whitelock |  New Zealand | 2010–2023 |
| 3 | 151 | James Slipper |  Australia | 2010–2025 |
| 4 | 148 | Richie McCaw | New Zealand | 2001-2015 |
| 5 | 144 | Beauden Barrett | New Zealand | 2012-present |
| 6 | 142 | Sergio Parisse |  Italy | 2002-2019 |
| 7 | 141 | Eben Etzebeth |  South Africa | 2012-present |
| Brian O'Driscoll |  Ireland British & Irish Lions | 1999-2014 | ||
| 9 | 139 | George Gregan | Australia | 1994-2007 |
| 10 | 137 | Cian Healy | Ireland | 2002–2018 |
Rugby league
The International Rugby League (IRL, formerly the Rugby League International Federation (RLIF)) honours players that have made 50 international appearances in their career with a special golden cap. The record for most Full International appearances is held by former Australian Kangaroos player and captain Darren Lockyer with 63 matches, which includes four for the Australian Super League side, which is officially recognised by IRL and their official statistics provider, the Rugby League Record Keepers’ Club.
IRL, through its History and Heritage Group, conducted a comprehensive review of international games to establish a definitive list of Senior International Matches (SIMs, commonly referred to as ‘Full Internationals’). This was required due to differences in what individual national governing bodies recognised as matches eligible for caps and to ensure a common basis for official IRL records. IRL consciously avoid the term ‘Tests’ when referring to international games, due to different uses of the term between nations and through history. Many games that are universally acceptable as Full Internationals, such as those between England, Wales and France in the European Championship, were not considered Test matches at the time, and rather than re-label matches retrospectively, or have different tiers of international competition, the decision was made to use one consistent term to recognise all SIMs as equal.
The below list is aligned to IRL's official record, and therefore refers to the most Full International appearances, rather than caps. National governing bodies remain free to cap whichever games they wish, and whilst most now only award them for matches that IRL recongise as a SIM, this is not universally the case (especially among emerging nations) and there remain historical anomalies. Players still active at international level are in bold type.
- As of 12 November 2026
| Rank | Caps | Name | Country | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 63 | Darren Lockyer | Australia | 1997–2011 |
| 2 | 60 | Jim Sullivan |  Wales  Great Britain Other Nationalities | 1921–1939 |
| 3 | 57 | Ruben Wiki | New Zealand, New Zealand Māori | 1992–2006 |
| 4 | 56 | Cameron Smith | Australia | 2006–2017 |
| 5 | 53 | Adrian Morley | Great Britain  England | 1996–2012 |
| James Graham | Great Britain England | 2006–2019 | ||
| 7 | 51 | Mick Sullivan | Great Britain England | 1954–1963 |
| Petero Civoniceva | Australia  Fiji | 2001–2014 | ||
| Adam Blair | New Zealand | 2006–2019 | ||
| 10 | 49 | Garry Schofield | Great Britain England |
1984–1995 |
| Rank | Caps | Name | Country | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 51 | Jodie Boyd-Ward | Wales England  Ireland | 2012-2026 |
Netball
| Rank | Caps | Name | Country | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 217 | Irene van Dyk | South Africa (72) New Zealand (145) | 1994–2014 |
| 2 | 214 | Jade Clarke | England | 2002–2023 |
| 3 | 203 | Latonia Blackman |  Barbados | 1998–2025 |
| 4 | 200+ | Mary Waya |  Malawi | 1984–2014 |
| 5 | 175 | Geva Mentor | England | 2001–2023 |
| 6 | 171 | Bongiwe Msomi | South Africa | 2011–2023 |
| 7 | 165 | Laura Langman | New Zealand | 2003–2020 |
| 8 | 159 | Nadine Bryan |  Jamaica | 1997–2014 |
| 9 | 150+ | Rhonda John-Davis |  Trinidad and Tobago | 1999–2019 |
| 10 | 150 | Maria Folau | New Zealand | 2005–2019 |