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Sports metadata via TheSportsDB free API (key=3). Team logos and badges, player photos, stadium info, league info, and biographical data across 100+ leagues. No API key required, zero config. Use when: user asks for a team logo, crest, badge, banner, jersey, kit, player photo or headshot, stadium info, club description, or wants to search for teams or players by name across sports. Good for enriching responses from other skills with images and visual identifiers. Don't use when: user asks for scores, standings, fixtures, stats, or odds — use the sport-specific skill instead: football-data (soccer), nfl-data (NFL), nba-data (NBA), wnba-data (WNBA), nhl-data (NHL), mlb-data (MLB), tennis-data (tennis), golf-data (golf), cricket-data (cricket), cfb-data (college football), cbb-data (college basketball), fastf1 (F1), volleyball-data (Dutch volleyball), xctf-data (NCAA XC/TF). Don't use for prediction markets — use polymarket or kalshi.

QUICK START

How to use this skill

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/machina-sports/sports-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/metadata/SKILL.md

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Sports Metadata

Wraps the free TheSportsDB API for team logos, player photos, and stadium info. No API key, no signup.

Quick Start

sports-skills metadata get_team_logo --team_name="Arsenal"
sports-skills metadata get_team_info --team_name="Real Madrid"
sports-skills metadata get_player_photo --player_name="Messi"
sports-skills metadata search_teams --query="Manchester"
sports-skills metadata search_players --query="LeBron"

Python SDK:

from sports_skills import metadata

metadata.get_team_logo(team_name="Arsenal")
metadata.get_team_info(team_name="Real Madrid")
metadata.get_player_photo(player_name="Messi")
metadata.search_teams(query="Manchester")
metadata.search_players(query="LeBron")

CRITICAL: Before Any Query

CRITICAL: Before calling any metadata command, verify:

  • Team names use the full official name — especially for NBA (e.g., "Los Angeles Lakers", not "Lakers").
  • For get_team_logo, the sport parameter defaults to "Soccer". Pass sport="Basketball", "American Football", "Baseball", "Ice Hockey", "Motorsport", or "Cricket" when the team is not a soccer team — otherwise the lookup falls back to "first result regardless of sport," which may return the wrong team.
  • Player searches use just the player name (e.g., "Messi", "LeBron James", "Tiger Woods").

Coverage

Teams (logos, banners, stadium info):

  • Soccer: 100+ leagues worldwide (Premier League, La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A, MLS, and many more)
  • NFL (American Football)
  • NBA (Basketball) — requires full team names
  • MLB (Baseball)
  • NHL (Ice Hockey)
  • F1 (Motorsport)
  • Cricket (IPL, international)

Players (photos, bios):

  • All team sports above
  • Tennis (ATP/WTA players)
  • Golf (PGA/LPGA players)

Not covered: MMA/UFC, Rugby, Esports, Boxing.

Commands

CommandRequiredOptionalDescription
get_team_logoteam_namesportTeam logo / badge URL
get_team_infoteam_nameFull team info: stadium, description, social links, banner
get_player_photoplayer_namePlayer photo URL
search_teamsqueryFuzzy search for teams across sports
search_playersqueryFuzzy search for players across sports

Workflows

Enrich a Standings Response

  1. Call the sport-specific skill (e.g., football get_season_standings) for the standings table.
  2. For each team in the standings, call get_team_logo --team_name=<name> to attach a badge URL.
  3. Render the standings with logos alongside team names.

Build a Team Profile Page

  1. Call get_team_info --team_name="<name>" for stadium, description, founding year, social links.
  2. The same response includes badge and banner URLs — no second call needed.

Resolve an Ambiguous Team Name

  1. Call search_teams --query="<partial-name>" to disambiguate.
  2. Use the exact name field from the result for follow-up get_team_info calls.

Examples

Example 1: Get a Premier League team logo User says: "What does the Arsenal logo look like?" Actions:

  1. Call get_team_logo(team_name="Arsenal") — sport defaults to "Soccer", which is correct here. Result: Logo URL, sport, league, and country.

Example 2: NBA team — full name required User says: "Get the Lakers logo" Actions:

  1. Call get_team_logo(team_name="Los Angeles Lakers", sport="Basketball") — both the full name AND the sport filter are needed. Result: Lakers badge from the NBA branch of TheSportsDB.

Example 3: Player photo User says: "Show me a photo of Messi" Actions:

  1. Call get_player_photo(player_name="Messi"). Result: Player photo URL, sport, team, and nationality.

Example 4: Disambiguate "Manchester" User says: "Find me Manchester teams" Actions:

  1. Call search_teams(query="Manchester"). Result: List of teams matching "Manchester" — Manchester United, Manchester City, etc. — each with sport, league, and country.

Commands that DO NOT exist — never call these

  • get_stadium_info — does not exist. Stadium info is included in get_team_info.
  • get_league_logo — does not exist. Use get_team_logo for team badges only.
  • get_player_stats — does not exist on this skill. TheSportsDB metadata does not include stats; use the sport-specific skill (e.g., football get_player_profile, nba get_player_stats).
  • search_leagues — does not exist.

If a command is not listed in the Commands table above, it does not exist.

Troubleshooting

Error: get_team_logo returns the wrong team Cause: A short or ambiguous team name (e.g., "Lakers", "Arsenal") matched a different sport first Solution: Pass an explicit sport parameter and use the team's full official name

Error: get_player_photo returns null / empty Cause: Player not in TheSportsDB, or the name spelling differs (e.g., "Cristiano Ronaldo" vs "Ronaldo") Solution: Use search_players --query=<partial> first to find the canonical spelling, then retry

Error: Logo URL works but the image is low resolution Cause: TheSportsDB returns the badge as-is from contributors Solution: This is an upstream limitation. Most badges are 200×200 or larger; very small icons indicate a low-quality submission. No workaround.