metadata
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 sc
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/machina-sports/sports-skills --skill metadataSports 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, thesportparameter defaults to"Soccer". Passsport="Basketball","American Football","Baseball","Ice Hockey","Motorsport", or"Cricket"when the team is not a soccer team — otherwise the lookup falls back to a close name match in any sport. If no result is close to the requested name, it returns an error listing what TheSportsDB offered. - 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
| Command | Required | Optional | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
get_team_logo |
team_name | sport | Team logo / badge URL |
get_team_info |
team_name | Full team info: stadium, description, social links, banner | |
get_player_photo |
player_name | Player photo URL | |
search_teams |
query | Fuzzy search for teams across sports | |
search_players |
query | Fuzzy search for players across sports |
Workflows
Enrich a Standings Response
- Call the sport-specific skill (e.g.,
football get_season_standings) for the standings table. - For each team in the standings, call
get_team_logo --team_name=<name>to attach a badge URL. - Render the standings with logos alongside team names.
Build a Team Profile Page
- Call
get_team_info --team_name="<name>"for stadium, description, founding year, social links. - The same response includes
badgeandbannerURLs — no second call needed.
Resolve an Ambiguous Team Name
- Call
search_teams --query="<partial-name>"to disambiguate. - Use the exact
namefield from the result for follow-upget_team_infocalls.
Examples
Example 1: Get a Premier League team logo User says: "What does the Arsenal logo look like?" Actions:
- Call
get_team_logo(team_name="Arsenal")—sportdefaults 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:
- 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:
- 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:
- 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 inget_team_info.get_league_logo— does not exist. Useget_team_logofor 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_team_logo / get_team_info say "No team named ... found"
Cause: TheSportsDB's free search returned only teams whose names are not close to the query (e.g. "St. Louis Cardinals" -> "Louisville")
Solution: Use the team's full official name, or search_teams --query=<partial> to find it
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.
Error: "TheSportsDB rate limit: the free API key allows 30 requests per minute" (status_code: 429)
Cause: The free key answers HTTP 429 from the 31st request in a minute, then locks out for about 2 minutes. The client paces itself below that (bursts of 5, then about one request every 2.4 s), so this error means a long batch outran the pacing or another process shares the key
Solution: Wait for the time in the message, then retry. Repeated lookups are cached for 5 minutes, so reuse earlier results rather than re-querying in a loop
