International Sports Research — Consolidated Findings
Date: 2026-02-14 Epic: teamarrv2-ia2 Related Issues: #122, #88, #100, #104 Tiered Model Epic: teamarrv2-s9n
Provider Tier Model
- Tier 1 (Free): ESPN, HockeyTech, TSDB leagues with <10-12 teams (free key sufficient)
- Tier 2 (BYOK): TSDB premium leagues — user provides their own key ($80/year)
1. FIFA/UEFA International Soccer (ia2.1)
Already Supported
World Cup (fifa.world), Women’s World Cup (wwc), Euro (uefa.euro), Copa America (copa-america), CONCACAF Nations League (cnl), Gold Cup (gold-cup)
New ESPN Leagues Available
| League | ESPN Slug | ID | Teams | Tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WCQ - UEFA | fifa.worldq.uefa | 786 | 54 | 1 | 12 events Mar 2026 |
| WCQ - CONCACAF | fifa.worldq.concacaf | 788 | 32 | 1 | Active |
| WCQ - CONMEBOL | fifa.worldq.conmebol | 787 | 10 | 1 | Active |
| WCQ - CAF | fifa.worldq.caf | 790 | 54 | 1 | Active |
| WCQ - AFC | fifa.worldq.afc | 789 | 46 | 1 | Active |
| WCQ - OFC | fifa.worldq.ofc | 792 | 11 | 1 | Active |
| UEFA Nations League | uefa.nations | 2395 | 54 | 1 | 4 events Mar 2026 |
| Intl Friendlies | fifa.friendly | 3922 | 71 | 1 | 59 events Feb-Apr |
| Africa Cup of Nations | caf.nations | 3908 | 24 | 1 | Between tournaments |
| AFC Asian Cup | afc.asian.cup | 20219 | 24 | 1 | Between tournaments |
| Olympics Men’s Soccer | fifa.olympics | 3924 | 16 | 1 | Summer Olympics |
| Olympics Women’s Soccer | fifa.w.olympics | 3925 | 12 | 1 | Summer Olympics |
NOTE: ESPN soccer uses dot-notation slugs (e.g., fifa.worldq.uefa), not hyphenated.
Implementation: All Tier 1. Straightforward schema additions. ESPN provider already handles soccer.
2. FIBA International Basketball (ia2.2)
Already Supported
NBA, WNBA, G League, NCAAM, NCAAW, Unrivaled (TSDB)
ESPN Coverage (15 total basketball leagues)
| League | ESPN Slug | ID | Teams | Tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIBA World Cup | fiba | 53 | 32 | 1 | Tournament years only (last: 2023) |
| Olympics Men’s Basketball | mens-olympics-basketball | 3766 | 12 | 1 | Summer Olympics |
| Olympics Women’s Basketball | womens-olympics-basketball | 3767 | 12 | 1 | Summer Olympics |
| NBL Australia | nbl | 55 | 10 | 1 | Active season, live data |
NOT on ESPN: EuroLeague, EuroCup, BCL, FIBA regional (Americas, Europe, Asia, Africa) — none exist. ESPN basketball is heavily US-centric.
EuroLeague/European club basketball: Would require TSDB premium (Tier 2) or a dedicated provider. Not available through any current Teamarr provider on the free tier.
3. Olympic Team Sports (ia2.4)
Already Supported
Olympic Hockey Men/Women (olymh/olywh) — live right now for 2026 Milano Cortina
ESPN Slug Pattern Warning
Slugs are inconsistent across sports:
- Hockey:
olympics-mens-ice-hockey(prefix) - Basketball:
mens-olympics-basketball(infix) - Soccer:
fifa.olympics/fifa.w.olympics(dot-separated) - Rugby:
282/283(numeric IDs!) - Golf:
mens-olympics-golf/womens-olympics-golf(infix) - Baseball:
olympics-baseball(prefix)
2026 Winter Olympics (Milano Cortina)
| Sport | ESPN Slug | ID | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Ice Hockey | hockey/olympics-mens-ice-hockey | 20146 | LIVE — already supported |
| Women’s Ice Hockey | hockey/olympics-womens-ice-hockey | 20147 | LIVE — already supported |
| Curling | N/A | N/A | ESPN has NO curling sport at all |
Summer Olympics Pattern (from Paris 2024 data)
| Sport | ESPN Slug | ID | Teams | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men’s Basketball | basketball/mens-olympics-basketball | 3766 | 12 | 1 |
| Women’s Basketball | basketball/womens-olympics-basketball | 3767 | 12 | 1 |
| Men’s Soccer | soccer/fifa.olympics | 3924 | 16 | 1 |
| Women’s Soccer | soccer/fifa.w.olympics | 3925 | 12 | 1 |
| Men’s Rugby 7s | rugby/282 | 10743 | 12 | 1 |
| Women’s Rugby 7s | rugby/283 | 10729 | 12 | 1 |
| Men’s Golf | golf/mens-olympics-golf | 7003 | N/A | 1 |
| Women’s Golf | golf/womens-olympics-golf | 7004 | N/A | 1 |
| Men’s Baseball | baseball/olympics-baseball | 3706 | 8 | 1 |
NOT on ESPN: Handball, water polo, volleyball, field hockey, curling — no Olympic versions.
4. Handball (ia2.5)
ESPN: No support
ESPN has no handball sport at all.
TSDB: Excellent coverage (22 leagues, premium key required for full data)
| League | TSDB ID | Next Events (premium) | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| EHF Champions League | 4980 | 20 | 2 |
| German Handball-Bundesliga | 4533 | 20 | 2 |
| French LNH Division 1 | 4536 | 20 | 2 |
| Danish Mens Handball League | 5135 | 20 | 2 |
| Spanish Liga ASOBAL | 4534 | 20 | 2 |
| Swedish Handbollsligan | 5136 | 20 | 2 |
| EHF European League | 5275 | ? | 2 |
| European Mens Handball Championship | 4894 | ? | 2 |
Implementation: All Tier 2. Requires teamarrv2-s9n (BYOK TSDB) to land first. TSDB provider already exists — just needs leagues added to schema with tier flag and user key support.
5. International Rugby (ia2.6)
Already Supported (TSDB)
NRL (nrl), Super Rugby Pacific (super-rugby)
ESPN Coverage — Excellent
ESPN has rugby under two sports: rugby (union) and rugby-league.
Rugby union uses numeric slug IDs (e.g., 180659 for Six Nations), not string slugs.
| League | ESPN Slug | ID | Teams | Tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Six Nations | rugby/180659 | 8323 | 6 | 1 | Active — games today! |
| Rugby Championship | rugby/244293 | 8328 | 4 | 1 | Aug-Sep season |
| Rugby World Cup | rugby/164205 | 8337 | 20 | 1 | Quadrennial |
| Premiership Rugby | rugby/267979 | 8007 | 10 | 1 | Active season |
| French Top 14 | rugby/270559 | 8005 | 14 | 1 | Active — games today! |
| United Rugby Championship | rugby/270557 | 8331 | 16 | 1 | Active season |
| Euro Champions Cup | rugby/271937 | 8329 | 24 | 1 | Active season |
| Super Rugby Pacific | rugby/242041 | 8326 | 12 | 1 | Active — games today! |
| Major League Rugby | rugby/289262 | 19114 | 12 | 1 | Starting Mar 2026 |
| NRL | rugby-league/3 | 8370 | 17 | 1 | Starting Mar 2026 |
| Intl Test Match | rugby/289234 | 10659 | ? | 1 | Windows (Jun, Nov) |
| Women’s Rugby WC | rugby/289237 | 17953 | ? | 1 | Quadrennial |
| Olympic Men’s 7s | rugby/282 | 10743 | 12 | 1 | Summer Olympics |
| Olympic Women’s 7s | rugby/283 | 10729 | 12 | 1 | Summer Olympics |
Provider Consideration: NRL + Super Rugby Upgrade
NRL and Super Rugby are currently on TSDB. ESPN has them with better data. Could upgrade to ESPN (Tier 1) and drop the TSDB dependency for these two.
TSDB Rugby (premium, additional leagues)
| League | TSDB ID | Tier | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Six Nations | 4714 | (prefer ESPN) | 12 events, active |
| English Super League (Rugby League) | 4415 | 2 | 20 events |
| Japan Rugby League One | 5167 | 2 | 20 events |
| French Pro D2 | 5172 | 2 | Niche |
Implementation: Core rugby union leagues are all Tier 1 via ESPN. NRL/Super Rugby can be upgraded from TSDB to ESPN. Niche leagues (Super League, Japan) are Tier 2.
ESPN provider note: Rugby uses numeric slug IDs (180659) instead of string slugs. The ESPN provider may need a small tweak to handle rugby/180659 format in the provider_league_id field. Verify the scoreboard endpoint format works: sports/rugby/180659/scoreboard.
Implementation Roadmap
Phase 1: Quick Wins (Tier 1, ESPN, no refactor needed)
Soccer — WCQ + Nations League:
- 8 new leagues, all ESPN, same provider pattern
- Most impactful: UEFA WCQ (12 events in Mar), Friendlies (59 events)
- Estimated: schema additions only
Basketball — FIBA + NBL + Olympics:
- 4 new leagues (fiba, nbl, mens/womens-olympics-basketball)
- NBL is actively in-season
Rugby Union (requires ESPN provider slug format validation):
- 9+ new ESPN leagues
- Upgrade NRL + Super Rugby from TSDB → ESPN
- Six Nations and Top 14 are live RIGHT NOW
- Need to verify numeric slug IDs work in ESPN provider
Olympics — Summer sports:
- Soccer, basketball, rugby 7s, golf, baseball
- All ESPN, seasonal/quadrennial
Phase 2: Tiered Model (teamarrv2-s9n)
- BYOK TSDB key support in Settings
- Tier flag on leagues (schema or derived)
- Frontend gating for Tier 2 leagues
Phase 3: Tier 2 Leagues (after s9n)
- Handball (6+ TSDB leagues)
- Rugby niche (Super League, Japan League One)
- European club basketball (if TSDB covers it)
- Any other TSDB-only leagues
Dependencies
Phase 1 (ESPN leagues) → no blockers, can start now
Phase 2 (s9n refactor) → design decision on tier storage
Phase 3 (TSDB leagues) → blocked by Phase 2
Open Questions
- Rugby slug format — ESPN uses numeric IDs for rugby (
180659). Does our ESPN provider handlesports/rugby/180659/scoreboard? Need to verify. - Soccer slug format — ESPN international soccer uses dots (
fifa.worldq.uefa). Does our ESPN provider handle dots in league IDs? - Curling — No ESPN, no known API. Likely out of scope unless someone finds a source.
- European club basketball — Check if TSDB has EuroLeague/EuroCup with premium key.