A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport.
The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for example association football (soccer), curling, or basketball. However, it can be applied to groups of individuals representing a country where regular play is done by individuals, and individual scores are aggregated to a get a team result. Examples of this association are found in artistic gymnastics, archery, or figure Skating.
National teams often compete at various levels and age groups, and have a number of different selection criteria based on national and their respective federations´ rules. National teams are not always composed of the best available individual players.
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