Team of the Century and Team of the Decade are terms used in team sport

Team sport

A team sport includes any sport which involves players working together towards a shared objective. A team sport is an activity in which a group of individuals, on the same team, work together to accomplish an ultimate goal which is usually to win. This can be done in a number of ways such as...

 to name a hypothetical best team over a given time period.

For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 years or a decade (for example the Eighties).

Teams of the decade and century are selected for both leagues and clubs and sometimes selected for other reasons, such as to honour the contribution of a particular ethnic group.

Teams of the 20th century in particular have been controversial due to their loose criteria and the systemic bias

Systemic bias

Systemic bias is the inherent tendency of a process to favor particular outcomes. The term is a neologism that generally refers to human systems; the analogous problem in non-human systems is often called systematic bias, and leads to systematic error in measurements or estimates.-Bias in...

 toward current players, given that the performance of players before the advent of broadcasting

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...

 of matches cannot be reviewed and relies on hearsay and archival records.

The Team of the Century concept used extensively in the sport of Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

, where, since the mid-1990s, leagues (such as the VFL/AFL or SANFL), as well as football clubs, have named their best team (see Football (Australian rules) positions

Football (Australian rules) positions

In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team are assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the ground. As the game has evolved, tactics and team...

). Teams of the decades followed.

One of the most famous examples of the team of the century concept was in 1996, when the AFL Team of the Century was named in the League's centenary season.

Australian rules football

• AFL/VFL Team of the Century
• WAFL Team of the Century
• SANFL Team of the Century
• Italian Team of the Century
• Indigenous Team of the Century
  Indigenous Team of the Century
  The Indigenous Team of the Century was selected to recognise the role of Indigenous Australians in the sport. It was announced in 2005 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first senior game played by an indigenous player, Fitzroy's Joe Johnson...
  
  
• Greek Team of the Century
  Greek Team of the Century
  The Greek Team of the Century was a representative team chosen in 2004 in the sport of Australian rules football.Anthony Koutoufides and Peter Daicos were named vice-captains, Lou Richards was captain. The criteria was that any Greek blood whatsoever constituted eligibility for the team...
  
  
• Queensland Team of the 20th Century

Other Sports

• Australian Rugby League's Team of the Century
  Australian Rugby League's Team of the Century
  In late 2007, the Australian Rugby League and National Rugby League commissioned a college of 130 experts to select the 100 best rugby league players in the game's 100-year history in Australia...