Abstract: The study reviews the social capital theory's development, connotation, research level and origin in sports research as well as its research object and measurement methods.The study believes that the research object can be divided into two categories including the individuals and organizations; and the research level can be divided into three levels, that is, micro, meso and macro.In terms of the measurement methods, they include three levels:the micro social capital measurement, which is represented by nomination and positioning methods; the method of meso (including macro) social capital measurement, represented by different dimensions and different indicators; and the whole network method of measuring social capital.With its present situation in the field of sports research, the study points out its future research topics and directions.