API-FOOTBALL API

⭐ Beginner's Pick Sports & Fitness / API Key Intermediate HTTPS CORS
Varies by plan (check documentation)

Overview

API-FOOTBALL provides comprehensive data on football (soccer) leagues, teams, fixtures, live scores, and player statistics from competitions worldwide. You authenticate with an API key in the request header, and the free tier gives you 100 requests per day, making it ideal for small projects or prototyping. It is one of the most complete football data APIs available for building sports apps and dashboards.

💡

Beginner Tip

Sign up at dashboard.api-football.com to get your free API key (100 requests/day); always include the league ID and season (e.g., 2024) as query parameters — without them, most endpoints return empty results.

Available Data

match scores and results
team standings
player statistics
schedule and fixtures

Example Response

JSON Response
{
  "match_id": 4521,
  "home_team": "Team A",
  "away_team": "Team B",
  "score": {
    "home": 2,
    "away": 1
  },
  "status": "Full Time",
  "date": "2025-01-15",
  "league": "Premier League"
}

Field Reference

response Array of result objects such as fixtures, teams, or players.
response[].fixture.id Unique identifier for the match fixture.
response[].fixture.date ISO 8601 date and time of the match in UTC.
response[].teams.home.name Name of the home team.
response[].teams.away.name Name of the away team.
response[].goals.home Number of goals scored by the home team; null if the match has not started.

Implementation Example

const url = "https://www.api-football.com/documentation-v3";
// Replace headers or query params with the values required by this API.
const response = await fetch(url, {
  headers: {
  "X-API-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"
  }
});
if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Request failed: ${response.status}`);
const data = await response.json();
console.log(data);

What Can You Build?

Note: These code examples are AI-generated and unverified. Always refer to the official API documentation for accurate usage.

Common Errors & Troubleshooting

403 Forbidden The API key is missing from the x-apisports-key header or is invalid.
Add the header x-apisports-key: YOUR_API_KEY to every request; do not put the key in the URL.
Empty results array The league ID or season year does not match any available data.
Use the /leagues endpoint first to find valid league IDs and available seasons for your target competition.
429 Too Many Requests You have exceeded your daily request quota (100/day on the free plan).
Cache API responses locally and upgrade your plan if you need more than 100 requests per day.

Matrix Score Breakdown

🌐 Reachability 30/30
⚡ Speed 5/20
🔒 Security 15/15
🛠 Developer XP 17/20
✓ Reliability 10/15

Partially tested on Apr 5, 2026

Technical Specifications

Auth API Key
HTTPS REQUIRED
CORS YES
Category Sports & Fitness
Difficulty Intermediate
Verified: 2026-04-04

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