How to Use the Football Pro API with Python, PHP, Ruby & Javascript Examples

Football (Soccer) is the most-watched and most played sport in the world. It has an estimated following of 4 billion people. According to FIFA, the 2018 world cup final reached an average audience of 1.12 billion people across the world.

With the evolution of technology, the way we watch television has also been changing for a number of years. The traditional linear experience is now replaced by modern alternatives. 

Smart TVs are becoming the new norm as they provide a full-blown interactive entertainment experience, access to information using interactive apps, live-streaming, and easy access to on-demand content. Smartphone usage continues to grow, the number of apps in the sports industry is also increasing. As per this study, smart phone users spend 50 minutes each day on sports apps. The total addressable market for sports apps is estimated to be around $1.54 billion and is growing fast. 

Many developers and sports enthusiasts are riding this wave by developing football applications and launching them for the mass market. However, you would need a trusted and reliable data partner that can not only provide you the high-quality data but should also have the tools for seamless integration. 

Look no further than Football Pro API – The most reliable football data partner (trusted by 20k+ customers). It covers 1200+ leagues and provides lightning-fast live scores (15 seconds faster compared to other providers). 

In this article, we will explore in detail What Football Pro API IS, Its Endpoints, Usage and Benefits. We will also explore how it can be integrated with  any mobile and web applications using  various programming languages.

Note: If you are new to the APIs, It’s recommended to go through this post before we dive into the details. 

What is Football Pro API?

The Football Pro API is an Application Programmable Interface that allows developers and football enthusiasts to create high-quality sports applications. 

It provides a rich feature set such as: 

• Live Scores and Schedules. 
• Statistics and Line-Ups
• Coverage and Historical Data 
• Tv Stations and Highlights 
• Bookmakers and Odds
• Standing and Top Scores 

It has a well-defined and optimized API structure so you don’t have to execute multiple API requests for the data. The API is developer-friendly as it has the flexibility to build the custom response as per the requirements of your application. 

This API has a freemium pricing model where you can make 100 requests per day.  You can access all features in the basic plan. However, It does have a rate-limiting of 10 requests per minute. It also offers paid plans which include a higher volume of API requests. There are no exclusive features for specific plans so you only pay for the data you need. 

How It Works

Football Pro API provides 40+ endpoints that can be executed over HTTPS using various languages and platforms. 

The Client application requests the data by issuing a GET request to one of its endpoints. 

The Football Pro API then executes the request and sends back the data in JSON formatted response. For instance, the client may invoke an endpoint to get information about all the leagues using one of its endpoints. The API server then returns a list of all leagues in JSON formatted text in the response body. 

Below is the high-level diagram illustrating Football Pro API endpoints in various categories:

Users

Football API Pro can be used by mobile and web application developers to build next-generation football app.

Below are some of the example use cases: 

iGaming Users:  iGaming is one of the fastest-growing industries. Football Pro API provides several endpoints that can be used to build a high-end betting and gambling platform. Such as providing a list of major bookmakers and markets, or finding an In-play or pre-match odds of winning various bets in any given event. 

Media: One of the distinct features of the Football Pro API is its ability to provide live scores in real-time, statistics and pre-match lineups, standings, and top scorers – which can play a crucial role in building a successful football website or application. 

Machine Learning Applications: AI/ML Enthusiasts can make use of its endpoints to train their machine learning models; such as getting historical data about any given fixture, player, or  team. This can be quite useful in building an AI-based prediction system.

How to Connect to Football Pro  API Tutorial – Step by Step

Step1: Signup for an Account on RapidAPI

Let’s  create an account on RapidAPI.

You can find and connect to thousands of APIs using one SDK and one API Key.

Step2: Subscribe to the Football Pro API

After successful registration, the next step is to subscribe to the API. Please follow the below steps to subscribe to the Football Pro API. 

• Navigate to Football Pro API  and Select Pricing Tab 

• Select the desired plan and click on the ‘Subscribe’ button. It will take you to the next page where credit card information is entered.

Click on ‘Pay Now’ to complete the transaction and subscribe to the Football Pro API. 

Step 3. Test the API Subscription

The last step is to test the API Subscription. Click on the ‘Endpoints’ tab to display all the available endpoints in Football Pro API.  

You can test any endpoint and select the code snippet of your favorite programming language.

Note: One of the key benefits of using RapidAPI,  is the API Console which provides an easy and interactive way to execute the API Endpoints – without leaving the browser. The API Console will  generated the required parameters automatically. 

In the below example, we executed the endpoint ‘All Seasons’ which returns the JSON Formatted list of all available seasons.

Note: In case of any failure, the Football Pro API may return one of the following responses:

• 400 Bad Request – Client sent an invalid request (missing required parameters).
• 401 Unauthorized – Failed to authenticate with the API server.
• 403 Forbidden – Client authenticated but doesn’t have permission to access the required resource.
• 404 Not Found  – The requested resource (endpoint) doesn’t exist.
•  500 Internal Server Error  – A generic error occurred on the API server.
•  503 Service Unavailable – The API service is not available.

Explanation of Football Pro  API Endpoints 

The API has over 40+ endpoints which are grouped into various categories. In this section, we will discuss them in detail. 

Seasons 

Optional Parameters:

• page – > This parameter can be used to get a paginated result set. 
• tz -> Use this parameter to override the default timezone, which is Europe/Amsterdam.
• include -> A list of comma-separated string to enrich the API response.

Teams and Squads

Players and Coaches

Head2Head

Rounds

Stages 

Standings

Leagues

Fixtures and Live Scores

Events 

Pre-Match and Live Odds

Line-Ups

Statistics 

Search

Continents and Countries

Bookmakers and Odds Markets

COVID – 19 

How to Use Football Pro  API with Python

Please make sure that you have installed the Python application. There are several client libraries available for python like http.client, Unirest, and the default http.client. 

The below example invokes the Search Player by Name  endpoint using http.client library

• It searches for the player ‘Lionel Messi’ 
• It also overrides the timezone variable with Europe/Amsterdam.

import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("football-pro.p.rapidapi.com")

headers = {
    'x-rapidapi-key': "ce19d0164fmsh3d383efc0e85ce5p16dcb1jsnb1a4a3c79541",
    'x-rapidapi-host': "football-pro.p.rapidapi.com"
    }

conn.request("GET", "/api/v2.0/players/search/Lionel%20Messi?tz=Europe%2FAmsterdam", 
headers=headers)

res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()

print(data.decode("utf-8"))

How to Use Football Pro  API with PHP

Before running the sample code shared below, please make sure that you have installed PHP.  You may follow this guide on how to install this correctly.

The sample code also executes the Search Player by Name  endpoint using the cURL library: 

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, [
  CURLOPT_URL => "https://football-pro.p.rapidapi.com/api/v2.0/players/search/Lionel%2520Messi%27?tz=Europe%2FAmsterdam",
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => "",
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 30,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => "GET",
  CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER => [
    "x-rapidapi-host: football-pro.p.rapidapi.com",
    "x-rapidapi-key: ce19d0164fmsh3d383efc0e85ce5p16dcb1jsnb1a4a3c79541"
  ],
]);

$response = curl_exec($curl);
$err = curl_error($curl);

curl_close($curl);

if ($err) {
  echo "cURL Error #:" . $err;
} else {
  echo $response;
}

How to Use Football Pro  API with Ruby 

You can use the below code-snippet that uses net::http library to execute the Search Player by Name endpoint. 

require 'uri'
require 'net/http'
require 'openssl'

url = URI("https://football-pro.p.rapidapi.com/api/v2.0/players/search/Lionel%2520Messi%27?tz=Europe%2FAmsterdam")

http = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
http.use_ssl = true
http.verify_mode = OpenSSL::SSL::VERIFY_NONE

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)
request["x-rapidapi-key"] = 'ce19d0164fmsh3d383efc0e85ce5p16dcb1jsnb1a4a3c79541'
request["x-rapidapi-host"] = 'football-pro.p.rapidapi.com'

response = http.request(request)
puts response.read_body

How to Use Football Pro  API with JavaScript

To use the API in JavaScript, you need to first set up the JavaScript environment. You can download text editors such as Atoms, Visual Studio Code, NotePad++, etc.

The following code snippet executes the Search Player by Name endpoint using the fetch method to retrieve the player profile asynchronously.

fetch("https://football-pro.p.rapidapi.com/api/v2.0/players/search/Lionel%2520Messi%27?tz=Europe%2FAmsterdam", {
  "method": "GET",
  "headers": {
    "x-rapidapi-key": "ce19d0164fmsh3d383efc0e85ce5p16dcb1jsnb1a4a3c79541",
    "x-rapidapi-host": "football-pro.p.rapidapi.com"
  }
})
.then(response => {
  console.log(response);
})
.catch(err => {
  console.error(err);
});

The API will return the complete player profile using a JSON formatted response, as shown below: 

Benefits 

Speed:  Football Pro API has an average latency of 590ms, which makes it ideal to be integrated with high performant systems. 

Real-Time Updates: Providing live-score in real-time can be tricky, with Football Pro API – developers can have pieces of mind as the updates are lightning-fast e.g 15 seconds faster than the competitors 

Extensive Data Coverage: Football Pro API covers over 1200 leagues and has various data points that can help your application to stand out from the crowd. 

Historical Statistics:  It has several endpoints to provide historical statistics for a player, team, or league, etc. This can be used for various purposes e.g building reliable machine learning models and other analytical applications. 

Alternatives to Football Pro API 

Below are some alternatives to Football Pro API.

• API-Football: This API covers +830 football leagues and can be used to retrieve odds, events, line-ups, coaches, players, top scorers, standings, statistics, prediction, and transfers. 
• LiveScore Football: This is not an extensive API like Football Pro but it does provide the information in real-time such as league table standings, fixtures, match details, etc. 
• Football Prediction: It provides predictions for upcoming football matches, odds, and results for past matches and prediction performance. 
• Football API: This free API allows users to retrieve squad stats, best scores, etc. 
• Football Data API: This API can deliver any type of data for a football match, tournament, or team; such as live scores, match statistics, etc. 
• Soccer Football Info: This is a freemium API and has coverage of over 2000 leagues worldwide. It provides historical data, live and pre-match odds, Real-time data in both JSON and CSV formats. 

Summary 

In this article, we learned how Football Pro API can be used to build your own sports application.  With its extensive league coverage, seamless integration with various platforms, and high-quality data, we can conclude that it’s the go-to API for application developers, building a high performant sports application.