Includes

What are includes?

Includes are the cornerstone of our API and allow you to enrich and customize your requests. This flexibility is what distinguishes Sportmonks from all competitors. This manner of flexibility lets you receive the specific data that interests you. Each endpoint comes with a list of includes. For more information, please refer to our API reference guide.

You can see includes as something like an add-on to an endpoint. In this tutorial, we will show and explain what includes are and how you can make use of them. Don’t worry, though; using includes is relatively straightforward!

Creating the request

In this tutorial, our goal is to analyze a match played on the 2nd of August 2020. We want to know who the teams are and what events (goals, cards, substitutions) happened during the match. Our starting endpoint will be fixture get by date:

The date is in YYYY-MM-DD format:

https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/fixtures/date/2020-08-02?api_token={API_TOKEN}

This request will give you all the fixtures of a specific date. In our case, the 2nd of August 2020, which is what we want.

Note that you only have access to the leagues that are available in your plan.

Evaluating the response

All of our endpoints will give you a ‘basic’ response by default. As you can see, we will receive information mostly containing unique ids.

Response

{
    "data": [
        {
            "id": 16475287,
            "league_id": 501,
            "season_id": 17141,
            "stage_id": 77447501,
            "round_id": 194968,
            "group_id": null,
            "aggregate_id": null,
            "venue_id": 8909,
            "referee_id": 14859,
            "localteam_id": 53,
            "visitorteam_id": 338,
            "winner_team_id": 53,
            "weather_report": {
                "code": "clouds",
                "type": "few clouds",
                "icon": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/weather/02d.png",
                "temperature": {
                    "temp": 59.94,
                    "unit": "fahrenheit"
                },
                "temperature_celcius": {
                    "temp": 15.5,
                    "unit": "celcius"
                },
                "clouds": "20%",
                "humidity": "67%",
                "pressure": 1014,
                "wind": {
                    "speed": "10.29 m/s",
                    "degree": 300
                },
                "coordinates": {
                    "lat": 55.87,
                    "lon": -4.26
                },
                "updated_at": "2020-08-02T17:15:04.814798Z"
            },
            "commentaries": false,
            "attendance": null,
            "pitch": null,
            "details": null,
            "neutral_venue": false,
            "winning_odds_calculated": true,
            "formations": {
                "localteam_formation": "4-2-3-1",
                "visitorteam_formation": "4-4-2"
            },
            "scores": {
                "localteam_score": 5,
                "visitorteam_score": 1,
                "localteam_pen_score": null,
                "visitorteam_pen_score": null,
                "ht_score": "2-1",
                "ft_score": "5-1",
                "et_score": null,
                "ps_score": null
            },
            "time": {
                "status": "FT",
                "starting_at": {
                    "date_time": "2020-08-02 15:30:00",
                    "date": "2020-08-02",
                    "time": "15:30:00",
                    "timestamp": 1596382200,
                    "timezone": "UTC"
                },
                "minute": 90,
                "second": null,
                "added_time": null,
                "extra_minute": null,
                "injury_time": null
            },
            "coaches": {
                "localteam_coach_id": 1467946,
                "visitorteam_coach_id": 30082158
            },
            "standings": {
                "localteam_position": 1,
                "visitorteam_position": 12
            },
            "assistants": {
                "first_assistant_id": 12118,
                "second_assistant_id": 17249,
                "fourth_official_id": 15815
            },
            "leg": "1/1",
            "colors": {
                "localteam": {
                    "color": "#007848",
                    "kit_colors": "#F0F0F0,#139343,#5B0623,#0A0A0A,#5C8FAE,#FFDF1B,#F0F0F0"
                },
                "visitorteam": {
                    "color": "#0046A8",
                    "kit_colors": "#0046A8,#0046A8,#0046A8,#0046A8,#C40010,#0046A8,#0046A8"
                }
            },
            "deleted": false,
            "is_placeholder": false,
        }
    ],

Field description

Field	Description
data	Opens an array of data you've requested
id	A unique fixture id
league_id	The unique id of the league the fixture belongs to
season_id	The unique id of the season the fixture belongs to
stage_id	The unique id of the stage the fixture belongs to
round_id	The unique id of the round the fixture belongs to
group_id	The unique id of the group the fixture belongs to
aggregate_id	Indicates if the fixture has an aggregated score
venue_id	The unique id of the venue the fixture is played at
referee_id	The unique id of the referee that is in charge of the fixture
localteam_id	The unique id of the local team
visitorteam_id	The unique id of the visitor team
winnerteam_id	Contains the id of the team that won the fixture
weather_report	Opens an array of weather details. Possible values of the data in this array can be found in our statuses and definitions
commentaries	Indicates if this fixture has commentaries available
attendance	Give information about the visitor attendance of the fixture
pitch	Gives information about the pitch. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions
details	Optional additional information.
neutral_venue	Indicates if the fixture was played at a neutral fixture. This often happens in cup finals
formations	Opens an array containing the lineup formations of the teams. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions
scores	Opens an array containing the scores of the fixture
localteam_score	The number of goals the local team has scored in this fixture
visitorteam_score	The number of goals the visitor team has scored in this fixture
localteam_pen_score	The number of penalty goals the local team has scored in this fixture (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout)
visitorteam_pen_score	The number of penalty goals the visitor team has scored in this fixture (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout)
ht_score	The score at halftime
ft_score	The score at full time (90 minutes)
et_score	The score in extra time (only available when the fixture goes into extra time)
ps_score	The score of the penalty shootout (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout)
time	Opens an array containing the time details of the fixture
status	Indicates in which phase the fixture is in. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions
starting_at	Opens an array containing the time details of the fixture
date_time	Gives the date and time the fixture starts
date	Gives the date on which the fixture is played
time	Gives the starting time of the fixture
timestamp	The timestamp notation of the match
timezone	Indicates in which timezone you've requested the data
minute	Indicates in which minute the fixture is in
second	Indicates in which second the fixture is in
added_time	Indicates how much added time is added
extra_minute	Extra minute is when a fixture goes to extra time. Extra_minute will count from 0 to 15 and from 15 to 30.
injury_time	In case of added time, it will end up in injury_minute
coaches	Opens an array containing the unique id's of the coaches
localteam_coach_id	The unique id of the coach from the local team
visitorteam_coach_id	The unique id of the coach from the visitor team
standings	Opens an array containing the standings of the local- and visitor team
localteam_position	Indicates in which positions the local team is before the fixture
visitorteam_position	Indicates in which positions the visitor team is before the fixture
assistants	Opens an array containing the unique id's of the assistant referees
first_assistant_id	The unique id of the first assistant
second_assistant_id	The unique id of the second assistant
fourth_official_id	The unique id of the fourth official
leg	Indicates in how many legs this fixture is played
colors	Opens an array containing information about the team colors
localteam	Opens an array containing information about the local team colors
color	The main color code of the local team
kit_colors	The kit color codes of the local team
visitorteam	Opens an array containing information about the visitor team colors
color	The main color code of the visitor team
kit_colors	The kit color codes of the local team
deleted	Indicates if the team was deleted. More information: Keep in Sync
is_placeholder	This property indicates if the resource is used to display dummy data. The false of this property will always be a boolean value.

You can see the fixture id, the local and visitor teams’ id, and the full-time score. However, what if we want to know more about the participating teams, their team names, or what their logos look like?

Enrich your response with includes!

This is where includes come into play. By merely adding&include=localTeam,visitorTeamto the request, we have successfully used includes. This request will show you the extra data about the home and visitor teams because we've ‘included’ information about the local and visitor teams.

https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/fixtures/date/2020-08-02?api_token={API_TOKEN}&include=localTeam,visitorTeam

As you can see, there is an extra part included in comparison to the basic response:

Response

             "localTeam": {
                "data": {
                    "id": 53,
                    "legacy_id": 152,
                    "name": "Celtic",
                    "short_code": "CEL",
                    "twitter": null,
                    "country_id": 1161,
                    "national_team": false,
                    "founded": 1888,
                    "logo_path": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images//soccer/teams/21/53.png",
                    "venue_id": 8909,
                    "current_season_id": 17141
                }
            },
            "visitorTeam": {
                "data": {
                    "id": 338,
                    "legacy_id": 693,
                    "name": "Hamilton Academical",
                    "short_code": "HMA",
                    "twitter": null,
                    "country_id": 1161,
                    "national_team": false,
                    "founded": 1874,
                    "logo_path": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images//soccer/teams/18/338.png",
                    "venue_id": 288196,
                    "current_season_id": 17141
                }
            }
            
        }

Field Description

Field	Description
localTeam	Opens an array with information about the local team
id	The unique id of the local team
legacy_id	This was for our API version 1.0. It's only of use for old users of our API
name	The name of the local team
short_code	The shortcode of the local team
twitter	The official Twitter page of the local team
country_id	The unique country id the local team belongs to
national_team	Indicates if the local team is a national team
founded	The year when the local team was founded
logo_path	The logo URL path of the local team logo
venue_id	The official venue of the local team
current_season_id	The unique id of the domestic season the local team is active in
visitorTeam	Opens an array with information about the visitor team
id	The unique id of the visitor team
legacy_id	This was for our API version 1.0. It's only of use for old users of our API
name	The name of the visitor team
short_code	The shortcode of the visitor team
twitter	The official Twitter page of the visitor team
country_id	The unique country id the visitor team belongs to
national_team	Indicates if the visitor team is a national team
founded	The year when the visitor team was founded
logo_path	The logo URL path of the visitor team logo
venue_id	The official venue of the visitor team
current_season_id	The unique id of the domestic season the visitor team is active in

The API will give you all the information about the local and visitor teams. You can see the team names, the logos when the team was founded, the venue id, and the id of the current season they’re participating in.

Like shooting fish in a barrel, right?

But we’re not done yet! We still want to know about the events (goals, cards, and substitutions) that happened during the match. Our API has close to no limit on the number of includes per endpoint. This allows you to request all the extra data you want in the same request. So, we can simply add the include events to our request:

https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/fixtures/date/2020-08-02?api_token={API_TOKEN}&include=localTeam,visitorTeam,events

And we'll get all the events per fixture. You can view a snippet of the response below.

Response

             "events": {
                "data": [
                    {
                        "id": 16475287001,
                        "team_id": "338",
                        "type": "yellowcard",
                        "var_result": null,
                        "fixture_id": 16475287,
                        "player_id": 174161,
                        "player_name": "S. Martin",
                        "related_player_id": null,
                        "related_player_name": null,
                        "minute": 17,
                        "extra_minute": null,
                        "reason": null,
                        "injuried": null,
                        "result": null
                    },
                    {
                        "id": 16475287002,
                        "team_id": "53",
                        "type": "goal",
                        "var_result": null,
                        "fixture_id": 16475287,
                        "player_id": 96792,
                        "player_name": "O. Édouard",
                        "related_player_id": 173080,
                        "related_player_name": "G. Taylor",
                        "minute": 20,
                        "extra_minute": null,
                        "reason": null,
                        "injuried": null,
                        "result": "1-0"
                    },
                    {
                        "id": 16475287003,
                        "team_id": "53",
                        "type": "goal",
                        "var_result": null,
                        "fixture_id": 16475287,
                        "player_id": 8403182,
                        "player_name": "J. Frimpong",
                        "related_player_id": 173080,
                        "related_player_name": "G. Taylor",
                        "minute": 31,
                        "extra_minute": null,
                        "reason": null,
                        "injuried": null,
                        "result": "2-0"
                    },
                    {
                        "id": 16475287004,
                        "team_id": "338",
                        "type": "own-goal",
                        "var_result": null,
                        "fixture_id": 16475287,
                        "player_id": 32761,
                        "player_name": "C. Jullien",
                        "related_player_id": null,
                        "related_player_name": null,
                        "minute": 34,
                        "extra_minute": null,
                        "reason": null,
                        "injuried": null,
                        "result": "2-1"
                    },
                    {
                        "id": 16475287005,
                        "team_id": "338",
                        "type": "yellowcard",
                        "var_result": null,
                        "fixture_id": 16475287,
                        "player_id": 173774,
                        "player_name": "R. Callachan",
                        "related_player_id": null,
                        "related_player_name": null,
                        "minute": 36,
                        "extra_minute": null,
                        "reason": null,
                        "injuried": null,
                        "result": null
                    },               
                ],
            }

Field Description

Field	Description
id	The unique id of an event
team_id	The id of team the event belongs to
type	The event type. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions
var_result	The outcome of the Video Assistant Referee intervention. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions
fixture_id	The unique id of the fixture
player_id	The unique id of the main player involved in the event
player_name	The name of the main player involved in the event
related_player_id	The unique id of the second player involved in the event (if applicable)
related_player_name	The name of the second player involved in the event (if applicable)
minute	The minute of the fixture the event happened in
extra_minute	The extra minute of the fixture the event happened in (if applicable)
reason	The reason for the event. Mostly available when the event is a card. (if applicable)
injuried	Indicates if the event resulted in an injured player
results	The result of the event. Mostly available when the event is a goal. (if applicable)

Now we have extra information about the participating teams and all the events of a fixture! Just like that, we have achieved our goal. Includes are basically add-ons that you can use with your request for additional information. The endpoint provides basic data, while the include gives you extra information.

Conclusion

Not all includes work with every endpoint. So please make sure that you check which includes are available per endpoint in our API reference guide.

There are also more advanced, includes called nested includes. These are relationships of relationships. You can already check out our nested includes tutorial for more information.

Not seeing all the data you expected to see? Check out our tutorial about pagination.