Make your first request

It's time to make your first API request. Maybe you've missed it, but we've explained how our API works on our Getting Started page. For your convenience, we've copied the content on this page as well. Already followed all these steps? Then let's get started by setting your own time zone.

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Authentication

To make our first request, we’ll need a way to get authenticated first. Football API 2.0 utilizes API tokens for the authentication of requests. You can obtain your free API token and manage your API tokens Mysportmonks. For the sake of simplicity, we’ll be working with an API token from the free plan. The free plan only has the Danish Superliga (league id: 271) and the Scottish Premiership (league id: 501) included.

Example API token: [HdoiD312ND….]

The API token is only meant for your eyes and, as such, should be stored away safely.

Our tokens have no expiration date and will remain valid until you manually delete them yourself. Football API 2.0 utilizes response codes to indicate successful and failed API requests. When making a request, a code response will always be returned. See below for a shortlist of possible code responses:

Code number	Description
200	Successful request and data was returned
400	Part of the request is malformed; the exact reason can be found in the response
401	Request is not authenticated
403	Unauthorized request to access data from an ineligible plan
429	You have reached the response rate limit of your plan
500	Internal error with our servers

With our token in hand, we can finally make the first request!

Your first request

Now that all prerequisites have been fulfilled, we’re ready to send our first request to the API!

Build the request

The request consists of the following components:

• The base URL

• A path parameter, in this example, we use [leagues]

• A query string parameter, this is optional, so we leave this out for now

• And finally, your API token

Base URL

https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/

An example of a correctly authenticated request would be:

Request

https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/leagues?api_token={API_TOKEN}

Response

"data": [
        {
            "id": 271,
            "active": true,
            "type": "domestic",
            "legacy_id": 43,
            "country_id": 320,
            "logo_path": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/soccer/leagues/271.png",
            "name": "Superliga",
            "is_cup": false,
            "current_season_id": 17328,
            "current_round_id": 199450,
            "current_stage_id": 77447994,
            "live_standings": true,
            "coverage": {
                "predictions": true,
                "topscorer_goals": true,
                "topscorer_assists": true,
                "topscorer_cards": true
            }

Field description

Field	Description
data	Opens an array of data you've requested
id	A unique league id
active	Indicates if the league is active or not. Possible values are 'true' or 'false'
type	Indicates what kind of league this is. Possible values: 'domestic', 'cup', 'international'. More values can be found here
legacy_id	This was for our API version 1.0. It's only of use for old users of our API
country_id	The unique country id the league is played in
logo_path	The logo URL path of the league
name	The name of the league
is_cup	Indicates if the league is a cup or not. Possible values are 'true' or 'false'
current_season_id	The unique id of the current season
current_round_id	The unique id of the current round
current_stage_id	The unique id of the current stage
live_standings	Indicates if the league covers live standings
coverage	Opens an array of partial coverage for the league
predictions	Indicates if the league covers predictions
topscorers_goals	Indicates if the league covers goal topscorers
topscorers_assists	Indicates if the league covers assists topscorers
topscorers_cards	Indicates if the league covers cards topscorers

This request will return all of the leagues eligible for our free plan, which are the Danish Superliga (league id: 271) and the Scottish Premiership (league id: 501). You can view them by clicking on the second tab.

What can you do with the data?

The above example was the most basic of basic requests and our advanced and highly flexible football API 2.0 can handle much more than that.

With the data that our API provides you, you too will be able to create excellent applications. Below are two examples of SportMonks’ partners who have made brilliant applications. Throughout all our documentation pages you will find more examples, ranging from betting and odds websites to fantasy games and live score tracking websites.

Code libraries

There are various options as to how you’d like to send the request. Our API is compatible with an incredible number of developer languages