Football Terms

This page explains commonly used terms and statistics in the Sportmonks Football API.

Term	Type ID	API Code / Developer Name	Description
Corners	34	corners / CORNERS	Indicates how many corner kicks a team took.
Shots Off Target	41	shots-off-target / SHOTS_OFF_TARGET	Number of shots attempted that did not hit the goal frame.
Shots Total	42	shots-total / SHOTS_TOTAL	Total number of shot attempts (includes on target, off target, blocked).
Attacks	43	attacks / ATTACKS	Number of attacks (offensive moves) made by the team.
Dangerous Attacks	44	dangerous-attacks / DANGEROUS_ATTACKS	Attacks classified as “dangerous” (higher threat) by analysis.
Ball Possession	45	ball-possession / BALL_POSSESSION	Percentage of game time the team held possession.
Ball Safe	46	ball-safe / BALL_SAFE	Times the attacking team played the ball back safely (retained possession) rather than risking an attack.
Penalties	47	penalties / PENALTIES	Number of penalty kicks awarded or taken.
Shots Inside Box	49	shots-insidebox / SHOTS_INSIDEBOX	Number of shots taken from inside the penalty box.
Shots Outside Box	50	shots-outsidebox / SHOTS_OUTSIDEBOX	Shots taken from outside the penalty box.
Offsides	51	offsides / OFFSIDES	Number of offside infractions.
Goals	52	goals / GOALS	Total goals scored by the team.
Goal Kicks	53	goals-kicks / GOAL_KICKS	Number of goal kicks (kick by goalie).
Goal Attempts	54	goal-attempts / GOAL_ATTEMPTS	Shots intended at goal (attempted goals) including misses, etc.
Free Kicks	55	free-kicks / FREE_KICKS	Number of free kicks awarded.
Fouls	56	fouls / FOULS	Number of fouls committed by the team.
Saves	57	saves / SAVES	Number of saves made by the goalkeeper.
Shots Blocked	58	shots-blocked / SHOTS_BLOCKED	Number of shots blocked by defenders.
Substitutions	59	substitutions / SUBSTITUTIONS	Number of substitutions made by the team.
Throw-ins	60	throwins / THROWINS	Number of throw-ins awarded / taken.
Long Passes	62	long-passes / LONG_PASSES	Number of attempted long passes.
Hit Woodwork	64	hit-woodwork / HIT_WOODWORK	Times the shot hit the post or crossbar.
Successful Headers	65	successful-headers / SUCCESSFUL_HEADERS	Headers that were completed to a teammate.
Successful Interceptions	66	successful-interceptions / SUCCESSFUL_INTERCEPTIONS	Number of interceptions successfully made.
Substitutions Overtime	68	substitutions-overtime / SUBSTITUTIONS_OVERTIME	Substitutions made during overtime.
Offsides Overtime	69	offsides-overtime / OFFSIDES_OVERTIME	Offside infractions during overtime.
Headers	70	headers / HEADERS	Number of header attempts (successful or not).
Yellowcards Overtime	74	yellowcards-overtime / YELLOWCARDS_OVERTIME	Yellow cards issued during overtime periods.
Challenges	77	challenges / CHALLENGES	Count of physical or defensive challenges in the match.
Tackles	78	tackles / TACKLES	Number of tackle attempts by the team.
Assists	79	assists / ASSISTS	Number of assists recorded.
Passes	80	passes / PASSES	Total number of pass attempts.
Successful Passes	81	successful-passes / SUCCESSFUL_PASSES	Number of completed passes.
Successful Passes Percentage	82	successful-passes-percentage / SUCCESSFUL_PASSES_PERCENTAGE	Percentage of successful passes over total attempts.
Redcards	83	redcards / REDCARDS	Number of straight red cards.
Yellowcards	84	yellowcards / YELLOWCARDS	Number of yellow cards issued.
Yellow-Red Cards	85	yellowred-cards / YELLOWRED_CARDS	Cases where a second yellow leads to a red.
Shots On Target	86	shots-on-target / SHOTS_ON_TARGET	Number of shot attempts that were on goal.
Injuries	87	injuries / INJURIES	Number of recorded injuries.

Additional statistics terms

Term	Type ID	API Code / Developer Name	Description
Goals Conceded	88	goals-conceded / GOALS_CONCEDED	Number of goals a team (or goalkeeper/player) has allowed.
Cards	193	cards / CARDS	Total number of cards shown (usually split into yellow, red, and second-yellow).
Clean Sheets	194	cleansheets / CLEANSHEET	Matches in which a team or goalkeeper did not concede any goals.
Both Teams To Score (BTTS)	192	btts / BTTS	Indicates how often both teams scored in a match (or the likelihood of this happening across matches).
Rating	118	rating / RATING	Overall performance rating for a team or player, combining multiple underlying statistics into a single score.
Minutes Played	119	minutes-played / MINUTES_PLAYED	Total minutes a player has spent on the pitch.
Key Passes	117	key-passes / KEY_PASSES	Passes that directly lead to a shot on goal, even if the shot does not result in a score.
Expected Goals (xG)	5304	expected-goals / EXPECTED_GOALS	Estimates how many goals a team or player was expected to score, based on the quality of chances created.
Expected Goals Difference	9684	Expected-goals-difference / EXPECTED_GOALS_DIFFERENCE	Difference between a team’s xG for and xG against; shows whether results match the quality of chances.
Expected Goals Against (xGA)	9687	Expected-goals-against / EXPECTED_GOALS_AGAINST	Expected number of goals a team is likely to concede from the chances opponents create.
Expected Goals Prevented	9686	Expected-goals-prevented / EXPECTED_GOALS_PREVENTED	Measures how many goals a goalkeeper prevented compared to what would be expected from the shots faced.
Shooting Performance	9685	Shooting_performance / SHOOTING_PERFORMANCE	Compares xGOT (expected goals on target) to xG; higher values mean the team or player finishes chances efficiently.
Shot Conversion Rate	9681	shot-conversion-rate / SHOT_CONVERSION_RATE	Percentage of total shots that result in goals.
Shot On Target Percentage	9682	shot-on-target-percentage / SHOT_ON_TARGET_PERCENTAGE	Percentage of total shots that are on target (i.e. would score without goalkeeper/defender intervention).
Cards Per Foul	9683	cards-per-foul / CARDS_PER_FOUL	Average number of cards given per foul committed; useful for assessing how strictly a match or league is officiated.
Chances Created	9706	Chances-created / CHANCES_CREATED	Combined measure of creative output, usually counting both assists and key passes for a player.
Scoring Frequency	27248	Scoring-frequency / SCORING_FREQUENCY	Average number of minutes needed for a team to score one goal.
Pass Stats	27253	Pass-stats / PASS_STATS	Aggregated passing data, such as passes per goal, passes per shot, and total passes per game or team.
Assist Stats	27254	Assist-stats / ASSIST_STATS	Aggregated assist data, such as minutes per assist, assists per game, and total assists for a team.