GET Last Updated Players

This endpoint returns all the players that have received updates in the past two hours.

Base URL

https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/players/latest/

Example Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 758,
      "sport_id": 1,
      "country_id": 462,
      "nationality_id": 462,
      "city_id": null,
      "position_id": 25,
      "detailed_position_id": 154,
      "type_id": 25,
      "common_name": "J. Tavernier",
      "firstname": "James",
      "lastname": "Tavernier",
      "name": "James Tavernier",
      "display_name": "James Tavernier",
      "image_path": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/soccer/players/22/758.png",
      "height": 182,
      "weight": 75,
      "date_of_birth": "1991-10-31",
      "gender": "male"
    }
  ],

Field Description

Field	Description	Type
id	Refers to the unique id of the player	integer
sport_id	Refers to the sport of the player	integer
country_id	Refers to the country of birth of the player	integer
nationality_id	Refers to the national team that the player has opted to represent	integer
city_id	Refers to the city of birth of the player	string
position_id	Refers to the position of the player	integer
detailed_position_id	Refers to the detailed position of the player	integer
type_id	Refers to the type of the player	integer
common_name	Refers to the name the player is known for	string
firstname	Refers to the first name of the player	string
lastname	Refers to the last name of the player	string
name	Refers to the name of the player	string
display_name	Refers to the name that is often used to display in applications	string
image_path	Image path to player headshot	string
height	Refers to the height of the player	integer
weight	Refers to the weight of the player	integer
date_of_birth	Refers to the date of birth of the player	string
gender	Refers to the gender of the player	string

Query Parameters

Name	Required?	Description
api_token	YES Another option is to provide the API token in the header.	Your unique API token. Ex. ?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN
include	NO	Enrich the API response with more data by using includes. Ex. &include=participants;events
select	NO	Select specific fields on the base entity. Read how to select fields in our tutorial.
filters	NO	Filter the API response on multiple related entities. There are static filters and dynamic filters.​ Please find the possibilities in the Static and Dynamic Filter tab.
locale	NO	Translate name fields of the API Response in your selected language. Find more information and which languages are available on our translations page.

Static Filters

Static filters are always the same and filter in one specific way without any custom options. Each static filter is listed below and has a description of how it filters. For more information, please look at our Filters page.

Static Filters	Available on Entity	Description	Example
N/A	N/A	Not available on this endpoint.	N/A

Dynamic Filters

The dynamic filters are based on entities and includes. Each dynamic filter uses an entity to filter on and one entity to apply the filter on. Below are examples with explanations of how filters are set up. For more information, please look at our Filters page.

Using an include? Check their respective filters on their entity page. For example if you use &include=fixtures, you can apply fixture-related filters.

Dynamic Filters	Available on Entity	Description	Examples
detailTypes	Statistics Check this endpoint for all possibilities.	Filter the statistics (detailTypes) on a selection of player statistics separated by a comma.	&include=statistics.details.type&filters=playerstatisticdetailTypes:typeIDS &include=statistics.details.type&filters=playerstatisticdetailTypes:59
seasons	Statistics (players, team, coaches, referees), Standings, and way more. Check this endpoint for all possibilities.	Filter player statistics based on seasons.	&include=statistics.details.type&filters=playerstatisticSeasons:seasonIDS &include=statistics.details.type&filters=playerstatisticSeasons:19735
lineups	Players	Filter the player lineups on types	&include=lineups.type&filters=lineupTypes:typeIDS &include=lineups.type&filters=lineupTypes:12

Definition of “Last Updated”

This endpoint returns every player whose data has changed in the last two hours. It tracks changes to the following fields: country_id, nationality_id, city_id, position_id, detailed_position_id, type_id, common_name, firstname, lastname, name, display_name, image_path, height, weight, date_of_birth, gender.

Changes to each field mean the following:

• Country_id: Identifier for the player’s country (e.g. 462)

• Nationality_id: Identifier for the player’s nationality (often the same as country_id)

• City_id: Identifier for the player’s birth or registered city (null if unavailable)

• Position_id: Numeric code for the player’s primary position (e.g. 25 = Defender)

• Detailed_position_id: More granular position code (e.g. 154 = Right Back)

• Type_id: Identifies the type of player (e.g. 25 = Association Football)

• Common_name: Abbreviated name used in live feeds (e.g. “J. Tavernier”)

• Firstname: Given name (e.g. “James”)

• Lastname: Family name (e.g. “Tavernier”)

• Name: Full name (firstname plus lastname; e.g. “James Tavernier”)

• Display_name: Name used for display in UI elements (often identical to name)

• Image_path: URL to the player’s profile image

• Height: Height in centimetres (e.g. 182)

• Weight: Weight in kilograms (e.g. 75)

• Date_of_birth: Birth date in ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD)

• Gender: Player gender (e.g. “male” or “female”)

Frequency of updates & no-change responses

• Every call inspects the last two hours of changes to any of the fields above.

• If one or more players changed, all affected records are returned in the data array.

• If no changes occurred in that window, the API responds with HTTP 200 and:

{

"data": []

}

This indicates there is nothing new to process.

Polling frequency & rate limits

• It is recommended to poll every 1h 59m 55s or 1h 59m 58s to reduce end-to-end latency.

• Monitor for network jitter and clock skew to avoid missing updates or sending duplicate requests.

Caching strategy & best practices

1. Cache core fields per player

   • Store the fifteen tracked fields in your local store, keyed by player ID.

2. Different incoming payloads

   • On each response, compare each returned player’s fields against your cache.

   • If no field differs, discard that record.

3. Update the cache

   • For any record with differences, overwrite the cached values.

4. Cache lookup data locally

   • Fields like position mappings and country names change rarely. Cache these separately and refresh on a longer schedule.

5. Back off on empty runs

   • If you receive multiple empty data arrays in a row, consider reducing polling frequency or extending your back-off window to conserve resources.

Filters

More information on how to use filters can be found in our tutorials on how to filter. If you want more information on which filters to use, you can check out the following endpoint:

https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/my/filters/entity?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN

Pagination

NO

Parameters

Parameter	Required	Description	Example
order	No	Returns latest updated players (asc or desc). Defaults to asc	&order=desc

Include depth

You can use a total of 3 nested includes on this endpoint

Include options

sport country city nationality transfers pendingTransfers teams statistics latest position detailedPosition lineups trophies metadata

Related Entities:

Get an overview and explanation of all the fields returned in the API response. The related entities for the players endpoint are:

• Player

Postman

We also offer detailed postman documentation with examples and a complete up-to-date version of all our endpoints. Below is a button that lets your fork the collection or import it.

Code Example

Ruby

require "uri"
require "net/http"

url = URI("https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/players/updated?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN")

https = Net::HTTP.new(url.host, url.port)
https.use_ssl = true

request = Net::HTTP::Get.new(url)

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

Python

import http.client

conn = http.client.HTTPSConnection("api.sportmonks.com")
payload = ''
headers = {}
conn.request("GET", "/v3/football/players/updated?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN", payload, headers)
res = conn.getresponse()
data = res.read()
print(data.decode("utf-8"))

PHP

<?php

$curl = curl_init();

curl_setopt_array($curl, array(
  CURLOPT_URL => 'https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/players/updated?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN',
  CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER => true,
  CURLOPT_ENCODING => '',
  CURLOPT_MAXREDIRS => 10,
  CURLOPT_TIMEOUT => 0,
  CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION => true,
  CURLOPT_HTTP_VERSION => CURL_HTTP_VERSION_1_1,
  CURLOPT_CUSTOMREQUEST => 'GET',
));

$response = curl_exec($curl);

curl_close($curl);
echo $respons

Java

OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient().newBuilder()
  .build();
Request request = new Request.Builder()
  .url("https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/players/updated?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN")
  .method("GET", null)
  .build();
Response response = client.newCall(request).execute();

Node.js

var unirest = require('unirest');
var req = unirest('GET', 'https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/players/updated?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN')
  .end(function (res) { 
    if (res.error) throw new Error(res.error); 
    console.log(res.raw_body);
  });

Go

package main

import (
  "fmt"
  "net/http"
  "io/ioutil"
)

func main() {

  url := "https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/players/updated?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN"
  method := "GET"

  client := &http.Client {
  }
  req, err := http.NewRequest(method, url, nil)

  if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err)
    return
  }
  res, err := client.Do(req)
  if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err)
    return
  }
  defer res.Body.Close()

  body, err := ioutil.ReadAll(res.Body)
  if err != nil {
    fmt.Println(err)
    return
  }
  fmt.Println(string(body))
}