How-to build your World Cup application

Good to have you here. The World Cup is the biggest sports events around the globe, so let's not waste a second and start building your dream application.

How to build your World Cup 2026 application with Sportmonks’ Football Data

Welcome to our step-by-step guide on building an application for the 2026 FIFA World Cup using Sportmonks’ football data. As the biggest football tournament in the world, the World Cup 2026 promises thrilling matches featuring top teams like Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, France, and England. With our comprehensive football data, you can create a powerful, engaging app for your users.

In this guide, we'll cover the following key aspects of building your World Cup 2026 application:

• Full season schedule

• (live) Standings

• Team squads

• Season topscorers

Before we dive in, please ensure you have access to the World Cup 2026 league data (League ID: 732). This access is crucial for retrieving and displaying the relevant data.

Retrieving the full season schedule

To begin, you’ll want to display the complete World Cup 2026 schedule, including group stages and knockout rounds. The challenge is that knockout games aren’t determined until later in the tournament. Our API simplifies this by using a property called is_placeholder on both fixture and team responses.

How it works:

• The is_placeholder property helps you identify if a fixture is a placeholder (i.e., dummy data) or finalised.

• This property is a boolean (true or false). If is_placeholder is false, the data is final. The fixture ID will remain consistent even when real data replaces placeholder data.

You can use the GET Schedule by Season ID endpoint with the includes to retrieve all the stages with the fixtures and the teams involved:

Request

https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/schedules/seasons/{season_ID}?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN

Response (2022 data)

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 77452386,
      "sport_id": 1,
      "league_id": 732,
      "season_id": 18017,
      "type_id": 223,
      "name": "Group Stage",
      "sort_order": 1,
      "finished": true,
      "is_current": false,
      "starting_at": "2022-11-20",
      "ending_at": "2022-12-02",
      "games_in_current_week": false,
      "rounds": [
        {
          "id": 238362,
          "sport_id": 1,
          "league_id": 732,
          "season_id": 18017,
          "stage_id": 77452386,
          "name": "1",
          "finished": true,
          "is_current": false,
          "starting_at": "2022-11-20",
          "ending_at": "2022-11-24",
          "games_in_current_week": false,
          "fixtures": [
            {
              "id": 18494000,
              "sport_id": 1,
              "league_id": 732,
              "season_id": 18017,
              "stage_id": 77452386,
              "group_id": 246695,
              "aggregate_id": null,
              "round_id": 238362,
              "state_id": 5,
              "venue_id": 343332,
              "name": "Spain vs Costa Rica",
              "starting_at": "2022-11-23 16:00:00",
              "result_info": "Spain won after full-time.",
              "leg": "1/1",
              "details": null,
              "length": 90,
              "placeholder": false,
              "last_processed_at": "2023-03-02 17:49:00",
              "has_odds": true,
              "starting_at_timestamp": 1669219200,
              "participants": [
                {
                  "id": 18598,
                  "sport_id": 1,
                  "country_id": 1739,
                  "venue_id": 10981,
                  "gender": "male",
                  "name": "Costa Rica",
                  "short_code": "CRI",
                  "image_path": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/soccer/teams/6/18598.png",
                  "founded": 1921,
                  "type": "national",
                  "placeholder": false,
                  "last_played_at": "2014-06-29 20:00:00",
                  "meta": {
                    "location": "away",
                    "winner": false,
                    "position": 2
                  }
                },
                {
                  "id": 18710,
                  "sport_id": 1,
                  "country_id": 32,
                  "venue_id": 2020,
                  "gender": "male",
                  "name": "Spain",
                  "short_code": "ESP",
                  "image_path": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/soccer/teams/22/18710.png",
                  "founded": 1913,
                  "type": "national",
                  "placeholder": false,
                  "last_played_at": "2022-12-06 15:00:00",
                  "meta": {
                    "location": "home",
                    "winner": true,
                    "position": 4
                  }
                }
              ],
              "scores": [
                {
                  "id": 11089070,
                  "fixture_id": 18494000,
                  "type_id": 1,
                  "participant_id": 18598,
                  "score": {
                    "goals": 0,
                    "participant": "away"
                  },
                  "description": "1ST_HALF"
                },
                {
                  "id": 11089071,
                  "fixture_id": 18494000,
                  "type_id": 1,
                  "participant_id": 18710,
                  "score": {
                    "goals": 3,
                    "participant": "home"
                  },
                  "description": "1ST_HALF"
                },
                {
                  "id": 11089072,
                  "fixture_id": 18494000,
                  "type_id": 2,
                  "participant_id": 18598,
                  "score": {
                    "goals": 0,
                    "participant": "away"
                  },
                  "description": "2ND_HALF"
                },
                {
                  "id": 11089073,
                  "fixture_id": 18494000,
                  "type_id": 2,
                  "participant_id": 18710,
                  "score": {
                    "goals": 7,
                    "participant": "home"
                  },
                  "description": "2ND_HALF"
                },
                {
                  "id": 11089074,
                  "fixture_id": 18494000,
                  "type_id": 1525,
                  "participant_id": 18598,
                  "score": {
                    "goals": 0,
                    "participant": "away"
                  },
                  "description": "CURRENT"
                },
                {
                  "id": 11089075,
                  "fixture_id": 18494000,
                  "type_id": 1525,
                  "participant_id": 18710,
                  "score": {
                    "goals": 7,
                    "participant": "home"
                  },
                  "description": "CURRENT"
                }
              ]
            },
            // And more

Displaying season standings

Next, you’ll want to show the group standings as teams progress through the tournament. The group stages and participating teams for World Cup 2026 will be available, and you can access this data using our standings endpoint.

Request

https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/standings/seasons/{season_ID}?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN

Response

{
  "data": [
    {
      "id": 2414,
      "participant_id": 18694,
      "sport_id": 1,
      "league_id": 732,
      "season_id": 18017,
      "stage_id": 77452386,
      "group_id": 246691,
      "round_id": null,
      "standing_rule_id": 18453,
      "position": 1,
      "result": "equal",
      "points": 7
    },
    {
      "id": 2417,
      "participant_id": 18645,
      "sport_id": 1,
      "league_id": 732,
      "season_id": 18017,
      "stage_id": 77452386,
      "group_id": 246692,
      "round_id": null,
      "standing_rule_id": 18455,
      "position": 1,
      "result": "equal",
      "points": 7
    },
    {
      "id": 2409,
      "participant_id": 18704,
      "sport_id": 1,
      "league_id": 732,
      "season_id": 18017,
      "stage_id": 77452386,
      "group_id": 246697,
      "round_id": null,
      "standing_rule_id": 18465,
      "position": 1,
      "result": "equal",
      "points": 6
    },
    // And more

In our World Cup 2026 all-in package, you'll also have access to live standings, which update in real-time as matches are played.

Accessing team squads

After gathering the schedule and standings, displaying the participating teams’ squads and their players adds a personal touch to your app.

The easiest way to request this is to use our GET Team by Season ID.

https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/teams/seasons/{season_ID}?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN

Of course, if you want the teams separately you can use the team squad by team and season id endpoint.

Identifying the topscorers

Tracking top scorers is essential for any World Cup application. Fans are always interested in who’s leading in goals, assists, and cards.

You can use the topscorers by season endpoint: GET Topscorers by Season id.

https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/topscorers/seasons/{season_ID}?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN

This request provides a basic response with player IDs. To get detailed information, such as player and team names, use the include parameter like this:

https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/topscorers/seasons/{season_ID}?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN&include=type;player

We want the player and team names and not just their player ID. We can do this for all three top scorers, which are:

• Goalscorers → players who have scored a goal

• Assistscorers → players who gave assists

• Cardscorers → players who have received yellow or red cards

So how do we know which topscorer belongs to which type? We use the include type. So we could for example request everything:

Enhance your application

Beyond the basic data, you can enrich your World Cup 2026 application with detailed match, team, player, and season statistics. By combining these elements, you can create a dynamic and interactive experience for your users.

Do you have any questions? Just contact our team with any questions or concerns.