Filtering
In this chapter, we’ll teach you how to filter out data from our API, which is useful when you want to request specific data and can omit the rest for faster response time. You can filter out data for various parameters per endpoint. See our API reference guide for more detailed information. For this tutorial, we’ll use the get fixtures by date endpoint.
This endpoint has the following parameters:
Leagues: filter on league IDs
Bookmakers*: filter on bookmaker IDs
Markets:* filter on market IDs
Status: filter on status
You can only filter on the bookmakers & markets parameters when you've enriched your response with the odds include.
In this tutorial, we’ll show you step by step how filtering works, but most importantly, why you would want to use it.
First, we’ll show you why exactly filtering is useful. For example, we want to have all the fixtures on a specific date of the Italian Serie A (league id: 384).
As mentioned above, we’re going to use the same endpoint as in our includes tutorial. Requesting all the fixtures played on the 2nd of August 2020:
https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/fixtures/date/2020-08-02?api_token={API_TOKEN}
"data": [{"id": 11999555,"league_id": 791,"season_id": 16732,"stage_id": 77446206,"round_id": 187825,"group_id": null,"aggregate_id": null,"venue_id": 1466,"referee_id": 26134,"localteam_id": 2451,"visitorteam_id": 233261,"winner_team_id": 233261,"weather_report": {"code": "clouds","type": "few clouds","icon": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/weather/02n.png","temperature": {"temp": 80.01,"unit": "fahrenheit"},"temperature_celcius": {"temp": 26.7,"unit": "celcius"},"clouds": "20%","humidity": "42%","pressure": 1015,"wind": {"speed": "8.05 m/s","degree": 330},"coordinates": {"lat": 35.47,"lon": -97.52},"updated_at": "2020-08-02T02:00:08.649722Z"},"commentaries": false,"attendance": null,"pitch": "Good","details": null,"neutral_venue": false,"winning_odds_calculated": true,"formations": {"localteam_formation": null,"visitorteam_formation": null},"scores": {"localteam_score": 0,"visitorteam_score": 3,"localteam_pen_score": null,"visitorteam_pen_score": null,"ht_score": "0-2","ft_score": "0-3","et_score": null,"ps_score": null},"time": {"status": "FT","starting_at": {"date_time": "2020-08-02 00:00:00","date": "2020-08-02","time": "00:00:00","timestamp": 1596326400,"timezone": "UTC"},"minute": 90,"second": null,"added_time": null,"extra_minute": null,"injury_time": null},"coaches": {"localteam_coach_id": 37427975,"visitorteam_coach_id": 32013107},"standings": {"localteam_position": 10,"visitorteam_position": 3},"assistants": {"first_assistant_id": 26754,"second_assistant_id": 53662,"fourth_official_id": 26135},"leg": "1/1","colors": {"localteam": {"color": "#0B750B","kit_colors": "#008040,#008040,#008040,#00C1BA,#C40010,#0046A8,#F0F0F0"},"visitorteam": {"color": "#D6003D","kit_colors": "#0046A8,#0046A8,#D6003D,#D6003D,#FF0000,#0000FF,#D6003D"}},"deleted": false,"is_placeholder": false,},
Field | Description |
| Opens an array of data you've requested |
| A unique fixture id |
| The unique id of the league the fixture belongs to |
| The unique id of the season the fixture belongs to |
| The unique id of the stage the fixture belongs to |
| The unique id of the round the fixture belongs to |
| The unique id of the group the fixture belongs to |
| Indicates if the fixture has an aggregated score |
| The unique id of the venue the fixture is played at |
| The unique id of the referee that is in charge of the fixture |
| The unique id of the local team |
| The unique id of the visitor team |
| Contains the id of the team that won the fixture |
| Opens an array of weather details. Possible values of the data in this array can be found in our statuses and definitions |
| Indicates if this fixture has commentaries available |
| Give information about the visitor attendance of the fixture |
| Gives information about the pitch. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions |
| Optional additional information. |
| Indicates if the fixture was played at a neutral fixture. This often happens in cup finals |
| Opens an array containing the lineup formations of the teams. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions |
| Opens an array containing the scores of the fixture |
| The number of goals the local team has scored in this fixture |
| The number of goals the visitor team has scored in this fixture |
| The number of penalty goals the local team has scored in this fixture (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout) |
| The number of penalty goals the visitor team has scored in this fixture (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout) |
| The score at halftime |
| The score at full time (90 minutes) |
| The score in extra time (only available when the fixture goes into extra time) |
| The score of the penalty shootout (only available when the fixture goes into penalty shootout) |
| Opens an array containing the time details of the fixture |
| Indicates in which phase the fixture is in. Possible values can be found in our statuses and definitions |
| Opens an array containing the time details of the fixture |
| Gives the date and time the fixture starts |
| Gives the date on which the fixture is played |
| Gives the starting time of the fixture |
| The timestamp notation of the match |
| Indicates in which timezone you've requested the data |
| Indicates in which minute the fixture is in |
| Indicates in which second the fixture is in |
| Indicates how much added time is added |
| Extra minute is when a fixture goes to extra time. Extra_minute will count from 0 to 15 and from 15 to 30. |
| In case of added time it will end up in injury_minute |
| Opens an array containing the unique id's of the coaches |
| The unique id of the coach from the local team |
| The unique id of the coach from the visitor team |
| Opens an array containing the standings of the local- and visitorteam |
| Indicates in which positions the local team is before the fixture |
| Indicates in which positions the visitor team is before the fixture |
| Opens an array containing the unique id's of the assistant referees |
| The unique id of the first assistant |
| The unique id of the second assistant |
| The unique id of the fourth official |
| Indicates in how many legs this fixture is played |
| Opens an array containing information about the team colors |
| Opens an array containing information about the local team colors |
| The main color code of the local team |
| The kit color codes of the local team |
| Opens an array containing information about the visitor team colors |
| The main color code of the visitor team |
| The kit color codes of the local team |
| Indicates if the team was deleted. More information: Keep in Sync |
| This property indicates if the resource is used to display dummy data. The false of this property will always be a |
The request works, but it is far from efficient. While you do receive the data you requested, it is incredibly hard to find the data for only the Italian Serie A (league id: 384) because you’ve just requested every single fixture on that date. For this example, we made the request with an Enterprise Plan subscribed API token, which means that the API would return all fixtures of 1200+ leagues.
Note, that there is only one league id in the previous response snippet. And it's not a fixture from the Italian Serie A (league id: 384).
You can find a short overview of the response at the bottom of the request. This is called the meta description:
],"pagination": {"total": 570,"count": 100,"per_page": 100,"current_page": 1,"total_pages": 6,"links": {"next": "https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/fixtures/date/2020-08-02?page=2"}}}
Field | Description |
| Opens an array of information about the pages in the API response |
| The total amount of results the API returns |
| The amount of results on the current page |
| The amount of results per page |
| The number of page currently browsed |
| The total number of pages |
| The link if you want to go to the next API page |
As you can see, the API returns a total of 570 results with 100 results per page. Obviously, this is way too much if you only want to request fixtures for a specific league. Therefore, this request is inefficient and needs some slight adjustments.
Please check our pagination tutorial for more information about pages.
This is where filtering comes into play. Because we only want the fixtures of the Italian Serie A (league id: 384) in our response. We can easily exclude the rest of the data that we won’t be needing. Simply add the leagues parameter to your request:
https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/fixtures/date/2020-08-02?api_token={API_TOKEN}&leagues={IDs}
Now, you can simply add the league id of the Italian Serie A to your request: &leagues=384
The result? Only five fixtures instead of 570! Again, you can see this in the meta description of the response.
https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/fixtures/date/2020-08-02?api_token={API_TOKEN}&leagues=384
{"data": [{"id": 11937816,"league_id": 384,"season_id": 16415,"stage_id": 77445257,"round_id": 180800,"group_id": null,"aggregate_id": null,"venue_id": 7316,"referee_id": 15303,"localteam_id": 394,"visitorteam_id": 109,"winner_team_id": 109,"weather_report": {"code": "rain","type": "light rain","icon": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/weather/10d.png","temperature": {"temp": 84.38,"unit": "fahrenheit"},"temperature_celcius": {"temp": 29.1,"unit": "celcius"},"clouds": "4%","humidity": "55%","pressure": 1009,"wind": {"speed": "7.7 m/s","degree": 103},"coordinates": {"lat": 44.8,"lon": 11.83},"updated_at": "2020-08-02T17:45:03.076667Z"},"commentaries": true,"attendance": 0,"pitch": null,"details": null,"neutral_venue": false,"winning_odds_calculated": true,"formations": {"localteam_formation": "4-4-1-1","visitorteam_formation": "3-5-2"},"scores": {"localteam_score": 1,"visitorteam_score": 3,"localteam_pen_score": null,"visitorteam_pen_score": null,"ht_score": "1-1","ft_score": "1-3","et_score": null,"ps_score": null},"time": {"status": "FT","starting_at": {"date_time": "2020-08-02 16:00:00","date": "2020-08-02","time": "16:00:00","timestamp": 1596384000,"timezone": "UTC"},"minute": 90,"second": null,"added_time": null,"extra_minute": null,"injury_time": null},"coaches": {"localteam_coach_id": 932371,"visitorteam_coach_id": 896626},"standings": {"localteam_position": 20,"visitorteam_position": 9},"assistants": {"first_assistant_id": 12803,"second_assistant_id": 14003,"fourth_official_id": 16419},"leg": "1/1","colors": {"localteam": {"color": "#F4F48A","kit_colors": "#F4F48A,#F4F48A,#F4F48A,#F4F48A,#F0F0F0,#0046A8,#0A0A0A"},"visitorteam": {"color": "#482F8A","kit_colors": "#482F8A,#482F8A,#5B3BAE,#5B3BAE,#482F8A,#482F8A,#482F8A"}},"deleted": false},{"id": 11937817,"league_id": 384,"season_id": 16415,"stage_id": 77445257,"round_id": 180800,"group_id": null,"aggregate_id": null,"venue_id": 86,"referee_id": 17862,"localteam_id": 102,"visitorteam_id": 1123,"winner_team_id": 102,"weather_report": {"code": "clouds","type": "scattered clouds","icon": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/weather/03n.png","temperature": {"temp": 70.77,"unit": "fahrenheit"},"temperature_celcius": {"temp": 21.5,"unit": "celcius"},"clouds": "40%","humidity": "78%","pressure": 1008,"wind": {"speed": "3.36 m/s","degree": 300},"coordinates": {"lat": 44.5,"lon": 9.07},"updated_at": "2020-08-02T20:30:02.943964Z"},"commentaries": true,"attendance": 0,"pitch": null,"details": null,"neutral_venue": false,"winning_odds_calculated": true,"formations": {"localteam_formation": "3-5-2","visitorteam_formation": "3-4-2-1"},"scores": {"localteam_score": 3,"visitorteam_score": 0,"localteam_pen_score": null,"visitorteam_pen_score": null,"ht_score": "3-0","ft_score": "3-0","et_score": null,"ps_score": null},"time": {"status": "FT","starting_at": {"date_time": "2020-08-02 18:45:00","date": "2020-08-02","time": "18:45:00","timestamp": 1596393900,"timezone": "UTC"},"minute": 90,"second": null,"added_time": null,"extra_minute": null,"injury_time": null},"coaches": {"localteam_coach_id": 364995,"visitorteam_coach_id": 127980},"standings": {"localteam_position": 17,"visitorteam_position": 11},"assistants": {"first_assistant_id": 15790,"second_assistant_id": 15305,"fourth_official_id": 14084},"leg": "1/1","colors": {"localteam": {"color": "#D82520","kit_colors": "#1C1A48,#D82520,#1C1A48,#D82520,#5C8FAE,#FFDF1B,#1C1A48"},"visitorteam": {"color": "#FFDF1B","kit_colors": "#FFDF1B,#FFDF1B,#F0F0F0,#00C1BA,#C40010,#0046A8,#FFDF1B"}},"deleted": false},],
"pagination": {"total": 5,"count": 5,"per_page": 100,"current_page": 1,"total_pages": 1,"links": {}}}}
Did you get a blank response?
Note that there may be no fixtures on the date you’ve requested in the leagues you’ve access to.
Since we’re on a roll, we might as well filter on more than just one league. Simply add more league ids! You can separate them with a comma:
https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/fixtures/date/2020-08-02?api_token={API_TOKEN}&leagues=8,384,501,271....etc.
In the previous chapter, you’ve learned about includes. Thanks to our API’s flexibility, you can filter and use includes in the same request! Let’s mix up the previous request with some includes:
https://soccer.sportmonks.com/api/v2.0/fixtures/date/2020-08-02?api_token={API_TOKEN}&include=localTeam,visitorTeam,events&leagues=384
{"data": [{"id": 11937816,"league_id": 384,"season_id": 16415,"stage_id": 77445257,"round_id": 180800,"group_id": null,"aggregate_id": null,"venue_id": 7316,"referee_id": 15303,"localteam_id": 394,"visitorteam_id": 109,"winner_team_id": 109,"weather_report": {"code": "rain","type": "light rain","icon": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/weather/10d.png","temperature": {"temp": 84.38,"unit": "fahrenheit"},"temperature_celcius": {"temp": 29.1,"unit": "celcius"},"clouds": "4%","humidity": "55%","pressure": 1009,"wind": {"speed": "7.7 m/s","degree": 103},"coordinates": {"lat": 44.8,"lon": 11.83},"updated_at": "2020-08-02T17:45:03.076667Z"},"commentaries": true,"attendance": 0,"pitch": null,"details": null,"neutral_venue": false,"winning_odds_calculated": true,"formations": {"localteam_formation": "4-4-1-1","visitorteam_formation": "3-5-2"},"scores": {"localteam_score": 1,"visitorteam_score": 3,"localteam_pen_score": null,"visitorteam_pen_score": null,"ht_score": "1-1","ft_score": "1-3","et_score": null,"ps_score": null},"time": {"status": "FT","starting_at": {"date_time": "2020-08-02 16:00:00","date": "2020-08-02","time": "16:00:00","timestamp": 1596384000,"timezone": "UTC"},"minute": 90,"second": null,"added_time": null,"extra_minute": null,"injury_time": null},"coaches": {"localteam_coach_id": 932371,"visitorteam_coach_id": 896626},"standings": {"localteam_position": 20,"visitorteam_position": 9},"assistants": {"first_assistant_id": 12803,"second_assistant_id": 14003,"fourth_official_id": 16419},"leg": "1/1","colors": {"localteam": {"color": "#F4F48A","kit_colors": "#F4F48A,#F4F48A,#F4F48A,#F4F48A,#F0F0F0,#0046A8,#0A0A0A"},"visitorteam": {"color": "#482F8A","kit_colors": "#482F8A,#482F8A,#5B3BAE,#5B3BAE,#482F8A,#482F8A,#482F8A"}},"deleted": false,"is_placeholder" false,"localTeam": {"data": {"id": 394,"legacy_id": 2543,"name": "SPAL","short_code": "SPA","twitter": "@spalferrara","country_id": 251,"national_team": false,"founded": 1907,"logo_path": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images//soccer/teams/10/394.png","venue_id": 7316,"current_season_id": 17533}},"visitorTeam": {"data": {"id": 109,"legacy_id": 176,"name": "Fiorentina","short_code": "FIO","twitter": "@acffiorentina","country_id": 251,"national_team": false,"founded": 1926,"logo_path": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images//soccer/teams/13/109.png","venue_id": 7223,"current_season_id": 17488}},"events": {"data": [{"id": 11937816001,"team_id": "109","type": "goal","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 129152,"player_name": "A. Duncan","related_player_id": 129836,"related_player_name": "F. Chiesa","minute": 30,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": "0-1"},{"id": 11937816002,"team_id": "394","type": "goal","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 129446,"player_name": "M. D'Alessandro","related_player_id": 129010,"related_player_name": "M. Valoti","minute": 39,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": "1-1"},{"id": 11937816003,"team_id": "394","type": "yellowcard","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 130165,"player_name": "M. Fares","related_player_id": null,"related_player_name": null,"minute": 45,"extra_minute": 2,"reason": "Holding","injuried": null,"result": null},{"id": 11937816004,"team_id": "109","type": "substitution","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 131955,"player_name": "C. Kouame","related_player_id": 786811,"related_player_name": "K. Agudelo","minute": 55,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": null},{"id": 11937816005,"team_id": "394","type": "substitution","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 12790660,"player_name": "K. Horvath","related_player_id": 37397147,"related_player_name": "J. A. Cuellar Mendoza","minute": 61,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": null},{"id": 11937816006,"team_id": "394","type": "substitution","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 133364,"player_name": "G. Strefezza","related_player_id": 129949,"related_player_name": "A. Murgia","minute": 61,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": null},{"id": 11937816007,"team_id": "109","type": "substitution","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 133805,"player_name": "P. Cutrone","related_player_id": 177988,"related_player_name": "D. Vlahovic","minute": 65,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": null},{"id": 11937816008,"team_id": "109","type": "substitution","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 3181370,"player_name": "R. Sottil","related_player_id": 131982,"related_player_name": "L. Venuti","minute": 65,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": null},{"id": 11937816009,"team_id": "394","type": "substitution","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 129975,"player_name": "F. Di Francesco","related_player_id": 129010,"related_player_name": "M. Valoti","minute": 80,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": true,"result": null},{"id": 11937816010,"team_id": "394","type": "substitution","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 129551,"player_name": "B. Salamon","related_player_id": 130165,"related_player_name": "M. Fares","minute": 80,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": null},{"id": 11937816011,"team_id": "394","type": "substitution","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 89660,"player_name": "G. Tunjov","related_player_id": 129446,"related_player_name": "M. D'Alessandro","minute": 86,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": true,"result": null},{"id": 11937816012,"team_id": "109","type": "goal","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 131955,"player_name": "C. Kouame","related_player_id": 129694,"related_player_name": "E. Pulgar","minute": 89,"extra_minute": null,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": "1-2"},{"id": 11937816013,"team_id": "109","type": "yellowcard","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 129836,"player_name": "F. Chiesa","related_player_id": null,"related_player_name": null,"minute": 90,"extra_minute": 2,"reason": "Tripping","injuried": null,"result": null},{"id": 11937816015,"team_id": "109","type": "substitution","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 2170272,"player_name": "A. Terzic","related_player_id": 129152,"related_player_name": "A. Duncan","minute": 90,"extra_minute": 5,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": null},{"id": 11937816016,"team_id": "109","type": "substitution","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 24837939,"player_name": "C. Dalle Mura","related_player_id": 129836,"related_player_name": "F. Chiesa","minute": 90,"extra_minute": 5,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": null},{"id": 11937816014,"team_id": "109","type": "penalty","var_result": null,"fixture_id": 11937816,"player_id": 129694,"player_name": "E. Pulgar","related_player_id": null,"related_player_name": null,"minute": 90,"extra_minute": 4,"reason": null,"injuried": null,"result": "1-3"}]}},
Just like that, you have built an efficient request and experienced the flexibility of our API. By filtering the request on the data you need, you can save yourself from a lot of irrelevant data. Moreover, you can combine filtering with includes as well. The possibilities are near limitless! Next, we'll be covering limiting API responses.