> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.sportmonks.com/v3/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.sportmonks.com/v3/tutorials-and-guides/tutorials/includes/coaches.md).

# Coaches

#### What does the include do?

The `coaches` include allows you to retrieve information about the head coaches (managers) of both teams in a fixture. This gives you each coach's biographical and profile data alongside the fixture, so you can display who was in charge of each side for a given match.

#### Why use coaches?

The coaches include is useful for:

* **Match centre displays**: Show which manager was in charge of each team for a specific fixture
* **Manager profiles**: Access biographical data (nationality, date of birth, image) without a separate request
* **Tactical build-up context**: Combine with lineups and formations to attribute team selection to a specific coach
* **Historical tracking**: See coaching changes across a season by comparing the `coaches` include across multiple fixtures for the same team

#### Requesting coaches

To retrieve coach information for a fixture, use the following include:

```http
https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/fixtures/{fixture_id}
?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN&include=coaches
```

**Example:** Get coaches for Sparta Rotterdam vs Feyenoord (fixture ID: 19714695)

```http
https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/fixtures/19714695
?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN&include=coaches
```

#### Response structure

When you include `coaches` in your request, you'll receive an array of two coach objects, one for each team in the fixture:

<details>

<summary>Response structure</summary>

```javascript
{
  "data": {
    "id": 19714695,
    "sport_id": 1,
    "league_id": 72,
    "season_id": 27958,
    "stage_id": 77482444,
    "group_id": null,
    "aggregate_id": null,
    "round_id": 407172,
    "state_id": 5,
    "venue_id": 332,
    "name": "Sparta Rotterdam vs Feyenoord",
    "starting_at": "2026-08-09 10:15:00",
    "result_info": "Feyenoord won after full-time.",
    "leg": "1/1",
    "details": null,
    "length": 90,
    "placeholder": false,
    "has_odds": true,
    "has_premium_odds": true,
    "starting_at_timestamp": 1786270500,
    "coaches": [
      {
        "id": 23237,
        "player_id": 23237,
        "sport_id": 1,
        "country_id": 38,
        "nationality_id": 38,
        "city_id": null,
        "common_name": "G. van Bronckhorst",
        "firstname": "Giovanni",
        "lastname": "van Bronckhorst",
        "name": "Giovanni van Bronckhorst",
        "display_name": "Giovanni van Bronckhorst",
        "image_path": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/soccer/coaches/5/23237.png",
        "height": 178,
        "weight": 75,
        "date_of_birth": "1975-02-05",
        "gender": "male",
        "meta": {
          "fixture_id": 19714695,
          "coach_id": 23237,
          "participant_id": 73
        }
      },
      {
        "id": 23707,
        "player_id": 23707,
        "sport_id": 1,
        "country_id": 38,
        "nationality_id": 38,
        "city_id": null,
        "common_name": "R. Meijer",
        "firstname": "Rogier",
        "lastname": "Meijer",
        "name": "Rogier Meijer",
        "display_name": "Rogier Meijer",
        "image_path": "https://cdn.sportmonks.com/images/soccer/coaches/27/23707.png",
        "height": 186,
        "weight": 70,
        "date_of_birth": "1981-09-05",
        "gender": "male",
        "meta": {
          "fixture_id": 19714695,
          "coach_id": 23707,
          "participant_id": 919
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

</details>

#### Field descriptions

**Main coach fields**

| Field            | Type    | Description                                                                            |
| ---------------- | ------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `id`             | integer | Unique identifier for this coach                                                       |
| `player_id`      | integer | Links to a player record if the coach previously played professionally, null otherwise |
| `sport_id`       | integer | ID of the sport (1 = football/soccer)                                                  |
| `country_id`     | integer | ID of the coach's country                                                              |
| `nationality_id` | integer | ID of the coach's nationality                                                          |
| `common_name`    | string  | Shortened display name (e.g. "G. van Bronckhorst")                                     |
| `firstname`      | string  | Coach's first name                                                                     |
| `lastname`       | string  | Coach's last name                                                                      |
| `name`           | string  | Full name                                                                              |
| `display_name`   | string  | Preferred display name                                                                 |
| `image_path`     | string  | URL to the coach's headshot                                                            |
| `height`         | integer | Height in centimetres, may be null                                                     |
| `weight`         | integer | Weight in kilograms, may be null                                                       |
| `date_of_birth`  | string  | Date of birth (YYYY-MM-DD)                                                             |
| `gender`         | string  | "male" or "female"                                                                     |

**Meta object fields**

Unlike the `participants` include, coach objects **do not carry a `location` field**. The `meta` object only links the coach to the fixture and the team:

| Field                 | Type    | Description                                                                       |
| --------------------- | ------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `meta.fixture_id`     | integer | The fixture this coach assignment belongs to                                      |
| `meta.coach_id`       | integer | Repeats the coach's `id`                                                          |
| `meta.participant_id` | integer | **The linking field.** Matches the `id` of one of the two teams in `participants` |

#### Identifying home vs away coach

Coach objects have **no home/away flag of their own**. To determine which coach belongs to the home team and which to the away team, combine `coaches` with `participants` and match on `meta.participant_id`:

```http
https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/fixtures/{fixture_id}
?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN&include=coaches;participants
```

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="JavaScript" %}

```javascript
function getCoachesByLocation(fixture) {
  const home = fixture.participants.find(p => p.meta.location === 'home');
  const away = fixture.participants.find(p => p.meta.location === 'away');

  const homeCoach = fixture.coaches.find(c => c.meta.participant_id === home.id);
  const awayCoach = fixture.coaches.find(c => c.meta.participant_id === away.id);

  return { homeCoach, awayCoach };
}
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Python" %}

```python
def get_coaches_by_location(fixture):
    home = next(p for p in fixture['participants'] if p['meta']['location'] == 'home')
    away = next(p for p in fixture['participants'] if p['meta']['location'] == 'away')

    home_coach = next(c for c in fixture['coaches'] if c['meta']['participant_id'] == home['id'])
    away_coach = next(c for c in fixture['coaches'] if c['meta']['participant_id'] == away['id'])

    return home_coach, away_coach
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="PHP" %}

```php
function getCoachesByLocation(array $fixture): array
{
    $home = current(array_filter($fixture['participants'], fn($p) => $p['meta']['location'] === 'home'));
    $away = current(array_filter($fixture['participants'], fn($p) => $p['meta']['location'] === 'away'));

    $homeCoach = current(array_filter($fixture['coaches'], fn($c) => $c['meta']['participant_id'] === $home['id']));
    $awayCoach = current(array_filter($fixture['coaches'], fn($c) => $c['meta']['participant_id'] === $away['id']));

    return [$homeCoach, $awayCoach];
}
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

#### Nested includes

Coach records support additional nested includes, in line with the standalone Coach entity:

* **`coaches.country`** - Full country record instead of just `country_id`
* **`coaches.player`** - The coach's own playing career record, when `player_id` is not null
* **`coaches.trophies`** - Honours won across the coach's career

```http
https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/fixtures/{fixture_id}
?api_token=YOUR_TOKEN&include=coaches.country
```

#### Code examples

**JavaScript example**

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="JavaScript" %}

```javascript
const API_TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN";
const FIXTURE_ID = 19714695;

async function getFixtureCoaches() {
  const url = `https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/fixtures/${FIXTURE_ID}`;
  const params = new URLSearchParams({
    api_token: API_TOKEN,
    include: "coaches;participants"
  });

  const response = await fetch(`${url}?${params}`);
  const data = await response.json();
  const fixture = data.data;

  const home = fixture.participants.find(p => p.meta.location === 'home');
  const away = fixture.participants.find(p => p.meta.location === 'away');

  const homeCoach = fixture.coaches.find(c => c.meta.participant_id === home.id);
  const awayCoach = fixture.coaches.find(c => c.meta.participant_id === away.id);

  console.log(`${home.name}: ${homeCoach.display_name}`);
  console.log(`${away.name}: ${awayCoach.display_name}`);
}

getFixtureCoaches();
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Python" %}

```python
import requests

API_TOKEN = "YOUR_TOKEN"
FIXTURE_ID = 19714695

url = f"https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/fixtures/{FIXTURE_ID}"
params = {
    "api_token": API_TOKEN,
    "include": "coaches;participants"
}

response = requests.get(url, params=params)
fixture = response.json()['data']

home = next(p for p in fixture['participants'] if p['meta']['location'] == 'home')
away = next(p for p in fixture['participants'] if p['meta']['location'] == 'away')

home_coach = next(c for c in fixture['coaches'] if c['meta']['participant_id'] == home['id'])
away_coach = next(c for c in fixture['coaches'] if c['meta']['participant_id'] == away['id'])

print(f"{home['name']}: {home_coach['display_name']}")
print(f"{away['name']}: {away_coach['display_name']}")
```

{% endtab %}

{% tab title="PHP" %}

```php
<?php

$apiToken = "YOUR_TOKEN";
$fixtureId = 19714695;

$url = "https://api.sportmonks.com/v3/football/fixtures/{$fixtureId}";
$params = http_build_query([
    "api_token" => $apiToken,
    "include" => "coaches;participants"
]);

$response = file_get_contents("{$url}?{$params}");
$fixture = json_decode($response, true)["data"];

$home = current(array_filter($fixture["participants"], fn($p) => $p["meta"]["location"] === "home"));
$away = current(array_filter($fixture["participants"], fn($p) => $p["meta"]["location"] === "away"));

$homeCoach = current(array_filter($fixture["coaches"], fn($c) => $c["meta"]["participant_id"] === $home["id"]));
$awayCoach = current(array_filter($fixture["coaches"], fn($c) => $c["meta"]["participant_id"] === $away["id"]));

echo "{$home['name']}: {$homeCoach['display_name']}\n";
echo "{$away['name']}: {$awayCoach['display_name']}\n";
```

{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}

#### Best practices

1. **Always pair with `participants` for home/away context.** Coach objects have no location field of their own, `meta.participant_id` is the only link back to a specific team.
2. **Check `player_id` before assuming a playing career.** Many coaches never played professionally at a tracked level, `player_id` is null in that case.
3. **Handle null `height`/`weight` gracefully.** These fields are frequently unavailable for coaches, unlike for active players.
4. **Cache coach data per season.** Coaching changes happen mid-season, but not per match, a daily cache is usually sufficient.

#### Related includes

* [**Participants**](https://docs.sportmonks.com/v3/tutorials-and-guides/tutorials/includes/participants) - Required to resolve home/away for each coach
* [**Lineups**](https://docs.sportmonks.com/v3/tutorials-and-guides/tutorials/includes/lineups) - Cross-reference team selection with the coach who picked it
* [**Referees**](https://docs.sportmonks.com/v3/tutorials-and-guides/tutorials/includes/referees) - Another fixture-level personnel include with a similar shape

#### Summary

The `coaches` include returns each team's head coach for a fixture, linked back to the correct team via `meta.participant_id`, not a `team_id` or `meta.location` field. To display home vs away coach, combine this include with `participants` and match on that field. Nested includes (`coaches.country`, `coaches.player`, `coaches.trophies`) are available for deeper coach profile data.


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