How to use the Sportmonks Football API with Postman

Step 2: Make your first Football API request with Postman

Now that you’ve added your API token let’s ensure it’s working correctly by testing a request in Postman. Follow these simple steps:

1. Please navigate to our Football API collection within Postman.
2. Choose an endpoint from the collection. We’ll use the ‘Fixture by ID’ endpoint for this how-to guide.
3. We’ve provided an example fixture ID for your convenience, ensuring you’re accessing data available in the free plan. (Scottish Premiership or Danish Superliga.)
4. Optionally, customise your request by adding includes. Click on the ‘include’ query parameter and insert your desired value. You can check all the available includes in the Postman collection or our Football API documentation.
5. Once ready, hit the blue ‘send’ button to submit your request.

By following these steps, you’ll quickly verify that your API token is successfully integrated, allowing you to effortlessly access the data you need. 

Are you not seeing any data? Please make sure you’ve set up your API token correctly. If you need any assistance, don’t hesitate to contact our support team.

Step 4: Enhancing Requests with Filters: A Practical Example

Let’s delve into a practical example to illustrate the effectiveness of using filters in your requests. Consider the scenario where you’re utilising the ‘Fixture by ID’ endpoint with the ‘events’ include, which retrieves all available events associated with a fixture. However, your focus is specifically on goals.

Here’s how you can refine your query using filters:

1. Identify the endpoint: Begin with the ‘Fixture by ID’ endpoint, which allows you to retrieve detailed information about a specific fixture.
2. Include relevant data: By adding the ‘events’ include, you ensure that all events related to the fixture are included in the response.
3. Apply filters: To narrow the events to only goals, utilise the ‘filters’ parameter. Specifically, use the filter ‘eventTypes:14′, where ’14’ represents the event type id for goals.*
4. Execute the request: With your filters in place, execute the request.

Following these steps and adding the ‘&filters=eventTypes:14′ parameter to your request, you instruct the Football API to only return events of type’ goals’. This focused approach lets you retrieve the specific data you’re interested in, optimise your workflow, and enhance your overall experience with our API.

*You can find all the events with their unique id on our documentation page

Step 6: Streamlining your workflow: save frequently used requests

It can be handy to save the request or response instead of continuously re-opening Postman and making new requests. That’s why you can save your request and download your response! Click on the save button in the top right corner or download the response via the download button. 

• Identify important requests: Once you’ve made a request you anticipate using frequently, saving it for future use is time. You can do that by clicking the ‘save’ button.
• Download the response: To avoid the hassle of continuously re-opening Postman and making new requests, save the response. You can do this by clicking on the ‘download’ button in the interface’s top-right corner.

This simple yet effective approach enhances your productivity and simplifies your development process.

Enjoy using our Football API with Postman

Congratulations on completing your journey through our comprehensive guide on using the Sportmonks Football API with Postman! We hope this step-by-step walkthrough has equipped you with the knowledge and tools to integrate football data into your projects seamlessly. 

Whether you’re a seasoned developer or just starting, our user-friendly interface and extensive documentation are here to support you every step of the way.

Thank you for choosing Sportmonks for your football data needs. We’re excited to see the fantastic projects you’ll create with our API. Happy coding!