Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions for SportsAPI Pro

Troubleshooting Guide

This guide addresses common issues you may encounter when using SportsAPI Pro.

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Empty or Missing Data

”Match statistics are empty”

Symptom: /api/match/{matchId}/statistics returns empty or minimal data

Cause: Statistics are only populated during and after a match. Pre-match requests return empty objects. Additionally, stat types with zero values are omitted to reduce response size.

Solution: Always check if the data exists before accessing:

const response = await fetch(
  'https://v2.football.sportsapipro.com/api/match/12345678/statistics',
  { headers: { 'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY' } }
);
const data = await response.json();

// Safe way to extract statistics
const stats = data?.statistics || [];

// Check if match has statistics available
if (stats.length === 0) {
  console.log('Statistics not yet available — match may not have started.');
}

Statistics are populated live during matches and finalized post-match. Pre-match requests will return empty data — this is expected behavior.

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”Top players endpoint returns empty”

Symptom: /api/tournaments/{tournamentId}/seasons/{seasonId}/top-players returns empty data

Cause: The tournament/season combination doesn’t have player ranking data available. This occurs for leagues outside the Premium and Full coverage tiers, or for cup competitions.

Solution:

1. Use /top-players only for major league competitions
2. Verify you have the correct tournamentId and seasonId:

// Step 1: Get available seasons for a tournament
const seasons = await fetch(
  'https://v2.football.sportsapipro.com/api/tournaments/7/seasons',
  { headers: { 'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY' } }
).then(r => r.json());

// Step 2: Use the latest season ID
const latestSeason = seasons.seasons[0];

// Step 3: Fetch top players with valid IDs
const topPlayers = await fetch(
  `https://v2.football.sportsapipro.com/api/tournament/7/season/${latestSeason.id}/top-players`,
  { headers: { 'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY' } }
).then(r => r.json());

Tournaments with guaranteed top player data:

• Premier League (ID: 7)
• La Liga (ID: 11)
• Bundesliga (ID: 25)
• Serie A (ID: 17)
• Ligue 1 (ID: 35)
• Champions League (ID: 572)
• Europa League (ID: 573)

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“Lineups missing detailed metrics”

Symptom: /api/match/{matchId}/lineups returns fewer stats than expected (e.g., no xG, limited passing data)

Cause: Standard coverage leagues only include basic statistics. Detailed metrics like xG, tackles, and interceptions are only available for Premium tier competitions.

Solution: For detailed metrics, query matches from Premium Coverage competitions:

// Premium tier competitions have 40+ stat types
const premiumTournaments = [7, 11, 17, 25, 35, 572, 573];

// Check if the match's tournament is premium before expecting detailed data
const matchDetails = await fetch(
  'https://v2.football.sportsapipro.com/api/match/12345678',
  { headers: { 'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY' } }
).then(r => r.json());

const tournamentId = matchDetails?.event?.tournament?.uniqueTournament?.id;
const hasDetailedStats = premiumTournaments.includes(tournamentId);

if (hasDetailedStats) {
  // Fetch detailed lineups — will include xG, tackles, interceptions, etc.
  const lineups = await fetch(
    'https://v2.football.sportsapipro.com/api/match/12345678/lineups',
    { headers: { 'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY' } }
  ).then(r => r.json());
}

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Data Coverage Questions

”Why do some leagues have less data?”

Data completeness varies by competition tier due to upstream data provider coverage:

Tier	Example Competitions	Available Data
Premium	Premier League, La Liga, Champions League	40+ player metrics, xG, shotmaps, AI insights
Full	Eredivisie, Turkish Süper Lig, MLS	20+ metrics, basic xG, top player rankings
Standard	Greek Super League, lower domestic leagues	Basic stats, scores, lineups
Basic	Minor divisions, friendlies	Scores and key events only

Cup vs League Competitions: The /api/tournament/{id}/season/{seasonId}/top-players endpoint returns player rankings only for league competitions (seasonal cumulative stats). Cup competitions like Champions League, FA Cup, Copa del Rey may return empty results — use /api/match/{matchId}/lineups for match-level stats instead.

See our API Reference Overview for a complete breakdown of available endpoints and sports coverage.

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”How do I know what data is available for a tournament?”

Use the tournament detail and seasons endpoints to explore what’s available:

// Get tournament details
const tournament = await fetch(
  'https://v2.football.sportsapipro.com/api/tournaments/7/seasons',
  { headers: { 'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY' } }
).then(r => r.json());

console.log({
  seasons: tournament.seasons,  // All available seasons
});

// Check if standings are available for a specific season
const standings = await fetch(
  'https://v2.football.sportsapipro.com/api/tournament/7/season/52162/standings',
  { headers: { 'x-api-key': 'YOUR_API_KEY' } }
).then(r => r.json());

console.log({
  hasStandings: !!standings?.standings,
});

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Authentication Issues

”401 Unauthorized”

Cause: Missing or invalid API key.

Solution:

1. Verify your API key is correct (check for typos)
2. Ensure you’re using the x-api-key header (not Authorization)
3. Check your API key hasn’t expired

# Correct header format
curl -X GET "https://v2.football.sportsapipro.com/api/live" \
  -H "x-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY"

”403 Forbidden”

Cause: Your subscription doesn’t include access to this endpoint or you’ve exceeded your daily limit.

Solution:

1. Check your plan’s included endpoints
2. Verify your daily request quota
3. Upgrade your plan if needed

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Rate Limiting

”429 Too Many Requests”

Cause: You’ve exceeded the rate limit for your plan.

Solution:

1. Implement exponential backoff
2. Cache responses where possible
3. Use efficient polling patterns

// Exponential backoff example
async function fetchWithRetry(url, options, maxRetries = 3) {
  for (let i = 0; i < maxRetries; i++) {
    const response = await fetch(url, options);
    
    if (response.status === 429) {
      const waitTime = Math.pow(2, i) * 1000; // 1s, 2s, 4s
      await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, waitTime));
      continue;
    }
    
    return response;
  }
  throw new Error('Max retries exceeded');
}

See our Rate Limits documentation for plan-specific limits and optimization strategies.

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