> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.thestatsapi.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# What is The Stats API? Football data overview

> The Stats API covers competitions, seasons, standings, teams, players, matches, live data, heatmaps, timelines, xG shotmaps, and betting odds.

The Stats API gives you programmatic access to football data through a REST interface. Use it to build live scores, fantasy sports products, data dashboards, scouting tools, and betting workflows with structured coverage for competitions, teams, players, matches, statistics, heatmaps, timelines, shotmaps, and odds.

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Authentication" icon="key" href="/docs/authentication">
    Authenticate every protected request with a Bearer token.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Quickstart" icon="bolt" href="/docs/quickstart">
    Make your first API calls and fetch real football data.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Data model" icon="database" href="/docs/concepts/data-model">
    Understand IDs, entity relationships, seasons, groups, and availability flags.
  </Card>

  <Card title="API reference" icon="code" href="/docs/api-reference/overview">
    Browse the full endpoint reference with request parameters and response examples.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## What's included

| Category                   | Description                                                                                                    |
| -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Competitions & seasons** | Leagues, cups, tournaments, season lists, group labels, and standings                                          |
| **Teams**                  | Team profiles, squad lists, season statistics, and standings history                                           |
| **Players**                | Player profiles, search, competition-season stats, and season heatmaps                                         |
| **Matches**                | Fixtures, results, live scores, status, stage/group labels, venue, referee, and availability flags             |
| **Match statistics**       | Live and post-match team stats across possession, shots, passes, duels, defending, goalkeeping, and xG         |
| **Lineups & timelines**    | Confirmed team sheets plus chronological match events for goals, shots, cards, substitutions, VAR, and periods |
| **Shotmaps & heatmaps**    | Per-shot xG records and player touch-location heatmaps using 0-100 pitch coordinates                           |
| **Betting odds**           | Prematch, historical, in-play, and player-prop odds across supported bookmakers and markets                    |

## Base URL

```text theme={null}
https://api.thestatsapi.com/api
```

Append the resource path to this base URL for every request. For example, to list competitions:

```text theme={null}
https://api.thestatsapi.com/api/football/competitions
```

## API versioning

The current stable version of The Stats API is **v1.0.0**. Breaking changes will be communicated in advance with a deprecation period before old behavior is retired. Check the [API reference](/docs/api-reference/overview) for the current endpoint surface.