FootballHub

API Setup Guide

Connect live 2025/26 season data from API-Football to your FootballHub site in 4 steps. Free plan covers all Top 5 European leagues.

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Free Tier — No credit card required

API-Football's free plan includes 100 requests/day across all endpoints. With the caching strategy built into FootballHub, this comfortably supports all 5 league standings, fixtures, top scorers, and live scores for normal traffic.

Register for a free API key

Go to dashboard.api-football.com/register and create a free account. No credit card required. The free plan gives you 100 requests per day, which covers all standings, fixtures, and stats with smart caching.

Copy your API key

After registering, go to your dashboard and copy the key shown under My Applications → API Key. It looks like a 32-character alphanumeric string. Keep it secret — do not commit it to Git.

Add the key to Vercel

In your Vercel project: Settings → Environment Variables → Add New. Set:
API_FOOTBALL_KEY = <your key here>Make sure it is added to all environments (Production, Preview, Development). Then trigger a new deployment.

Verify the connection

After deploying, visit /api/debug/football — it shows your account status, remaining daily requests, and a live test of the standings endpoint. If it shows ok: true with results > 0, all data will appear within 60 seconds.