The Africa Cup of Nations API for developers ballers.
A Postgres-backed AFCON results archive: 73 archived matches across two editions that have finished being played — 2023 (delayed to January–February 2024) and 2025 (played December 2025–January 2026) — with final scores and half-by-half linescores, plus head-to-head context against any opponent the same teams have played. This is a partial archive of both editions, not the full match record from either. No upstream credit burn, no quota cost.
250 req/day free (500 with GitHub). No credit card.
Africa Cup of Nations · 73 matches · 2023 & 2025 editions · DB-backed reads
- 73
- matches archived
- two editions that finished being played — our archive is partial for both (36 of 52 possible for 2023, 37 of 52 for 2025)
- 2
- editions covered
- 2023 (delayed to 13 Jan – 11 Feb 2024, 36 of 52 matches archived) and 2025 (21 Dec 2025 – 18 Jan 2026, 37 of 52 matches archived)
- 31
- national teams
- distinct teams appearing across the two archived editions
- 100%
- matches with a recorded linescore
- half-by-half score on every match in the archive
Stats included
Every soccer stat field the API returns today — 82 in total, grouped by how they are produced. Each group carries its own freshness, because a sport is rarely uniformly current.
Season player stats
Post-gameWritten after the game ends — not a live in-game feed. Last ingested 2026-09-15.
- Endpoint
- /v1/players/:id/stats
- Last updated
- 2026-09-15
Fields (42)
- Shooting
- Dribbles Attempted, Shots on Target, Shots, Npxg, XG, XG Buildup, XG Chain
- Scoring
- Match Rating, Goals, Npg
- Passing
- Assists, Pass Accuracy, Key Passes, Passes, Xa
- Possession
- Dribbled Past, Dribbles Completed
- Defending
- Duels, Duels Won, Blocks, Interceptions, Tackles
- Goalkeeping
- Goals Conceded, Saves
- Discipline
- Red Cards, Yellow Cards, Second Yellow (red), Fouls Committed, Fouls Drawn, Penalties Conceded, Penalties Missed, Penalties Saved, Penalties Scored, Penalties Won
- Appearances
- Appearances, Starts, Minutes Played, Unused Substitute, Substituted On, Substituted Off, Games, Minutes
Team stats (per game)
Post-gameWritten after the game ends — not a live in-game feed. Last ingested 2026-09-16.
- Endpoint
- /v1/matches/:id/statistics
- Last updated
- 2026-09-16
Fields (40)
- Shooting
- Shot %, Shots on Target, Total Shots
- Scoring
- Final Score Ft Away, Final Score Ft Home, Final Score, Tournament Topscorers
- Passing
- Accurate Crosses, Accurate Long Balls, Accurate Passes, Cross Accuracy %, Long-Ball Accuracy %, Pass Accuracy %, Total Crosses, Total Long Balls, Total Passes
- Possession
- Momentum, Possession %, Team Form, Team Match Stats, Won Corners
- Defending
- Blocked Shots, Effective Clearances, Effective Tackles, Interceptions (defensive), Tackle %, Total Clearance, Total Tackles
- Goalkeeping
- Saves (goalkeeper)
- Discipline
- Fouls Committed, Offsides, Penalty Goals, Penalty Shots, Red Cards, Yellow Cards
- Appearances
- Average Positions, Best Players, Away Lineup, Home Lineup, Player Match Stats
Not included
- Not shown here — team_per_game_advanced: advanced team stats that no route currently serves.
- Not shown here — injuries: injury reports — reference data with its own endpoint.
Missing a stat?
We build what people actually ask for. If a field you need is not on this page, tell us — requests are how we decide what to add next.
What you can build
Tournament archive
Browse the archived AFCON matches by date, with final scores.
Head-to-head tool
Pull head-to-head history for any pairing across all competitions, not just this one.
Half-by-half scoreboard
Render first-half / second-half linescores from the stored archive.
Knockout-stage research
Cross-check results without burning any upstream credits.
Backtest scaffold
Iterate on the results archive without hitting an upstream provider on every page render.
Endpoints
On the gateway at api.bigballsdata.com. Authenticate with the bearer token from /dashboard/keys.
| Method | Path | Returns | Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| GET | /v1/matches?sport=football&league=Africa Cup of Nations | AFCON results (73 matches, paginated, DB-backed) | Free |
| GET | /v1/matches/:id | Single match by UUID: final score and linescore | Free |
| GET | /v1/teams/:id/h2h-intelligence | Head-to-head history between two teams, across every competition they have met in | Solo |
Start on the free tier
100 requests per minute and 250 per day, free — the highest per-minute burst of any free sports API we checked. Burst is what matters when something asks several questions in a row and waits on each answer.
- Every sport and league we cover — the paid tiers add history depth and premium fields, not more leagues.
- Calls are counted one for one — no credit weighting, no markets-times-regions arithmetic.
- Link GitHub and the daily cap goes to 500.
- No credit card.
Or ask your AI tool directly
Connect your account to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Perplexity or any other MCP-compatible tool and ask for soccer data in conversation — scores, standings, player stats and Elo ratings, with no API key to paste and no code to write. Your plan and limits carry over exactly as they do here.
Connect your AI tool →Integrate in a few lines
import { BigBallSportsClient } from '@bigballsdata/sdk';
const client = new BigBallSportsClient(process.env.BBS_API_KEY!);
// Every archived AFCON result across both loaded editions (2023 and 2025).
// This reads straight from the Postgres archive, not a live provider call —
// no upstream quota cost.
const matches = await client.matches.list({
sport: 'football',
league: 'Africa Cup of Nations',
limit: 20,
});
for (const m of matches.data) {
console.log(m.home.name, 'vs', m.away.name, '-', m.status, m.score);
}Two AFCON editions. Zero quota cost.
Both archived AFCON editions sit in the same Postgres archive as every other sport and competition on the API — same schema, same key, no separate African-football vendor to wire up for backtesting or research.
- Reads straight from our database, not a live provider call — no upstream credits burned, however many requests you send.
- The same canonical match envelope as every other sport, so AFCON code ports straight to the Premier League, NFL, or NBA endpoints.
- Head-to-head lookups span every competition the two teams have met in, not just this one.
No dedicated AFCON plan — this is free tier, same as everything else: 250 req/day (500 with GitHub connected), no credit card.
Frequently asked
- What AFCON data is available today?
- 73 archived matches across two editions that finished being played: the 2023 tournament (postponed and played 13 January – 11 February 2024, 36 matches archived) and the 2025 tournament (played 21 December 2025 – 18 January 2026, 37 matches archived). Team names, kickoff times, final scores, and half-by-half linescores are recorded for every archived match — but each real-world tournament played 52 matches (24-team CAF format), so this is a partial archive of both, not the full record of either.
- Are odds, lineups, or standings available?
- Not yet. This is a results archive today — scores only. Odds, lineups, player stats, and a group-table endpoint are not loaded for this competition.
- Is a future edition tracked yet?
- Not currently — this archive covers the two completed editions above (2023 and 2025). Coverage of the next AFCON is a roadmap item, not a current claim.
- What does "no upstream quota cost" mean?
- Every endpoint listed here reads from our Postgres archive, not an upstream provider. Hitting them does not consume any upstream provider credits or vendor allowance.
- Is it on the free tier?
- Yes. Every endpoint listed here is free, 250 req/day (500 with GitHub connected).
- How far back does the archive go / which editions are covered?
- Two editions, both real-world tournaments that finished being played — but neither is fully archived. The 2023 AFCON (postponed and played 13 January – 11 February 2024) played 52 matches in the real 24-team CAF format; we have 36 of them. The 2025 AFCON (played 21 December 2025 – 18 January 2026) also played 52 matches in the same format; we have 37 of them. 73 matches archived total out of a possible 104 across both editions — 31 distinct national teams appear across the two partial archives.
- Can I get head-to-head history using this data?
- Yes. GET /v1/teams/:id/h2h-intelligence?opponent_id=<team-uuid> returns results between two teams across every competition they have met in — not scoped to AFCON alone, so a Senegal vs Nigeria query pulls in both AFCON meetings plus any World Cup qualifiers between them.
- Does this update as new editions are played?
- Not automatically today. This is a closed archive of the two completed editions above. Whether the next AFCON gets added when it happens is undetermined — that is not a confirmed roadmap item, not a promise.
Related APIs
Other APIs you can build with: