Guide: Accessing Data from the Fantasy Premier League (FPL) API for Specific Players, Gameweeks, and Managers

Table of contents

  1. 1. API Overview
  2. 2. Getting Started
  3. 3. Base URL
  4. 4. Retrieve Data for Specific Players
    1. Endpoint:
    2. Example:
  5. 5. Retrieve Data for Specific Gameweeks
    1. Endpoint:
    2. Example:
  6. 6. Retrieve Data for Specific Managers (User Teams)
    1. Endpoint:
    2. Example:
    3. To Get a Manager’s Team for a Specific Gameweek:
    4. Endpoint:
    5. Example:
  7. 7. Combining Data for a Player, Gameweek, and Manager
    1. Example:
  8. 8. Additional Data You Can Access
  9. Retrieve Player IDs and Other Data
    1. Endpoint:
    2. Example in Python:
    3. Output:
  10. Key Information in bootstrap-static:
  11. Example of Key Fields for a Player (Mohamed Salah):

The Fantasy Premier League (FPL) API allows you to programmatically access various types of data about players, matches, and teams. This guide walks you through retrieving data for specific players, gameweeks, and managers.

1. API Overview

The FPL API (although slow :D) is a publicly available, undocumented API that does not require authentication. You can query it directly using any HTTP client such as requests in Python.

2. Getting Started

To begin, install the required libraries if they are not already installed:

pip install requests

Then, import the necessary module in your script:

import requests

3. Base URL

The base URL for the FPL API is:

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/

All requests will be made to endpoints under this base URL.

4. Retrieve Data for Specific Players

Each player in the FPL has a unique player_id. You can use the following endpoint to retrieve data about a specific player:

Endpoint: 

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/element-summary/{player_id}/

Example:

Here’s an example of how to get detailed statistics for a player using their player_id (e.g., 302 for Mohamed Salah):

def get_player_data(player_id):
    url = f"https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/element-summary/{player_id}/"
    response = requests.get(url)
    return response.json()

player_data = get_player_data(302)  # Mohamed Salah's player_id
print(player_data)

This response includes various stats for the player across all gameweeks, including goals, assists, minutes played, and more.

5. Retrieve Data for Specific Gameweeks

To access gameweek-specific data, you need to extract information related to a specific gameweek from the FPL API. Here’s how you can get data on a particular gameweek:

Endpoint: 

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/event/{gameweek_id}/live/

Example:

To get live data for a specific gameweek (e.g., gameweek 10):

def get_gameweek_data(gameweek_id):
    url = f"https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/event/{gameweek_id}/live/"
    response = requests.get(url)
    return response.json()

gameweek_data = get_gameweek_data(10)
print(gameweek_data)

This provides a breakdown of each player’s performance for the specific gameweek.

6. Retrieve Data for Specific Managers (User Teams)

Managers or users in the FPL have a unique manager_id. You can retrieve a manager’s team details for the current season or a specific gameweek.

Endpoint: 

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/entry/{manager_id}/

Example:

To get details about a specific manager (e.g., manager ID 1234567):

def get_manager_data(manager_id):
    url = f"https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/entry/{manager_id}/"
    response = requests.get(url)
    return response.json()

manager_data = get_manager_data(1234567)
print(manager_data)

This will provide information about the manager’s history, leagues they are in, total points, etc.

To Get a Manager’s Team for a Specific Gameweek:

Endpoint: 

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/entry/{manager_id}/event/{gameweek_id}/picks/

Example:

To get the team picks for a specific gameweek (e.g., gameweek 10) of a particular manager:

def get_manager_team_for_gameweek(manager_id, gameweek_id):
    url = f"https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/entry/{manager_id}/event/{gameweek_id}/picks/"
    response = requests.get(url)
    return response.json()

team_picks = get_manager_team_for_gameweek(1234567, 10)
print(team_picks)

This returns a list of the players the manager has selected for that gameweek, including which players are on the bench and who the captain is.

7. Combining Data for a Player, Gameweek, and Manager

You can combine the above methods to extract specific data. For example, to retrieve performance stats for players on a manager’s team in a given gameweek:

  1. Get the manager’s team picks for the gameweek.
  2. Loop through the list of players, retrieving each player’s detailed gameweek stats using the player and gameweek API endpoints.

Example: 

def get_manager_team_performance(manager_id, gameweek_id):
    team_picks = get_manager_team_for_gameweek(manager_id, gameweek_id)
    player_performance = []
    
    for pick in team_picks['picks']:
        player_id = pick['element']
        player_data = get_player_data(player_id)
        player_performance.append({
            'player_id': player_id,
            'gameweek_performance': player_data['history'][gameweek_id - 1]
        })
    
    return player_performance

manager_team_performance = get_manager_team_performance(1234567, 10)
print(manager_team_performance)

This will give you the performance of each player on the manager’s team for gameweek 10.

8. Additional Data You Can Access

  • General FPL Game Data:
    • Use the endpoint https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/bootstrap-static/ to retrieve general game data, including player stats, fixtures, and more.
  • Fixtures for a Gameweek:
    • Use https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/fixtures/?event={gameweek_id} to get fixtures for a specific gameweek.

The specific IDs (like 302 for Mohamed Salah) is available from the bootstrap-static endpoint:

Retrieve Player IDs and Other Data

Endpoint: 

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/bootstrap-static/

This endpoint returns a large JSON object containing all sorts of FPL data, including a list of players with their corresponding player_ids, teams, prices, positions, etc.

Example in Python: 

import requests

def get_all_players():
    url = "https://fantasy.premierleague.com/api/bootstrap-static/"
    response = requests.get(url)
    data = response.json()
    return data['elements']  # 'elements' contains the list of all players

all_players = get_all_players()

# Loop through players to find Salah
for player in all_players:
    if player['web_name'] == 'Salah':  # 'web_name' is the short name used in the game
        print(f"Player Name: {player['first_name']} {player['second_name']}")
        print(f"Player ID: {player['id']}")
        print(f"Team: {player['team']}")
        print(f"Price: {player['now_cost'] / 10}m")
        break

Output:

This will return details about Mohamed Salah, including his player_id, which is 302 in this case. You can similarly loop through all players to find IDs for any other player.

Key Information in bootstrap-static:

  • elements: Contains player data, including id, web_name, team, and stats.
  • teams: Contains data about all the teams, such as team_id and team names.
  • events: Information about gameweeks, deadlines, etc.

Example of Key Fields for a Player (Mohamed Salah):

Here is what the player entry for Salah might look like in the elements array:

{
    "id": 302,
    "photo": "302.jpg",
    "web_name": "Salah",
    "team_code": 14,
    "status": "a",
    "code": 123456,
    "first_name": "Mohamed",
    "second_name": "Salah",
    "squad_number": 11,
    "news": "",
    "now_cost": 127,
    "chance_of_playing_this_round": 100,
    "total_points": 100,
    "minutes": 900,
    ...
}

This contains Salah’s id, web_name, team_code, now_cost, and many other stats. You can easily find any player’s id from this data by searching by web_name or first_name/second_name.