Football MCP Server for AI Assistants

A language model does not know last night's score. Its knowledge stops at training time, which is why an assistant asked about a live match will either refuse or invent an answer. The GOALISE Football MCP Server closes that gap: it exposes our football data as tools an AI assistant can call by itself, so the answer it gives you is fetched from the pitch, not recalled from memory.

MCP — the Model Context Protocol — is the open standard that makes this possible. It is a common language between AI clients and external data sources. Our server speaks it over HTTPS, which means there is nothing to install, no SDK to learn and no wrapper code to maintain. Point your client at one endpoint, paste the access token you already use for the REST API, and your assistant gains 27 read-only football tools.

Why use the football MCP server instead of the REST API?

Both read exactly the same data. The difference is who writes the integration.

No integration code. Tool definitions, parameter schemas and descriptions ship with the server. You do not write a single line of glue.
The model resolves IDs for you. Ask about "Real Madrid" and the assistant calls search_football first, then passes the resulting ID to whichever tool answers your question.
Multi-step questions in one prompt. Previews, comparisons and season reviews chain several tool calls together with no orchestration on your side.
Same token, same plan. MCP authenticates with your existing access token and counts against the same quota.
Read-only by design. Every tool is a lookup. Nothing an assistant does can change your account or our data.

If you are building a product with your own request logic, the REST API reference remains the right starting point. MCP is for everything that sits in front of a model: assistants, copilots, research workflows and autonomous agents.

How to connect to the GOALISE MCP server

You need two things: the endpoint and your access token. Setup takes about a minute.

Copy your access token. Sign in and open your account page — the token that authenticates the REST API also authenticates MCP. No subscription yet? Choose a plan.
Add the endpoint to your client. It is the same everywhere: https://mcp.goalise.com/mcp
Ask a football question. Your assistant discovers the GOALISE tools and starts calling them. No prompt engineering required.

Claude Code

One command in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http goalise https://mcp.goalise.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"

Claude desktop, Cursor, Windsurf and other MCP clients

Add the server to your MCP configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "goalise": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.goalise.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

Connector interfaces without a header field

Some clients only let you paste a URL. For those, put the token in the path instead — it authenticates in exactly the same way:

https://mcp.goalise.com/mcp/YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN

A URL carrying a token is a credential. Do not share it and do not paste it into a public workspace.

Verify the connection

To check the endpoint and token outside any client, send the MCP handshake by hand:

curl -X POST https://mcp.goalise.com/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{
        "protocolVersion":"2025-06-18","capabilities":{},
        "clientInfo":{"name":"curl","version":"1.0"}}}'

A valid token returns serverInfo naming the goalise server. HTTP 401 means the token is wrong, expired or has no active plan.

What you can do with it

Real questions the server answers, and the work it does behind each one.

Match previews and briefings

"Write a preview of the next Real Madrid match — form, head-to-head and who is likely to win."

The assistant resolves the club, finds the next fixture, pulls both teams' season form, their past meetings and the pre-match prediction, then writes it up. Four tools, one prompt.

Editorial and content workflows

"Draft a matchday round-up for the Premier League with the table after this round."

Newsrooms and sports publishers generate recaps, previews and newsletters from live results instead of copying numbers by hand. Pair it with our Football News API for headlines and full article text.

Scouting and squad research

"Compare the two highest-scoring strikers in Serie A this season, including minutes per goal."

Leaderboards, player season statistics and club history in a single pass — the kind of question that would otherwise mean a spreadsheet and a dozen requests.

Fantasy football and betting research

"Which teams in LaLiga have the best home form and the softest next three fixtures?"

Home and away splits, upcoming rounds and predictions combine into an answer no single endpoint returns.

Internal analytics copilots

"How many clean sheets has our club kept away from home this season?"

Give a whole team an assistant that answers football questions without anyone learning the API. Analysts self-serve; developers stop writing one-off scripts.

Autonomous agents and automations

"Every morning, summarise last night's results for the leagues I follow."

Because the tools describe themselves, scheduled agents can discover and use them without hard-coded request logic — and keep working as new tools are added.

The 27 football tools

Every tool is read-only and documented to the model, so the assistant picks the right one on its own.

Search and discovery

Tool	What it returns
`search_football`	Resolves a team, league or player name into the ID the other tools need.
`get_countries`	Countries with football coverage, each with its continent.
`get_leagues`	Leagues and cups, optionally filtered by country, each with its current season.
`get_league`	One league in detail, including which data is covered for it.
`get_league_seasons`	Seasons a league has data for — check before asking anything historical.
`get_venues`	Stadiums with city, capacity, surface and country.

Matches

Tool	What it returns
`get_matches`	Fixtures and results by team, league, date or date range.
`get_match`	Full detail for one match: teams, score, venue, referee, status.
`get_match_events`	Timeline of goals, cards, substitutions and VAR decisions with minutes.
`get_match_statistics`	Possession, shots, shots on target, corners, fouls, offsides, passes.
`get_match_lineup`	Starting XI, substitutes, formation and coach for both sides.
`get_match_predictions`	Pre-match win/draw/win percentages, advice and the form behind them.
`get_head_to_head`	Past meetings between two teams with scores and dates.

Leagues and tables

Tool	What it returns
`get_league_standing`	League table for a season: position, played, goals and points.
`get_league_leaders`	Top scorers, assist providers and the yellow and red card tables.
`get_league_teams`	Every team taking part in a league season.
`get_league_rounds`	Round names in order, to label fixtures by matchday.

Teams and players

Tool	What it returns
`get_team`	Team profile: name, country, founded year, venue and logo.
`get_team_statistics`	Season form, home and away splits, goals, clean sheets and streaks.
`get_team_players`	Current squad with position, shirt number, age and nationality.
`get_player`	Player profile: birth date, nationality, height, weight and photo.
`get_player_statistics`	Appearances, minutes, goals, assists, cards and ratings for a season.
`get_player_match_statistics`	How one player performed in one match, down to duels and rating.
`get_player_teams`	Club history — every team a player has been registered with.

News

Tool	What it returns
`get_news`	Headlines filtered by league, team, category or date.
`get_news_categories`	News categories with their IDs.
`get_news_article`	Full body of one article.

Technical details

Transport — Streamable HTTP, stateless. Tool calls are JSON-RPC 2.0 over HTTPS POST.
Protocol versions — 2024-11-05, 2025-03-26 and 2025-06-18 are all supported, so older and newer clients both work.
Authentication — bearer token in the Authorization header, or in the URL path for clients that cannot set headers.
Rate limiting — shared with the REST API. One tool call equals one request against your plan.
Coverage — the full GOALISE catalogue. See the competition coverage page.

Frequently asked questions

What is an MCP server?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets an AI assistant call external tools and read live data. An MCP server exposes a set of tools and the assistant decides which to call. The GOALISE MCP server exposes our football data as 27 such tools, so an assistant can look up fixtures, tables, squads and statistics on demand instead of relying on training data.

Which AI clients can connect to the GOALISE MCP server?

Any client that speaks MCP over Streamable HTTP — Claude Code, the Claude desktop and web apps, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code and custom agents built on the official MCP SDKs. The server is remote, so there is nothing to install: you only need the endpoint URL and your access token.

Do I need a separate subscription for MCP access?

No. The MCP server uses the same access token as the GOALISE REST API and the same plan limits. If you already have a subscription, your existing token works immediately.

How do rate limits work with MCP?

Every tool call counts as one API request against your plan, exactly as if you had called the REST endpoint directly. A single question may trigger several tool calls — resolving a team name and then fetching its fixtures counts as two requests.

Is the data live?

Yes. MCP tools read the same data as our REST API, updated in real time for matches in progress. Ask an assistant for the current score and it fetches it at that moment.

Which leagues and competitions are available through MCP?

The full GOALISE catalogue — over 150 competitions worldwide, including the Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, the UEFA Champions League and domestic cups. Assistants can browse it themselves with the get_countries, get_leagues and get_league_seasons tools.

Is the connection secure?

The endpoint is HTTPS-only and every request must carry your bearer token. The server is read-only — no tool can modify your account, your subscription or our data. Treat the token like a password and rotate it from your account page if it is ever exposed.

Get your access token and connect your assistant to live football data, or talk to our support team if you need a hand.