Model Context Protocol

Football data, inside your AI assistant

Connect Claude — or any MCP client — to live football data. Ask “how did Arsenal do last week?” or “who is top of the Bundesliga?” and it answers from the same data the API serves. Nothing to install.

Connect it

Add this to your MCP client configuration, with your API key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "goal-api": {
      "url": "https://mcp.goal-api.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_GOAL_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

The same key you use for the REST API. Don’t have one? Create a free key — 1,000 requests a day, no card.

You never need an id

Every tool takes competitions and teams by name. Where a name is genuinely ambiguous the server returns the candidates and asks, rather than guessing — several countries have a “Premier League”, and four clubs are called Arsenal FC. Adding a country resolves it immediately.

Tools

Fourteen tools, all read-only — the data API is read-only, so nothing here can change your account or your data.

find_competitionResolve a league or cup by name to its id, country and season.
find_teamResolve a club or national side by name, with country disambiguation.
find_playerSearch players by name and get their club and position.
get_fixturesUpcoming matches and past results, by team or competition, over a date range.
get_live_matchesEverything being played right now, optionally filtered to one competition.
get_matchOne match in full — score, goals, cards, lineups and statistics — in a single call.
get_standingsA league table with played, won, drawn, lost, goal difference and points.
get_head_to_headThe record between two teams, summarised, with recent meetings.
get_top_scorersLeading goalscorers in a competition.
get_squadA team's registered players, optionally filtered by position.
get_oddsBookmaker odds for a match. Paid plans.
get_predictionsModel predictions for a match. Paid plans.
get_quotaHow much of your request allowance is left, and when it resets.
get_coverageWhat the API actually carries, before claiming something is missing.

Quota and rate limits

Every tool call is one request against your plan, and an assistant answering a single question typically makes two to four. The get_quota tool reports what is left and when it resets. Rate-limited requests are retried with backoff, so a busy moment slows an answer rather than failing it. See pricing for plan limits.

Questions

What is the GOAL API MCP server?
It is a Model Context Protocol server that gives an AI assistant access to live football data. Once connected, the assistant can answer questions about fixtures, results, league tables, squads, head-to-head records, odds and predictions across more than 1,000 competitions.
Which MCP clients work with it?
Any client that speaks the Model Context Protocol over Streamable HTTP, including Claude Desktop and Claude Code. It is a hosted URL, so there is nothing to install.
How do you authenticate?
Send your GOAL API key as a bearer token in the Authorization header of the MCP server entry. The same key you use for the REST API works here; no separate credential is issued.
Do you need to know internal ids?
No. Every tool takes competitions and teams by name and resolves them for you. Where a name is genuinely ambiguous — several countries have a Premier League, and four clubs are called Arsenal FC — the server returns the candidates and asks rather than guessing.
Does it consume your API quota?
Yes. Every tool call is one request against your plan, and an assistant answering a single question typically makes two to four. The get_quota tool reports how much allowance is left.
Can it change anything in your account?
No. Every tool is read-only, because the underlying data API is read-only. There is no tool that can alter your account, your keys or your data.
Is it included on the free plan?
Yes. The MCP server is available on every plan, including the free tier, at no extra cost. Odds and predictions remain paid features, and the server says so plainly rather than returning an error.

Prefer the REST API or one of the SDKs? See the documentation, or check what is covered before you build.