Football proxy test

A throwaway Vercel project that tests the API-Football key on its own, away from Creator Booth. It contains the same football proxy Creator Booth uses, a server check, and the checker page.

Section A: one match in full (PSG v Barcelona)

Finds their matches (head-to-head, 1 request), lets you pick one, then fetches the combined fixtures?id= answer, line-ups, team statistics, events, player statistics and the competition's coverage flags. The proxy passes API-Football's own "requests left today" counter back on every answer (X-Quota-Day-Remaining), and the table shows how far it fell per call, so measuring costs no extra requests (and does not trip the 10-per-minute limit). Two-part endpoints are sent as fixtures__lineups (this Vercel project only routes one segment after /api/football/; the proxy turns __ into /). _nc=<timestamp> on those calls is a cache-buster; the proxy strips it and answers no-store, so the quota readings are never served from the edge cache.

Section B: players, transfers and injuries (Manchester United)

5 requests: transfers?team=33, players/squads?team=33, sidelined?player=<first squad player>, teams?league=39&season=2024, coachs?team=33. Injuries for 2025/2026 are blocked on the free plan (only 2022-2024 open). The log also carries a raw sample of each answer.

Deploy (about 5 minutes)

1. New GitHub repo (private is fine), e.g. football-proxy-test. Upload everything in this folder. Make sure api/diag.js and api/football/[...path].js are there.
2. Vercel -> Add New -> Project -> import that repo. Framework Preset: Other.
3. Before deploying, open Environment Variables and add:
   • Name: API_SPORTS_KEY
   • Value: your key from the API-Football dashboard (no spaces, no quotes)
4. Deploy, then open https://<your-project>.vercel.app.
5. Tap Run server check. It tests the key two ways at once and says in plain English what it found.

What this project found

The server check showed the key works (even plain fetch), while the proxy's /api/football/status route failed with API-Football's misleading "NOT AUTORIZED" message. So the proxy was asking for the wrong thing: it took the endpoint name from a value Vercel passes in req.query, which can arrive under a different name. If it is lost, the call goes to API-Football's bare root address. The proxy now reads the endpoint from the real request URL first, and every error shows the path it actually sent.

Why two tests

API-Football's documentation says the API accepts only the x-apisports-key header and that Node.js "automatically adds extra headers" which must be removed. Node's built-in fetch adds five (accept, accept-language, sec-fetch-mode, user-agent, accept-encoding). The proxy here sends a minimal request instead. The server check runs both styles side by side.

Reading the result

• "FOUND IT" - the key is fine; API-Football refuses requests that carry Node's extra headers. The proxy in this project already avoids that, so everything below should now work.

• "The key works" - the key is fine. The problem is in the main project's Vercel settings (wrong variable, wrong environment, or not redeployed after changing it).

• "...refused a correctly shaped key" - compare the first/last two characters it shows with the key in your API-Football dashboard. If they match, the key is blocked or disabled on their side.

• "...does not look like a normal 32-character key" - the pasted value is wrong or incomplete.

• "not set for this deployment" - add the variable and redeploy (a variable change never affects an existing deployment).

Afterwards

The test endpoints are public, so anyone who finds the address could use up your 100 daily requests. Delete the project when you are done.

v0.1.1

Added five past-date tests (yesterday, 7 days ago, 17 May 2026, 25 May 2025, a date range) to find out whether your plan returns old fixtures by date. Existing tests are now unticked by default to save requests; tick any you need. Each ticked test uses 1 of the 100 daily requests.