[GH-ISSUE #797] [FotMob] Get the referee for upcoming matches #170

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opened 2026-03-02 15:56:22 +03:00 by kerem · 3 comments

kerem commented

2026-03-02 15:56:22 +03:00

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Originally created by @richard-senior on GitHub (Jan 23, 2025).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/probberechts/soccerdata/issues/797

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

It's not a problem per se...
fotmob.read_schedule() does not seem to return the name of the referee where it is available
See this: https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/matches/afc-bournemouth-vs-nottingham-forest/2y4tjb#4506603
At the top of the page you can see the referee is (was) Craig Pawson

It is possible to scrape this from the matches page by getting the NEXT_DATA json element from the html response
So I think it should be available from the matches API.. not that I can access that anymore.

If you could have a look that would be great..
According to scikit-learn randomforrest.. Referee has some 8% bearing on match outcome :)

Describe the solution you'd like
fotmob.read_schedule() should return referee name where it is available..

Thanks for reading this..

richard.senior@gmail.com

Originally created by @richard-senior on GitHub (Jan 23, 2025). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/probberechts/soccerdata/issues/797 **Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.** It's not a problem per se... fotmob.read_schedule() does not seem to return the name of the referee where it is available See this: https://www.fotmob.com/en-GB/matches/afc-bournemouth-vs-nottingham-forest/2y4tjb#4506603 At the top of the page you can see the referee is (was) Craig Pawson It is possible to scrape this from the matches page by getting the __NEXT_DATA__ json element from the html response So I think it should be available from the matches API.. not that I can access that anymore. If you could have a look that would be great.. According to scikit-learn randomforrest.. Referee has some 8% bearing on match outcome :) **Describe the solution you'd like** fotmob.read_schedule() should return referee name where it is available.. Thanks for reading this.. -- richard.senior@gmail.com

kerem

2026-03-02 15:56:22 +03:00

closed this issue
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good first issue

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kerem commented

2026-03-02 15:56:24 +03:00

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@probberechts commented on GitHub (Jan 23, 2025):

This is the JSON of the Bournemouth - Nottingham Forest game: matchDetails.json. It indeed includes the referee. Would this allow you to implement it?

@probberechts commented on GitHub (Jan 23, 2025): This is the JSON of the Bournemouth - Nottingham Forest game: [matchDetails.json](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/18527210/matchDetails.json). It indeed includes the referee. Would this allow you to implement it?

kerem commented

2026-03-02 15:56:24 +03:00

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@richard-senior commented on GitHub (Jan 29, 2025):

You can get historical referee data from footballdata.co.uk for UK matches.
This allows you to train estimators using referee.
And then for upcoming matches you can predict where you have referee.

@richard-senior commented on GitHub (Jan 29, 2025): PS You can get historical referee data from footballdata.co.uk for UK matches. This allows you to train estimators using referee. And then for upcoming matches you can predict where you have referee.

kerem commented

2026-03-02 15:56:24 +03:00

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@richard-senior commented on GitHub (Jan 29, 2025):

This is the JSON of the Bournemouth - Nottingham Forest game: matchDetails.json. It indeed includes the referee. Would this allow you to implement it?

Yes.. I am currently screenscraping fotmob myself, but I would much rather re-use your work!

@richard-senior commented on GitHub (Jan 29, 2025): > This is the JSON of the Bournemouth - Nottingham Forest game: [matchDetails.json](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/18527210/matchDetails.json). It indeed includes the referee. Would this allow you to implement it? Yes.. I am currently screenscraping fotmob myself, but I would much rather re-use your work!