Want to go from armchair fan to armchair analyst without becoming a data scientist? These are the 10 football data tools worth knowing in 2026, sorted by what they're actually good for, with their strengths and their limits. In the interest of honesty: Elofoot is on the list, but in the middle, and with its limits spelled out.
One thing has changed a lot this year. In January 2026, FBref lost its Opta licence and had to remove its advanced stats. If your old routine was "check FBref for everything", it's time to rethink it.
1. FBref: the archive (no longer the advanced-stats hub)
Link: fbref.com Price: free Best for: historical context and basic numbers.
For years FBref was the go-to free library: per-player, per-match and per-season data, with xG, xA and pressing numbers. Since January 2026, Stats Perform (the company behind Opta) ended the agreement and the advanced stats were taken down. The historical archive and the basic stats remain large and useful.
Use it for: checking a season's goals, appearances or results, and older-season research. Don't rely on it for current advanced metrics.
2. Understat: xG made readable
Link: understat.com Price: free Best for: understanding xG without a headache.
A clean interface, clear shot maps and xG data for Europe's big five leagues, the Premier League included. Its limit: coverage stops at a handful of leagues, so it won't help much with African or South American football.
Use it for: seeing the shots of a finished match and getting an xG read in 30 seconds. New to the concept? Start with our xG explainer.
3. Sofascore: the all-in-one live app
Link: sofascore.com (web and mobile app) Price: free, with a paid tier Best for: following several leagues live.
Live scores, line-ups, heatmaps, player ratings and detailed match stats, across a very wide range of competitions. The mobile app is excellent. Its limit: player ratings are proprietary and don't always agree with other sources.
Use it for: following a match live, checking a line-up, keeping an eye on several games at once.
4. FotMob: the lightweight alternative
Link: fotmob.com (web and mobile app) Price: free Best for: fans who want fast scores, line-ups and news on their phone.
FotMob covers a huge number of leagues and cups, from the Premier League to national leagues across Africa, with live scores, line-ups, match stats and player ratings. Its limit: like every rating system, its player ratings are a model, not a verdict.
Use it for: team news and line-ups on the go, and following your local league alongside the big ones.
5. Transfermarkt: transfers, contracts and injuries
Link: transfermarkt.co.uk (or .com) Price: free Best for: anyone interested in squads and the transfer market.
Market values, contract expiry dates, transfer history, injury records and suspensions: this is the reference. Its limit: it's not a playing-stats site.
Use it for: checking an injury history, understanding a squad's depth, looking up a player's career.
6. WhoScored: ratings and positional heatmaps
Link: whoscored.com Price: free Best for: judging individual performances.
WhoScored's match ratings are among the most quoted in football media, and its positional heatmaps are very useful for a free tool. Its limit: depth varies a lot once you step outside the major competitions.
Use it for: seeing where a player actually operated, and sanity-checking a "man of the match" verdict.
7. StatsBomb Open Data: learn with real event data
Link: github.com/statsbomb/open-data Price: free Best for: fans who want to learn analysis with Python or R.
StatsBomb publishes a free selection of full event data (every pass, shot and pressure) for chosen competitions and historical seasons. It's the best free way to work with proper event data and learn the tools. Its limit: it's a dataset, not a website, so you need some coding.
Use it for: building your own xG model or shot map as a learning project.
8. Opta and Hudl Wyscout: the professional layer
Links: statsperform.com, wyscout.com Price: enterprise pricing, on request Best for: clubs, media and agencies. Not individual fans.
Opta (Stats Perform) supplies data to a large share of the football media industry; Hudl Wyscout is the reference video and data platform for scouting and recruitment. Both are beyond a personal budget and come with a steep learning curve.
Use it for: nothing personal, realistically. They're on this list because so much of what you read elsewhere starts with them.
9. Elofoot: AI match predictions (our own product)
Link: elofoot.com Price: first full prediction free at sign-up (no card needed), then from €4.99 to €24.99 a month Best for: fans who want a match read in two minutes rather than thirty.
We'll be upfront: it's our product, so we're biased. What it adds to the tools above:
- Synthesis: form, xG, injuries and suspensions, head-to-heads and standings pulled together into one prediction.
- Consistent probabilities: a 1X2 split that always adds up to exactly 100%, plus the most likely score and over/under and both-teams-to-score markets.
- Numbers from the model, text from the AI: a statistical model computes the figures; the AI only explains them in plain English.
- Updated line-ups: a prediction can be refreshed about 45 minutes before kick-off, once official line-ups are out.
- No bookmaker affiliation.
Honest limit: it doesn't replace a pro scouting platform like Wyscout, and it doesn't give you as many raw stats as a dedicated database. It's a synthesis and prediction tool. See how it works in our complete methodology.
Use it for: preparing a match in two minutes instead of cross-checking four sites for half an hour.
10. The Athletic: data-literate football journalism
Link: theathletic.com Price: paid subscription Best for: readers who like long-form analysis.
The Athletic employs writers who are comfortable with data and tactics, and publishes in-depth breakdowns, with particularly strong Premier League coverage. Its limit: it's a paid read, and coverage outside the big European leagues and North America is thinner.
Use it for: reading a long piece that unpacks a match or a team in depth.
The stack we'd recommend
Free stack (enough for most fans)
- Understat for xG in the big leagues
- Sofascore or FotMob for live scores and line-ups
- Transfermarkt for injuries and squads
- FBref for historical context
Stack with a small budget
- The free stack above
- Elofoot Starter (€4.99 a month, 20 predictions) or Pro (€14.99 a month, 100 predictions plus the unlimited Gold section) for synthesis and probabilities
Professional stack
- Opta and Wyscout: realistically, something your employer pays for.
Conclusion
There's no single perfect tool, only a stack that matches how you follow football. If you watch one league as a spectator, free tools are plenty. If you want a structured read of every match without juggling tabs, an AI prediction layer saves you a lot of cross-checking. It won't make football predictable, but it will make your reading of it more rigorous.
Want to try it on a match this week? Your first full prediction is free, no card needed. You can also browse the free public AI football predictions without an account.
