Transfermarkt Scraper

Scrape player profiles, clubs and season squads, competitions and standings, or normalized transfers from Transfermarkt.com — the world's leading football database. No API key required.

What does Transfermarkt Scraper do?

This Apify actor provides four Transfermarkt workflows through one backward-compatible mode input:

• players (default) — player profiles, with optional embedded transfer history
• clubs — club metadata plus the selected season squad
• competitions — competition metadata plus season standings and statistics
• transfers — normalized player, club, or competition transfer rows with automatic scope detection

Search by name or provide direct Transfermarkt URLs. Existing inputs without mode continue to run the player workflow exactly as before. Player data includes:

• Current market value (with numeric conversion for analysis)
• Personal details (age, nationality, height, preferred foot)
• Career info (position, current club, contract dates)
• Shirt number and profile image
• Optional: full transfer history with fees

The scraper uses plain HTTP requests with Cheerio for HTML parsing — no browser needed, keeping costs minimal.

Who is it for?

• Football analysts tracking player valuations and career trajectories
• Sports journalists researching player profiles for articles
• Fantasy football players comparing player stats and values
• Data scientists building football analytics datasets
• Scouts and agents monitoring player market values
• Betting analysts tracking player movements and contract status
• Academic researchers studying football economics and transfer markets

Why use Transfermarkt Scraper?

• No anti-bot protection — Transfermarkt serves plain HTML, so scraping is fast and reliable
• Structured data — Raw HTML is parsed into clean, consistent JSON fields
• Market value parsing — Converts "€15.00m" into numeric EUR values for analysis
• Multi-language support — Scrape in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, or Portuguese
• Search + direct URL modes — Resolve players, clubs, or competitions by name or URL
• Multi-entity coverage — Export season squads, standings/statistics, and normalized transfers
• Transfer history — Optionally include transfer records in player rows or use the dedicated transfer dataset
• Low cost — HTTP-only, 256 MB memory, ~$0.002 per player profile
• Export anywhere — JSON, CSV, Excel, or integrate via API/webhooks

Data extracted

Player rows remain in the default dataset:

Field	Type	Description
url	string	Transfermarkt profile URL
playerId	string	Unique Transfermarkt player ID
name	string	Player display name
fullName	string	Full name (home country format)
dateOfBirth	string	Date of birth
age	number	Current age
nationality	string	Citizenship/nationality
height	string	Player height
position	string	Playing position
preferredFoot	string	Preferred foot (left/right/both)
currentClub	string	Current club name
clubJoinDate	string	Date joined current club
contractExpiry	string	Contract expiry date
marketValue	string	Market value display string (e.g., "€15.00m")
marketValueNumeric	number	Market value in EUR (e.g., 15000000)
shirtNumber	number	Current shirt number
imageUrl	string	Player profile photo URL
transferHistory	array	Transfer records (if enabled)
scrapedAt	string	ISO timestamp of when data was extracted

Other modes create distinct per-run datasets with their own schemas:

Dataset alias	Created by	Contents
clubs	clubs	Club identity, league, country, squad summary, stadium, and market value
squads	clubs	One player row per selected-season squad member
competitions	competitions	Competition identity, country, level, champions, team/player counts, and averages
season_statistics	competitions	Rank, matches, wins, draws, losses, goals, goal difference, and points by club
transfers	transfers	Stable transfer/player/club IDs and URLs, scope, season/date, clubs, fee, and market value where available

Open Output on the run page for direct links, or choose an alias from the Storage > Dataset dropdown. Programmatically, use the dataset ID exposed for that run alias; aliases are per-run and follow the run retention policy.

Pricing

Transfermarkt Scraper uses Apify's pay-per-event pricing:

Event	Price
Run started	$0.005 (one-time)
Player scraped	$0.002/player on Bronze (varies by plan)
Entity result scraped	$0.001/result on every plan

The entity-result event applies once to each club, squad member, competition, season-statistics, or transfer row written by the clubs, competitions, and transfers modes. Player mode keeps its existing player-scraped billing, including when transfer history is embedded in a player row.

Volume discounts are available for player profiles on higher Apify plans. Entity results stay at $0.001 on every plan:

Plan	Price per player	Price per entity result
Free	$0.0023	$0.001
Bronze	$0.0020	$0.001
Silver	$0.00156	$0.001
Gold	$0.00120	$0.001
Platinum	$0.00080	$0.001
Diamond	$0.00056	$0.001

Example costs:

• 100 players on Bronze: ~$0.205 ($0.005 start + 100 × $0.002).
• One club plus a 36-player squad: ~$0.042 ($0.005 start + 37 × $0.001).
• 100 normalized transfers: ~$0.105 ($0.005 start + 100 × $0.001).

How to use

1. Go to the Transfermarkt Scraper page on Apify Store.
2. Choose players, clubs, competitions, or transfers; omitted mode still means players.
3. Enter names in Search queries or paste matching Transfermarkt URLs in Direct URLs.
4. Set the search-result limit and, for season-based modes, the season start year.
5. Click Start and wait for results.
6. Download player rows from the default dataset or open the named entity datasets through Output.

Input

Player search (backward-compatible default)

{
    "searchQueries": ["Lionel Messi", "Kylian Mbappe", "Erling Haaland"],
    "maxPlayersPerQuery": 5
}

Club and season squad

{
    "mode": "clubs",
    "searchQueries": ["FC Barcelona"],
    "season": 2025,
    "maxPlayersPerQuery": 1
}

Competition and season standings

{
    "mode": "competitions",
    "startUrls": ["https://www.transfermarkt.com/premier-league/startseite/wettbewerb/GB1"],
    "season": 2025
}

Normalized transfers with automatic scope detection

{
    "mode": "transfers",
    "startUrls": [
        "https://www.transfermarkt.com/lionel-messi/transfers/spieler/28003",
        "https://www.transfermarkt.com/fc-barcelona/transfers/verein/131",
        "https://www.transfermarkt.com/premier-league/transfers/wettbewerb/GB1"
    ],
    "season": 2025
}

season is the season start year (2025 means 2025/26). If omitted, the current football season is used.

Direct URL mode

{
    "startUrls": [
        "https://www.transfermarkt.com/lionel-messi/profil/spieler/28003",
        "https://www.transfermarkt.com/kylian-mbappe/profil/spieler/342229"
    ]
}

Full input with all options

{
    "searchQueries": ["Messi"],
    "startUrls": [],
    "maxPlayersPerQuery": 10,
    "language": "en",
    "includeTransferHistory": true
}

Output

Each player profile is returned as a JSON object:

{
    "url": "https://www.transfermarkt.com/lionel-messi/profil/spieler/28003",
    "playerId": "28003",
    "name": "Lionel Messi",
    "fullName": "Lionel Andres Messi",
    "dateOfBirth": "Jun 24, 1987",
    "age": 38,
    "nationality": "Argentina",
    "height": "1,69 m",
    "position": "Right Winger",
    "preferredFoot": "left",
    "currentClub": "Inter Miami CF",
    "clubJoinDate": "Jul 15, 2023",
    "contractExpiry": "Dec 31, 2025",
    "marketValue": "€15.00m",
    "marketValueNumeric": 15000000,
    "shirtNumber": 10,
    "imageUrl": "https://img.a.transfermarkt.technology/portrait/header/28003.jpg",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-03-26T12:00:00.000Z"
}

Tips for best results

• Use specific names — "Lionel Messi" works better than just "Messi" (which may return multiple players named Messi)
• Combine modes — Use search queries for discovery and direct URLs for known players
• Set maxPlayersPerQuery wisely — Lower values (1-5) for specific players, higher (10-50) for broader searches
• Enable transfer history only when needed — It doubles the number of requests per player
• Use language settings — German (de) is the original Transfermarkt language and may have the most complete data
• Rate limiting — The scraper adds 500ms delay between requests to be respectful to the server

Legality

Transfermarkt Scraper extracts publicly available football player profile pages. Use it responsibly: respect Transfermarkt's terms, avoid excessive request rates, and make sure your use case complies with applicable laws and data protection rules in your jurisdiction. The actor is intended for legitimate research, analytics, journalism, and business intelligence workflows, not for republishing copyrighted content or bypassing access controls.

Integrations

Connect Transfermarkt Scraper to hundreds of apps and services:

• Google Sheets — Automatically export player data to spreadsheets
• Slack/Discord — Get notifications when scraping completes
• Webhooks — Trigger downstream workflows with player data
• Zapier/Make — Connect to 5,000+ apps
• Data warehouses — Push to BigQuery, Snowflake, or PostgreSQL

API usage

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: 'YOUR_API_TOKEN' });

const run = await client.actor('automation-lab/transfermarkt-scraper').call({
    searchQueries: ['Lionel Messi', 'Kylian Mbappe'],
    maxPlayersPerQuery: 5,
});

const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient("YOUR_API_TOKEN")

run = client.actor("automation-lab/transfermarkt-scraper").call(run_input={
    "searchQueries": ["Lionel Messi", "Kylian Mbappe"],
    "maxPlayersPerQuery": 5,
})

items = client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).list_items().items
for player in items:
    print(f"{player['name']}: {player['marketValue']}")

cURL

# Start the actor
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/automation-lab~transfermarkt-scraper/runs?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "searchQueries": ["Lionel Messi"],
    "maxPlayersPerQuery": 5
  }'

# Get results (replace DATASET_ID with the actual ID from the run)
curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/datasets/DATASET_ID/items?token=YOUR_API_TOKEN&format=json"

Using with MCP (Model Context Protocol)

Use Transfermarkt Scraper as a focused tool in AI assistants through Apify's hosted MCP server.

Claude Code

Add the actor-scoped server with the exact command below. Claude will prompt you to authenticate with Apify if needed.

$claude mcp add --transport http transfermarkt-scraper "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/transfermarkt-scraper"

Claude Desktop, Cursor, and VS Code

Open the MCP settings in Claude Desktop, Cursor, or VS Code and add this HTTP server configuration:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "transfermarkt-scraper": {
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=automation-lab/transfermarkt-scraper"
        }
    }
}

Example prompts

• "Search Transfermarkt for Erling Haaland and return his current market value, club, position, and contract expiry."
• "Compare the Transfermarkt profiles of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in a compact table."
• "Get Kylian Mbappe's profile and include his transfer history."

Is it legal to scrape Transfermarkt?

Transfermarkt.com serves publicly available football data. This scraper accesses only public pages that are available to any web browser visitor. The scraper:

• Uses standard HTTP requests (same as a browser)
• Respects rate limits with built-in delays between requests
• Does not bypass any authentication or access controls
• Does not scrape personal/private user data
• Collects only publicly displayed player information

Always review Transfermarkt's Terms of Service and ensure your use case complies with applicable laws in your jurisdiction. Apify provides this tool for legitimate data collection purposes.

FAQ

Q: Does this scraper work without a proxy? A: Yes. Transfermarkt has minimal anti-bot protection. Plain HTTP requests with a User-Agent header work fine. No proxy is needed for normal usage.

Q: How many players can I scrape? A: There is no hard limit. The default timeout is 5 minutes (300 seconds), which is enough for ~500 players at 500ms delay per request. Increase the timeout for larger jobs.

Q: Can I scrape club/team data? A: Yes. Select mode: "clubs" to export club metadata and the season squad in the clubs and squads datasets.

Q: Where are competition and transfer results? A: Player profiles stay in the default dataset. Other entities are available through the run Output links or the named dataset dropdown: competitions, season_statistics, and transfers.

Q: What languages are supported? A: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese. The language setting changes the Transfermarkt domain used.

Q: How fresh is the market value data? A: Market values on Transfermarkt are updated by the community, typically every few months per player. The scraper extracts whatever is currently displayed on the profile page.

Q: Can I schedule regular scraping? A: Yes. Use Apify's built-in scheduling to run the scraper daily, weekly, or at any custom interval.

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