football.db/.json/.csv How-Tos (& Quick Starter Datafile Templates)

What's news in 2026?

You can use the fbtxt2json command-line tool to convert any (match data) file in the Football.TXT format to JSON. Try in your shell / terminal:

$ fbtxt2json -h

resulting in:

Usage: fbtxt2json [options] DATAFILES or DIRS
        --verbose, --debug       turn on verbose / debug output (default: false)
    -o, --output PATH            output to file / dir
        --seasons SEASONS        turn on processing only seasons (default: false)

Note - the football.txt to .json converter works in two modes.

(i) you can pass in one or more (match data) files to concat(enate) into one .json output or
(ii) you can pass in one or more directories to convert all (match data) files (automagically) one-by-one.

Let's try to convert the English Premier League 2025/26 in the Football.TXT format (see england/2025-26/1-premierleague.txt) to JSON:

$ fbtxt2json england/2025-26/1-premierleague.txt -o en.1.json

Tip - Or try to convert the complete /england repo at once:

$ fbtxt2json england

resulting in:

england/
   2024-25/
       1-premierleague.json
       2-championship.json
       3-league1.json
       4-league2.json
       5-nationalleague.json
       eflcup.json
       facup.json
...

Note - by default all .txt file extensions get changed to .json (if the include a season in the basename or the dirname). To use a different output directory use the -o/--output option. Example:

$ fbtxt2json england -o ./o    

Bonus - fbtxt2csv - convert football.txt (match data) files to the (tabular) comma-separated values (.csv) format

Try in your shell / terminal:

$ fbtxt2csv -h

resulting in:

Usage: fbtxt2csv [options] DATAFILES and/or DIRS
        --verbose, --debug        turn on verbose / debug output (default: false)
    -o, --output PATH             output to file
        --seasons SEASONS         turn on processing only seasons (default: false)

Let's try to convert the "Euro" European Championship 2024 in the Football.TXT format (see euro/2024--germany/euro.txt) to CSV:

$ fbtxt2csv euro/2024--germany/euro.txt -o euro2024.csv

resulting in:

League,Date,Time,Team 1,Team 2,Score,HT,FT,ET,P,Round,Ground
Euro 2024,2024-06-14,21:00,Germany,Scotland,,3-0,5-1,,,"Group A, Matchday 1",München
Euro 2024,2024-06-15,15:00,Hungary,Switzerland,,0-2,1-3,,,"Group A, Matchday 1",Köln
Euro 2024,2024-06-19,18:00,Germany,Hungary,,1-0,2-0,,,"Group A, Matchday 2",Stuttgart
Euro 2024,2024-06-19,21:00,Scotland,Switzerland,,1-1,1-1,,,"Group A, Matchday 2",Köln
Euro 2024,2024-06-23,21:00,Switzerland,Germany,,1-0,1-1,,,"Group A, Matchday 3",Frankfurt
Euro 2024,2024-06-23,21:00,Scotland,Hungary,,0-0,0-1,,,"Group A, Matchday 3",Stuttgart
Euro 2024,2024-06-15,18:00,Spain,Croatia,,3-0,3-0,,,"Group B, Matchday 1",Berlin
Euro 2024,2024-06-15,21:00,Italy,Albania,,2-1,2-1,,,"Group B, Matchday 1",Dortmund
Euro 2024,2024-06-19,15:00,Croatia,Albania,,0-1,2-2,,,"Group B, Matchday 2",Hamburg
Euro 2024,2024-06-20,21:00,Spain,Italy,,0-0,1-0,,,"Group B, Matchday 2",Gelsenkirchen
Euro 2024,2024-06-24,21:00,Albania,Spain,,0-1,0-1,,,"Group B, Matchday 3",Düsseldorf
Euro 2024,2024-06-24,21:00,Croatia,Italy,,0-0,1-1,,,"Group B, Matchday 3",Leipzig
...

or pass in the directory and get all (match data) files rolled-into-one tabular .csv file. Try:

$ fbtxt2csv euro -o euro.csv

resulting in:

League,Date,Time,Team 1,Team 2,Score,HT,FT,ET,P,Round,Ground
Euro 1960,1960-07-06,20:00,France,Yugoslavia,4-5,,,,,Semi-finals,"Parc des Princes, Paris"
Euro 1960,1960-07-06,20:30,Czechoslovakia,Soviet Union,0-3,,,,,Semi-finals,"Stade Vélodrome, Marseille"
Euro 1960,1960-07-09,21:30,Czechoslovakia,France,2-0,,,,,Third place play-off,"Stade Vélodrome, Marseille"
Euro 1960,1960-07-10,20:30,Soviet Union,Yugoslavia,,,,2-1,,Final,"Parc des Princes, Paris"
Euro 1964,1964-06-17,20:00,Spain,Hungary,,,,2-1,,Semi-finals,"Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid"
Euro 1964,1964-06-17,22:30,Denmark,Soviet Union,0-3,,,,,Semi-finals,"Camp Nou, Barcelona"
Euro 1964,1964-06-20,20:00,Hungary,Denmark,,,,3-1,,Third place play-off,"Camp Nou, Barcelona"
Euro 1964,1964-06-21,18:30,Spain,Soviet Union,2-1,,,,,Final,"Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid"
Euro 1968,1968-06-05,18:00,Italy,Soviet Union,,,,0-0,,Semi-finals,"Stadio San Paolo, Naples"
Euro 1968,1968-06-05,21:15,Yugoslavia,England,1-0,,,,,Semi-finals,"Stadio Comunale, Florence"
Euro 1968,1968-06-08,15:00,England,Soviet Union,2-0,,,,,Third place play-off,"Stadio Olimpico, Rome"
Euro 1968,1968-06-08,21:15,Italy,Yugoslavia,,,,1-1,,Final,"Stadio Olimpico, Rome"
Euro 1968,1968-06-10,21:15,Italy,Yugoslavia,2-0,,,,,"Final, Replay","Stadio Olimpico, Rome"
Euro 1972,1972-06-14,20:00,West Germany,Belgium,2-1,,,,,Semi-finals,"Antwerpen, Bosuil"
Euro 1972,1972-06-14,20:00,Soviet Union,Hungary,1-0,,,,,Semi-finals,"Brussel, Astridpark"
Euro 1972,1972-06-17,20:00,Belgium,Hungary,2-1,,,,,Third place play-off,"Liège, Stade Sclessin"
Euro 1972,1972-06-18,16:00,West Germany,Soviet Union,3-0,,,,,Final,"Bruxelles, Stade Heysel"
...

Build your own football.db (with sqlite & friends)

Note - the database import is currently reworked to use the new v2 football.txt parser (& machinery).
Back and upcoming SOON! Thanks for your patience.

License

The datafiles are dedicated to the public domain. Use as you please with no restrictions whatsoever.

Questions? Comments?

Yes, you can. More than welcome. See Help & Support »