Reep

Charles Reep's match notations from 1953

The football entity register. Maps player, team, coach, competition, and season identities across Transfermarkt, FBref, UEFA, Sofascore, and 30+ data providers.

Named after Charles Reep (1904--2002), an RAF wing commander who hand-recorded every action in over 2,200 football matches starting in the 1950s. He's considered the grandfather of football analytics -- decades before expected goals or tracking data, Reep was tallying passes, shots, and sequences with pen and paper, pioneering the idea that football could be understood through data.

What is this?

A canonical identity file for football. Every person, club, competition, and season gets a stable Reep ID (reep_<type_prefix><8hex>), linked to their IDs on other platforms. If you have a Transfermarkt ID and need the FBref ID for the same player — or want to resolve an Opta competition ID to its FBref equivalent — this register gives you the answer.

The unique key is reep_id. Wikidata QIDs are available as a provider mapping where the entity exists in Wikidata, but entities can exist independently (e.g. lower-league players sourced from Opta).

People who are both players and coaches (e.g. Pep Guardiola) have separate records with distinct Reep IDs — reep_p* for the player record, reep_c* for the coach record.

Think of it as the football equivalent of the Chadwick Baseball Bureau Register.

Data

File	Records	Description
`data/people.csv`	~488K	Players and coaches with provider IDs and bio
`data/teams.csv`	~45K	Clubs with provider IDs and metadata
`data/competitions.csv`	~336	Leagues, cups, and tournaments with provider IDs
`data/seasons.csv`	~3.8K	Season editions of competitions
`data/names.csv`	varies	Alternate names and aliases
`data/meta.json`	—	Generation timestamp and counts

People schema

Column	Description	Example
`reep_id`	Reep ID (canonical key)	`reep_p2804f5db`
`key_wikidata`	Wikidata QID (empty if not in Wikidata)	`Q99760796`
`type`	`player` or `coach`	`player`
`name`	Primary English name	`Cole Palmer`
`full_name`	Birth/legal name	`Cole Jermaine Palmer`
`date_of_birth`	ISO date	`2002-05-06`
`nationality`	Country	`United Kingdom`
`position`	Playing position	`attacking midfielder`
`height_cm`	Height in centimetres	`185`
`key_transfermarkt`	Transfermarkt player ID	`568177`
`key_transfermarkt_manager`	Transfermarkt manager ID (coaches only)	`50100`
`key_fbref`	FBref player ID	`dc7f8a28`
`key_soccerway`	Soccerway person ID	`525801`
`key_sofascore`	Sofascore player ID	`982780`
`key_flashscore`	Flashscore player ID	`palmer-cole/h8agbDt7`
`key_opta`	Opta player ID	`7cwgrmorsb42qaj5vrhp8fhzp`
`key_premier_league`	Premier League player ID	`49293`
`key_11v11`	11v11 player ID	`265554`
`key_espn`	ESPN FC player ID	—
`key_national_football_teams`	National Football Teams ID	`92970`
`key_worldfootball`	WorldFootball.net ID	`cole-palmer`
`key_soccerbase`	Soccerbase player ID	`125454`
`key_kicker`	Kicker player ID	`cole-palmer`
`key_uefa`	UEFA player ID	—
`key_lequipe`	L'Equipe player ID	—
`key_fff_fr`	FFF.fr player ID	—
`key_serie_a`	Lega Serie A player ID	—
`key_besoccer`	BeSoccer player ID	—
`key_footballdatabase_eu`	FootballDatabase.eu person ID	—
`key_eu_football_info`	EU-Football.info player ID	—
`key_hugman`	Barry Hugman's Footballers ID	—
`key_german_fa`	DFB person ID	—
`key_statmuse_pl`	StatMuse PL player ID	—
`key_sofifa`	SoFIFA / EA FC player ID	—
`key_soccerdonna`	Soccerdonna player ID (women's football)	—
`key_dongqiudi`	Dongqiudi player ID	—
`key_understat`	Understat player ID	`1234`
`key_whoscored`	WhoScored player ID	`456789`
`key_fbref_verified`	FBref ID (cross-verified via worldfootballR)	`dc7f8a28`
`key_sportmonks`	SportMonks player ID	`12345`
`key_api_football`	API-Football player ID	`1100`
`key_fotmob`	FotMob player ID	`292462`
`key_opta_numeric`	Opta legacy numeric ID (same as FPL `code`, The Analyst `sc-` IDs)	`244851`
`key_thesportsdb`	TheSportsDB player ID	`34146086`
`key_skillcorner`	SkillCorner player ID	`23959`
`key_wyscout`	Wyscout player ID	`234966`
`key_impect`	Impect player ID	`52615`
`key_heimspiel`	heim:spiel player ID	`361032`
`key_capology`	Capology player slug	`cole-palmer-36271`
`position_detail`	Granular position from Transfermarkt	`Attacking Midfield`

Teams schema

Column	Description	Example
`reep_id`	Reep ID (canonical key)	`reep_t0871097b`
`key_wikidata`	Wikidata QID	`Q9616`
`name`	Primary English name	`Arsenal F.C.`
`country`	Country	`United Kingdom`
`founded`	Founding date	`1886-10-01`
`stadium`	Home ground	`Emirates Stadium`
`key_transfermarkt`	Transfermarkt team ID	`11`
`key_fbref`	FBref squad ID	`18bb7c10`
`key_soccerway`	Soccerway team ID	`660`
`key_opta`	Opta team ID	`b3sy95iqnw2bv69a0gxunhiot`
`key_kicker`	Kicker team ID	—
`key_flashscore`	Flashscore team ID	—
`key_sofascore`	Sofascore team ID	—
`key_soccerbase`	Soccerbase team ID	—
`key_uefa`	UEFA team ID	—
`key_footballdatabase_eu`	FootballDatabase.eu team ID	—
`key_worldfootball`	WorldFootball.net team ID	—
`key_espn`	ESPN team ID	—
`key_playmakerstats`	PlaymakerStats team ID	—
`key_clubelo`	Club Elo team ID	`Arsenal`
`key_sportmonks`	SportMonks team ID	`123`
`key_api_football`	API-Football team ID	`42`
`key_sofifa`	SoFIFA / EA FC team ID	`1`
`key_fotmob`	FotMob team ID	`9825`
`key_opta_numeric`	Opta legacy numeric team ID	`3`
`key_capology`	Capology team slug	`arsenal`

Competitions schema

Column	Description	Example
`reep_id`	Reep ID (canonical key)	`reep_lb3d230cb`
`key_wikidata`	Wikidata QID	`Q9448`
`name`	Competition name	`Premier League`
`country`	Country	`United Kingdom`
`key_transfermarkt`	Transfermarkt competition ID	`GB1`
`key_fbref`	FBref competition ID	`9`
`key_opta`	Opta competition ID (UUID)	`2kwbbcootiqqgmrzs6o5inle5`
`key_opta_numeric`	Opta legacy numeric competition ID	`8`
`key_optacore`	Opta core numeric competition ID	`1`

Seasons schema

Column	Description	Example
`reep_id`	Reep ID (canonical key)	`reep_sa7f63ba6`
`key_wikidata`	Wikidata QID	`Q124371422`
`name`	Season name	`2024–25 Premier League`
`competition_reep_id`	Reep ID of parent competition	`reep_lb3d230cb`

Names schema

Column	Description	Example
`key_wikidata`	Wikidata QID	`Q11893`
`name`	Primary name	`Cristiano Ronaldo`
`alias`	Alternate name	`Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro`

Coverage

Not every entity has every ID. Coverage depends on what the Wikidata community has mapped plus independently verified mappings. Use GET /stats for live counts.

Provider	Source	Notes
Transfermarkt	Wikidata	Highest coverage across all entities
FBref	Wikidata	Strong for recent players
Soccerway	Wikidata	Broad international coverage
Sofascore	Wikidata	Modern players well covered
Premier League	Wikidata	PL players only
Opta	Verified	Alphanumeric IDs from Stats Perform's Opta F1 database (~50K players)
Opta numeric	Verified	Legacy Opta numeric IDs (same as FPL `code`, The Analyst `sc-` IDs)
Impect	Verified	DOB + name matching via Impect export
Wyscout	Verified	Via Impect ID mappings
SkillCorner	Verified	Via Impect ID mappings
heim:spiel	Verified	Via Impect ID mappings
TheSportsDB	Verified	Direct Wikidata link + DOB/name matching
API-Football	Verified	Via TheSportsDB + direct matching
ESPN	Verified	Via TheSportsDB mappings
FotMob	Verified	DOB + name matching
FBref verified	Verified	Cross-verified via worldfootballR
Understat	Verified	Cross-reference matching
WhoScored	Verified	Cross-reference matching
SportMonks	Verified	Cross-reference matching
Club Elo	Verified	Manual team mapping

Wikidata IDs are community-maintained and update automatically with each refresh. Verified IDs are matched independently using DOB, name, and cross-provider bridges, then validated before inclusion.

Usage

Python

python
import csv

# Load people into a dict keyed by Reep ID
people = {}
with open("data/people.csv") as f:
    for row in csv.DictReader(f):
        people[row["reep_id"]] = row

# Look up by Transfermarkt ID
tm_index = {row["key_transfermarkt"]: row for row in people.values() if row["key_transfermarkt"]}
palmer = tm_index["568177"]
print(palmer["reep_id"])    # "reep_p2804f5db"
print(palmer["key_fbref"])  # "dc7f8a28"

R

r
library(readr)
people <- read_csv("data/people.csv")

# All Premier League-registered players
pl_players <- people |> filter(key_premier_league != "")

# Cross-reference: Transfermarkt -> FBref
people |>
  filter(key_transfermarkt == "568177") |>
  select(reep_id, name, key_fbref, key_sofascore)

SQL (load into SQLite)

bash
sqlite3 reep.db <<EOF
.mode csv
.import data/people.csv people
.import data/teams.csv teams
.import data/competitions.csv competitions
.import data/seasons.csv seasons
.import data/names.csv names
EOF

sql
-- Find all IDs for a player
SELECT * FROM people WHERE name LIKE '%Salah%';

-- Reverse lookup: FBref ID -> everything
SELECT * FROM people WHERE key_fbref = 'e342ad68';

-- Lookup by Reep ID
SELECT * FROM people WHERE reep_id = 'reep_p2804f5db';

API

The Reep API provides the same data as the CSVs via a convenient REST interface. All providers (Wikidata + custom verified) are available to all plans.

Get your API key on RapidAPI.

Endpoint	Description	Example
`GET /search`	Search by name (prefix matching)	`/search?name=Cole Palmer&type=player`
`GET /resolve`	Translate provider ID	`/resolve?provider=transfermarkt&id=568177`
`GET /lookup`	Look up by Reep ID or Wikidata QID	`/lookup?id=reep_p2804f5db`
`GET /stats`	Database statistics	`/stats`

The /lookup endpoint auto-detects the ID type: Reep IDs start with reep_, Wikidata QIDs start with Q. The legacy ?qid= parameter is still supported.

All endpoints that return entities accept an optional type parameter (player, team, coach, competition, season). For dual-role people, /lookup without type returns all records. Default search excludes seasons to avoid noise — use type=season to search seasons explicitly.

Reep IDs

Every entity in the register has a self-minted Reep ID as its canonical identifier. The format is reep_<type_prefix><8hex>:

Prefix	Entity type	Example
`reep_p`	Player	`reep_p2804f5db` (Cole Palmer)
`reep_t`	Team	`reep_t0871097b` (Arsenal F.C.)
`reep_c`	Coach	`reep_c9103de59` (A. H. Albut)
`reep_l`	Competition	`reep_lb3d230cb` (Premier League)
`reep_s`	Season	`reep_sa7f63ba6` (2024–25 Premier League)

Reep IDs are stable — they never change, even if a player's Wikidata QID is merged or deleted. Wikidata QIDs are available as a provider mapping (key_wikidata in CSVs, qid in API responses) but are not the identity backbone.

This design follows the Chadwick Baseball Bureau Register model: self-minted UUIDs as primary keys, with all provider IDs (including Wikidata) as cross-references.

CLI

A Python CLI for the register lives in its own repo: withqwerty/reep-cli.

bash
pip install git+https://github.com/withqwerty/reep-cli.git

# Search by name
reep search "Cole Palmer"

# Resolve: Transfermarkt -> all IDs
reep resolve transfermarkt 568177

# Translate: just output the target ID (pipe-friendly)
reep translate transfermarkt 568177 fbref
# dc7f8a28

# Download CSVs for offline use
reep download

# Search offline
reep local "Salah"

Source

Most data is extracted from Wikidata via SPARQL. Wikidata is a free, collaborative knowledge base maintained by thousands of volunteers. The cross-provider ID mappings exist because the Wikidata community has systematically added external identifier properties for football data sources.

Entities not in Wikidata (e.g. lower-league players) are sourced from authoritative provider databases like Opta's F1 player database.

Wikidata properties used

Property	Provider
P2446	Transfermarkt player ID
P2447	Transfermarkt manager ID
P7223	Transfermarkt team ID
P5750	FBref player ID
P8642	FBref squad ID
P2369	Soccerway person ID
P6131	Soccerway team ID
P12302	Sofascore player ID
P8259	Flashscore player ID
P12539	Premier League player ID
P12551	11v11 player ID
P3681	ESPN FC player ID
P2574	National Football Teams ID
P2020	WorldFootball.net ID
P2193	Soccerbase player ID
P2276	UEFA player ID
P7361	UEFA team ID
P3665	L'Equipe player ID
P9264	FFF.fr player ID
P13064	Lega Serie A player ID
P12577	BeSoccer player ID
P3537	FootballDatabase.eu person ID
P7351	FootballDatabase.eu team ID
P3726	EU-Football.info player ID
P12606	Barry Hugman's Footballers ID
P4023	German FA person ID
P12567	StatMuse PL player ID
P12312	Kicker team ID
P7876	Flashscore team ID
P13897	Sofascore team ID
P7454	Soccerbase team ID
P7287	WorldFootball.net team ID
P1469	SoFIFA / EA FC player ID
P4381	Soccerdonna player ID (women's football)
P8134	Soccerdonna coach ID
P11379	Dongqiudi player ID
P7280	PlaymakerStats team ID
P12758	Transfermarkt competition ID
P13664	FBref competition ID
P8735	Opta competition ID

Provider notes

Opta / Stats Perform — Three distinct ID systems exist within Stats Perform's ecosystem:

opta — 25-char alphanumeric UUIDs (e.g. 7cwgrmorsb42qaj5vrhp8fhzp) from the current SD API / Stats Perform F1 database. Used for players (50K), teams, competitions, and seasons. This is the canonical Opta provider.
opta_numeric — Legacy numeric codes (e.g. 244851 for Cole Palmer). Same as FPL code field, The Analyst sc- URL IDs, and Wikidata P8735/P8736/P8737. Players (3.8K), teams (255), competitions (73), coaches (28). Sources: FPL data, Wikidata dump, Opta Web Archive feeds.
optacore — A separate numeric system with different numbers (e.g. FA Cup = 93 vs opta_numeric 1). Competitions only (47). From the SD API mapping file.

WorldFootball.net / heim:spiel — WorldFootball.net (owned by heim:spiel) migrated from slug-based URLs (e.g. cole-palmer) to numeric IDs in November 2025. The old slugs still work via redirect. Wikidata P2020 contains the old slug format. The heim:spiel numeric IDs in Reep are the same as the new WorldFootball.net IDs — the URL prefix indicates entity type:

Type	WorldFootball.net URL	heim:spiel ID
Player	`/pe426937`	`426937`
Team	`/te1672`	`1672`
Competition	`/co91`	`91`
Match	`/ma10988177`	`10988177`

Soccerway / Flashscore — Both owned by Livesport (Czech data company), but use separate ID systems. Soccerway changed their URL/ID scheme in September 2025. Reep has 139K Soccerway IDs in the old numeric format from Wikidata P2369 (e.g. 45569). The old URLs still redirect:

Format	URL	ID
Old (numeric)	`int.soccerway.com/players/-/45569/`	`45569`
New (slug)	`soccerway.com/player/zver-mateja/p0DFdwlo/`	`p0DFdwlo`

A new Wikidata property for the new format has been proposed but not yet approved.

Updates

The register is refreshed periodically from Wikidata, plus monthly reconciliation against the full Wikidata dump to catch drift (deleted entities, lost occupations, missed IDs). Each refresh picks up new entities, updated IDs, and corrections made by the Wikidata community. Custom provider mappings persist across all refreshes. The data/meta.json file records when the current CSVs were generated.

Contributing

Have a dataset that maps football player or team IDs across providers? We'd love to include it. Send us a CSV with these columns:

Column	Required	Description	Example
`provider`	Yes	Provider name	`wyscout`
`external_id`	Yes	The player/team ID on that provider	`12345`
`name`	Yes	Player or team name (for validation)	`Cole Palmer`
`date_of_birth`	Recommended	ISO date (helps us match accurately)	`2002-05-06`
`transfermarkt_id`	Recommended	Transfermarkt ID (best for accurate matching)	`568177`
`type`	Recommended	`player`, `team`, or `coach`	`player`
`nationality`	Optional	Country (helps disambiguate)	`England`

The more columns you include, the more accurately we can match to existing entities. A Transfermarkt ID or date of birth alone is usually enough.

How to submit:

Open an issue with your CSV attached or linked
Email getintouch@withqwerty.com if you prefer to contribute anonymously

We validate and match all submissions before adding them. Your IDs go into our verified custom mappings and are served via the API alongside Wikidata data.

Edit Wikidata directly

If a player is missing a Transfermarkt ID or FBref ID, the ideal fix is to add it to their Wikidata page — the next refresh picks it up automatically.

Wikidata requires ~50 manual edits and a 4-day waiting period before bulk edits are possible. If you have a large dataset, send it to us (see above) and we'll handle the Wikidata submission on your behalf.

Code contributions

PRs to the Worker (src/) and documentation are welcome in this repo. CLI PRs belong in withqwerty/reep-cli. Note that the data CSVs are regenerated upstream from Wikidata + verified mappings — don't PR data changes directly.

What this repo doesn't contain

This repo publishes IDs, the API, and the published CSVs — not scraping logic or raw data dumps from providers. Matching and ingestion scripts are maintained in a separate private repo.

License

The data is derived from Wikidata and is available under CC0 1.0.