What’s the best way to manage player stats for a fantasy sports app?

General Discussion
1

Hi everyone,

I’m working on a fantasy sports app where users pick players and earn points based on their performance. The stats I want to track include [list stats like goals, assists, rebounds, etc.].

I’m looking for an easy method to update and manage these stats efficiently. Right now, I’m considering [manual updates / using a database / using an API], but I’m not sure what the best approach is for real-time updates and point calculations.

Has anyone built something similar? How do you handle automated updates, and is there a recommended tool, API, or structure for storing player stats?

Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

1 Like
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Hi Olivia, welcome to the community! :waving_hand:

Excellent question, realtime stats and scoring are the heartbeat of a fantasy sports app. Here’s a structure that’s worked well in my experience:

1. Data Source

For automated, live updates, use a dedicated sports API. Avoid manual entry if you can, it’s not scalable.

· Football/Soccer: API-FOOTBALL, Sportmonks

· Basketball/Baseball: SportsDataIO, API-Sports

· Multi-sport: RapidAPI (multiple providers in one place)

2. Database Architecture

Keep it relational and clean:

· Players – static details (name, team, position)

· Stats – daily/real-time stats linked to players (goals, assists, rebounds, etc.) with a timestamp

· UserTeams – who owns which players

· Scores – calculated points per player per game (can be materialized or computed on retrieval)

3. Updates & Automation

Set up a background worker (cron job, serverless function, or Adalo workflow + external automation) to:

1. Pull fresh stats from the API every few minutes

2. Update your Stats table

3. Recalculate user totals in Scores

This keeps things live without manual effort.

4. Scoring Logic

Define clear rules (e.g., goal = 5 pts, assist = 3, yellow card = -1) and store them in a ScoringRules table. Compute scores in the backend, never on the client side to keep it secure and consistent.

5. In Your Adalo App

. Use Adalo’s database or Xano, Airtable, or Adalo’s external databases for the heavy lifting.

· Connect via REST API or native integrations.

· Use repeating groups tied to live data for leaderboards.

If you’re going the API + automation route, I’d recommend starting with Adalo’s database or Xano, it handles scheduling, calculations, and live updates really cleanly with Adalo.

Hope this helps! I specialize in Adalo automation, so feel free to reach out if you hit any snags during setup.

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Thanks a lot for sharing this; it’s really helpful!
I like the way you explained the flow - using a reliable sports data API, structuring the database properly, and automating updates to keep stats in sync. This approach definitely makes the system more scalable and reduces manual errors. The Adalo-specific tips are a big plus, too. Appreciate you taking the time to break it down so clearly!

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Thank you, Olivia. I’m really glad the breakdown was helpful.

If you encounter any challenges with the API integration or automation setup in Adalo, feel free to reach out. I’m happy to provide guidance.

Best of luck with your app development.