Sportlink integration with 4planning: what synchronises automatically?

It's Tuesday evening and the football club's secretary has just checked this weekend's schedule in Sportlink. Afterwards, he opens the club app and types out the same matches all over again, and finally also the spreadsheet that the coach uses for attendance. A Sportlink integration with 4planning eliminates those second and third steps: matches, results and standings automatically enter the system, while member and team changes first await approval in an inbox.

What is the Sportlink API and what does it do?

The Sportlink API is the technical connection with which 4planning retrieves match data from Sportlink without anyone having to retype it. An integration is an automatic data exchange between two systems, set up on the basis of a fixed technique such as this API.

Once the link is active, 4planning retrieves new information in the background several times a day. For the secretary of a football club, this means that next weekend's fixture list automatically appears in the app, without them having to keep Sportlink and the club app open side by side.

For a swimming or korfball club, it works just the same: as soon as the sports association has entered the match data in Sportlink, it flows through to their own environment. More about the setup of this link can be found in the article about Linking and syncing Sportlink.

Which data synchronises automatically?

Drie soorten informatie lopen automatisch mee zodra de koppeling actief staat. Wedstrijden komen tot 90 dagen vooruit binnen, zodat een team altijd tijdig weet waar en wanneer het speelt.

Results and league tables are refreshed multiple times a day. A team that has played on a Saturday afternoon will therefore see the updated standings later that same day, without a volunteer having to retype them from the sports association's website.

If a match is postponed or cancelled, that change will automatically appear in the app. If a referee has already been assigned to that match, they will automatically receive a notification of the adjustment.

What happens to member and team changes?

A new player joining the association, or a member switching teams, does not automatically end up in the membership database. Every change from Sportlink first ends up in an inbox, where a board member reviews it before it is implemented.

For a sports club, that makes all the difference: a youth committee only sees a new player appear like that after someone has checked whether it is not a member already on file. That way you prevent a duplicate account from accidentally being created alongside an existing player.

If you leave a change sitting for a while, nothing happens automatically: it simply remains open until someone makes a choice. However, administrators receive a notification as soon as new changes are waiting.

What does a sports club continue to do itself?

Not everything is imported automatically. If a club also wants to schedule a friendly match or a tournament that is not in Sportlink, an administrator can add it themselves. Such a manual match is labelled “Friendly” and does not count towards the league standings.

If something is wrong with a fixture that comes from Sportlink, such as an incorrect kick-off time, you adjust that in Sportlink itself. The correction will automatically be included with the next synchronisation.

Players cancel their attendance for a match within the app itself, providing a reason that is visible to teammates and staff. Anyone who subsequently marks themselves as available again simply withdraws that cancellation.

Scheidsrechters wijst een beheerder met de hand toe, of hij laat de planner in één keer een eerlijke conceptplanning maken: elke nieuwe thuiswedstrijd krijgt automatisch een openstaande plek, en de conceptplanning verdeelt die over de beschikbare scheidsrechters.

When is this connection the right choice?

A Sportlink integration is especially worthwhile for a club with multiple teams that play matches through the association every week: it structurally saves retyping fixtures and league tables. If an organisation does not play in an association league, the integration yields little benefit, simply because there are then no match details in Sportlink to retrieve.

If a club has only one or two teams and a regular volunteer who keeps track of the schedule anyway, the time saved is smaller than at an association with ten youth teams and alternating compositions. In the latter case, every manual retyping round is a chance for an error, and it is precisely there that the integration proves its worth.

If a board is in doubt as to whether the administrative burden is big enough to set up the integration, the answer is often simple: the more teams and the more volatile the match schedule, the greater the benefit.

What happens next in the surrounding area with Sportlink data?

Once inside, matches and team rosters do more than just sit in a calendar. Members can see their own matches amongst the others Sports clubs- features such as bar shifts and events, within the same app that also handles news and chat.

A board member who wants to know which members have not yet done bar duty for the upcoming weekend does not need to keep a separate list for this: the AI assistant Planny looks it up within its own environment. In this way, the match schedule from Sportlink remains connected to the rest of the club organisation, without anyone having to send data back and forth between systems.

Frequently asked questions about the Sportlink integration

Who sets up the Sportlink integration?

The 4planning team handles the technical setup, including configuring the Sportlink Client ID and club code. A sports club does not need to configure this themselves.

Which package includes the Sportlink integration?

The integration is included in the Pro package. An up-to-date overview of what each package contains can be found at pricing page.

How often is the league table updated?

At the weekend, the standings are retrieved every hour, and during the week once a day in the evening. This happens automatically as soon as Sportlink has processed a new result.

Does the integration also work for sports other than football?

Yes. In addition to KNVB associations, clubs affiliated with organisations such as the KNZB, Nevobo, KNKV or Hockey Belgium can also have their match data synchronised via Sportlink.

Can I edit a Sportlink match myself in 4planning?

Deels. Datum, tijd, accommodatie, status en uitslag komen uit Sportlink; die pas je daar aan, waarna de wijziging vanzelf meekomt bij de eerstvolgende synchronisatie. Het veld, de kleedkamers en de scheidsrechter vul je wél in 4planning in — die overschrijft de synchronisatie nooit. Alleen handmatig toegevoegde wedstrijden zijn volledig te bewerken.

If you want to know whether the integration makes a difference for your sports club, work out with the committee how many teams play weekly and how much time the manual retyping currently takes. On the pricing page do you see which package the Sportlink integration falls under.