[fbref] Error fetching schedule on 1.8.8

[LeagueLens]

Describe the bug
A call to fbref schedule fails with 403 error , even with 1.8.8 version

Affected scrapers
This affects the following scrapers:

• ClubElo
• ESPN
• FBref
• FiveThirtyEight
• FotMob
• Match History
• SoFIFA
• Understat
• WhoScored

Code example
A minimal code example that fails. Use no_cache=True to make sure an invalid cached file does not cause the bug and make sure you have the latest version of soccerdata installed.

import soccerdata as sd
print("Initializing FBref session with caching...")
fbref = sd.FBref(
    leagues="ENG-Premier League",
    seasons=2526,
    no_cache=False,
    no_store=False
)

print("Fetching EPL schedule...⬇️")
schedule = fbref.read_schedule()
schedule_df = schedule.reset_index()

Error message

⏩⏱️ FBref fetch starting...
Initializing FBref session with caching...
                    INFO     Saving cached data to                              _common.py:249
                             /Users/joe/soccerdata/data/FBref                        
[2026-01-18 21:36:44] INFO     TLSLibrary:_load_library:401 - Successfully loaded TLS library: /Users/joe/Documents/GitHub/fplstatshub/.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/tls_requests/bin/tls-client-darwin-arm64-1.13.1.dylib
                    INFO     Successfully loaded TLS library:                 libraries.py:401
                             /Users/joe/Documents/GitHub/fplstatshub                 
                             /.venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/tls_requests                 
                             /bin/tls-client-darwin-arm64-1.13.1.dylib                        
Fetching EPL schedule...⬇️
[01/18/26 21:36:52] ERROR    Error while scraping https://fbref.com/en/comps/.  _common.py:526
                             Retrying... (attempt 1 of 5).                                    
                             Traceback (most recent call last):                               
                               File                                                           
                             "/Users/joe/Documents/GitHub/fplstatshub/               
                             .venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/soccerdata/_com               
                             mon.py", line 506, in _download_and_save                         
                                 response.raise_for_status()                                  
                               File                                                           
                             "/Users/joe/Documents/GitHub/fplstatshub/               
                             .venv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/tls_requests/mo               
                             dels/response.py", line 194, in raise_for_status                 
                                 raise HTTPError(                                             
                             tls_requests.exceptions.HTTPError: 403 Client                    
                             Error: Forbidden for url:                                        
                             https://fbref.com/en/comps/               

Additional context
Add any other context about the problem here.

Contributor Action Plan

• I can fix this issue and will submit a pull request.
• I’m unsure how to fix this, but I'm willing to work on it with guidance.
• I’m not able to fix this issue.

[Messe57]

I am facing the same issues. I thought that it was my fault, but it seems that is not the case.

[zshott]

I was able to use FBref scraper last week, but now I am also getting 403

Also, your name is in the paths in the error message, maybe you should remove that.

[saedstudent]

same here

[spanalytic]

Got the same problem is there any fix?

[probberechts]

It looks like FBref has recently strengthened its anti-bot protection (they are behind Cloudflare).

I haven’t had the chance to investigate this in depth yet, and I can’t give a timeline for when I'll be able to do so.

As a temporary workaround, one possible solution might be to:

1. Visit FBref in your regular browser.
2. Extract the cookies set by Cloudflare.
3. Inject those cookies into the request headers used by the scraper.

[LeagueLens]

Looks like fbref advanced data is gone
https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2026/01/fbref-stathead-data-update/

[lvlun0532-spec]

看来 fbref 的高级数据已经没了 https://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2026/01/fbref-stathead-data-update/

Bro, do you know of any other websites where I can view advanced data?

[lvlun0532-spec]

Hey bro, do you know any other websites where I can view advanced data? Like, the kind that updates weekly.

[dimitrismoustakas]

It looks like FBref has recently strengthened its anti-bot protection (they are behind Cloudflare).

I haven’t had the chance to investigate this in depth yet, and I can’t give a timeline for when I'll be able to do so.

As a temporary workaround, one possible solution might be to:

1. Visit FBref in your regular browser.
2. Extract the cookies set by Cloudflare.
3. Inject those cookies into the request headers used by the scraper.

The problem is indeed caused by this. There is an relatively easy fix (you just need to be careful to not break WhoScored in the process) but I'm not sure I should commit it because together with FbRef changing what data are available I'm not sure what (if any) tests failing are due to me not making the full proper solution and what tests are failing simply because the data are no longer available. If we only had the schedule problem I'd have committed it already (I only use the schedule method anyway in my project) but not I don't have the time to fully investigate all the issues.

[lvlun0532-spec]

Thank you. I think I've found an alternative, although FotMob's data can't compare to FBRef's. However, it's sufficient for my model. Let's keep in touch. dimitrismoustakas ***@***.***> 于2026年1月24日周六 20:36写道：

…

*dimitrismoustakas* left a comment (probberechts/soccerdata#916) <#916 (comment)> It looks like FBref has recently strengthened its anti-bot protection (they are behind Cloudflare). I haven’t had the chance to investigate this in depth yet, and I can’t give a timeline for when I'll be able to do so. As a temporary workaround, one possible solution might be to: 1. Visit FBref in your regular browser. 2. Extract the cookies set by Cloudflare. 3. Inject those cookies into the request headers used by the scraper. The problem is indeed caused by this. There is an relatively easy fix (you just need to be careful to not break WhoScored in the process) but I'm not sure I should commit it because together with FbRef changing what data are available I'm not sure what (if any) tests failing are due to me not making the full proper solution and what tests are failing simply because the data are no longer available. If we only had the schedule problem I'd have committed it already (I only use the schedule method anyway in my project) but not I don't have the time to fully investigate all the issues. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#916 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/B5EI2QCEN57SOAZCKL7ANV34INRLHAVCNFSM6AAAAACSDAA672VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTOOJUGU3DQOBYGY> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[guilhermecxe]

We can bypass Cloudflare with the BaseSeleniumReader using something like this:

driver = Driver(uc=True)
url = "https://fbref.com/en/comps/"
driver.uc_open_with_reconnect(url, 4)
driver.uc_gui_click_captcha()
time.sleep(10)
print(driver.page_source)

However, it uses PyAutoGUI internally and PyAutoGUI doesn't work with headless=True. I tried to implement this but I am stuck there, making it headless.

[thomaSLBY]

Hi @guilhermecxe, you can complete the Driver instanciation with headless=True, headless2=True to get the scraping faster and less detectable.

[guilhermecxe]

Hi @guilhermecxe, you can complete the Driver instanciation with headless=True, headless2=True to get the scraping faster and less detectable.

@thomaSLBY, like said previously, PyAutoGUI (used by uc_gui_click_captcha) doesn't work with headless as True. Or am I missing something?