How to add a live football scoreboard to OBS
A football stream needs four things on screen: the two teams, the score, the match clock and the events — goals, cards, substitutions. This is how to set all four up in OBS with one browser source, and how to run them from a single panel while you commentate.
One source, every football graphic
You do not need a source per graphic. The score bug, the goal strap, the card flash and the starting line-up all live on one transparent output page that OBS shows as a single browser source. Add it once (exact settings here) and everything below happens in the control panel, not in OBS.
That matters on match night: there is no scene to rebuild at half-time and nothing to drag around when a red card comes out.
Setting up the match — step by step
- Open Teams and add both clubs: full name, short code (three letters fit the score bug best), colours and a logo. CueFinch can pull club details and squads from TheSportsDB; if that is unavailable, type them in — the panel works the same either way.
- Add the squads, and tick the starting eleven. Starters feed the line-up graphic and the Match Desk.
- On the Live page choose the two teams for the match and press TAKE on the score object. The score bug animates in.
- Start the match clock at kick-off. For the second half set it to 45:00 and start it again.
- Leave the score bug on for the whole match. It is a persistent graphic: other straps come and go around it.
Goals, cards and substitutions
The Match Desk shows both line-ups as buttons. Tap a player and choose what happened: goal, yellow card, red card or substitution. A goal raises the score in the bug and plays a strap with the scorer’s name; a card shows the player with the card colour; a substitution shows who goes off and who comes on.
Mistakes happen live. If a goal is disallowed, take the score down with −1 — the bug updates instantly without leaving the screen.
The match clock
The clock is kept by the CueFinch server, not by the browser source. If OBS refreshes the source, or a second output page is open, every copy shows the same time — there is no drift between them, and a refresh does not reset the match to 00:00.
Basketball works the other way round, so the clock does too: periods count down from 10 or 12 minutes, and the same score bug shows quarters instead of halves.
Starting line-ups
Before kick-off, take the line-up graphic: it slides in with the starting eleven, numbers and positions for one team. Take it again for the other side. Because it is built from the squad you already entered, a late change is one tick in the squad list, not a redesign.
Commentary without match footage
Many football channels commentate on matches they do not hold rights to show. The usual setup is a camera or a static studio background, with the scoreboard, clock and events carried by graphics. CueFinch can set a studio background colour or image behind everything, so a full scene comes from one browser source and a webcam.
Viewers follow the match through the graphics, which is why the score bug must never be wrong — and why corrections must not take it off the screen.
Running it alone
Commentating and operating at the same time is the hard part. Two things help: map the main actions to keys (Stream Deck guide), or put the Match Desk on a phone or tablet next to the microphone (phone remote guide).
Ready for kick-off? Download the free beta, enter two teams and put a live score bug on air before the warm-up ends.
Download the free beta