Privacy Policy
Last updated: 4 April 2026
1. Who We Are
Football Fixtures ("we", "us", or "our") operates the website footballfixtures.org. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal information when you use our website and services.
If you have any questions about this policy, please contact us at contact@footballfixtures.org.
2. Information We Collect
2.1 Information You Provide
- Account registration: when you create an account, we collect your email address, chosen username, and a hashed version of your password. If you register using Google OAuth, we receive your Google profile name and email address.
- Contact forms: when you contact us, we collect your name, email address, and message content.
- Newsletter: if you subscribe to our newsletter, we collect your email address.
- Predictions and game participation: we store the score predictions, quiz answers, battle challenges, and tournament bracket picks you submit.
- Favourite teams: teams you choose to follow on the site.
2.2 Information Collected Automatically
- Usage data: pages visited, features used, predictions made, time spent on the site, and referral source.
- Device data: browser type and version, operating system, screen resolution, device type (mobile, tablet, desktop), and language preference. This data is collected via analytics tools and does not personally identify you.
- IP address: your IP address is logged for security purposes (fraud prevention, rate limiting) and is processed by our analytics and advertising partners.
- Cookies and similar technologies: see Section 4 below for full details.
2.3 Information from Third Parties
- Google OAuth: if you sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address, and profile picture URL from Google.
3. How We Use Your Information
We use the information we collect to:
- Provide our services: display fixtures, process predictions, calculate leaderboard standings, run games and competitions.
- Personalise your experience: show fixtures for your favourite teams, remember your preferences (theme, timezone).
- Communicate with you: send account-related emails, respond to contact form messages, and deliver newsletter content you have opted into.
- Display advertising: serve relevant advertisements through Google AdSense and other ad networks to fund the free service.
- Process affiliate activity: when you click affiliate links (such as Amazon Associates links), the respective affiliate programme may record that click. We use this data to understand which products interest our users.
- Improve and develop: analyse usage patterns to fix bugs, improve features, and plan new functionality.
- Ensure security: detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and unauthorised access to accounts.
- Comply with legal obligations: respond to lawful requests from authorities where required.
4. Cookies and Tracking Technologies
4.1 Essential Cookies
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off. They include:
- Session cookie (PHPSESSID): maintains your login state and session data.
- CSRF token: protects against cross-site request forgery attacks.
- Theme preference: stores your choice of light or dark mode.
- Cookie consent: records your cookie preference choices.
4.2 Analytics Cookies
We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use our site. Google Analytics uses cookies to collect anonymised data about page views, session duration, bounce rate, and traffic sources. This data helps us improve the site.
- Google Analytics cookies: _ga, _ga_*, _gid, _gat
- Google Privacy Policy
- Opt out of Google Analytics
We also use Google Tag Manager to manage analytics and advertising tags.
4.3 Advertising Cookies
We use Google AdSense to display advertisements. Google and its advertising partners may use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this site and other websites. Advertising cookies may include:
- Google advertising cookies for ad personalisation and frequency capping
- Third-party ad network cookies placed by advertisers whose ads appear on our site
You can manage your Google ad settings at Google Ad Settings. You can also visit AboutAds.info to opt out of personalised advertising from participating companies.
4.4 Managing Cookies
Most web browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings. You can typically:
- View and delete existing cookies
- Block all cookies or only third-party cookies
- Set preferences for specific websites
Please note that blocking essential cookies may prevent parts of the website from functioning correctly. Blocking advertising cookies will not remove ads but will make them less relevant to your interests.
5. Third-Party Services
We use the following third-party services that may process your data:
| Service | Purpose | Privacy Policy |
|---|---|---|
| Google Analytics | Website analytics and usage tracking | Google Privacy Policy |
| Google AdSense | Display advertising | Google Privacy Policy |
| Google Tag Manager | Tag and script management | Google Privacy Policy |
| Google OAuth | Social sign-in authentication | Google Privacy Policy |
| Amazon Associates | Affiliate product links and commissions | Amazon Privacy Notice |
| API-Football | Football data provider (fixtures, scores, standings) | API-Football Terms |
| Anthropic (Claude) | AI-powered match previews and analysis | Anthropic Privacy Policy |
| OpenAI | AI-powered analysis features | OpenAI Privacy Policy |
| Google Gemini | AI-powered analysis features | Google Privacy Policy |
6. Data Sharing
We do not sell your personal data to anyone.
We may share data in the following limited circumstances:
- Service providers: third-party services listed in Section 5 that help us operate the website. These providers process data on our behalf and are bound by their own privacy policies.
- Legal requirements: if we are required to disclose information by law, court order, or government regulation.
- Safety: if disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, safety, or property of our users or the public.
7. Data Retention
- Account data: retained for as long as your account is active. If you request account deletion, we will remove your personal data within 30 days.
- Predictions and game data: retained for the lifetime of your account to maintain leaderboard history and statistics.
- Analytics data: Google Analytics data is retained according to Google's retention settings (typically 14 months).
- Contact form messages: retained for up to 12 months to handle follow-up queries.
- Newsletter subscriptions: retained until you unsubscribe.
- Server logs: retained for up to 90 days for security and debugging purposes.
8. Your Rights
Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have the following rights regarding your personal data:
- Access: request a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
- Correction: request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete data.
- Deletion: request that we delete your personal data and account.
- Data portability: request a machine-readable copy of your data.
- Objection: object to processing of your data for certain purposes, including direct marketing.
- Withdraw consent: where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw it at any time.
To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at contact@footballfixtures.org. We will respond within 30 days.
9. Children's Privacy
Football Fixtures is not intended for children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal data, please contact us at contact@footballfixtures.org and we will delete that information promptly.
10. Data Security
We take reasonable measures to protect your personal data, including:
- Password hashing using industry-standard algorithms (bcrypt)
- HTTPS encryption for all data transmitted between your browser and our servers
- CSRF protection on all forms and API endpoints
- Rate limiting on authentication endpoints
- Regular security reviews of our codebase
No method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your data, we cannot guarantee absolute security.
11. International Data Transfers
Our servers are located in the United Kingdom. If you access the site from outside the UK, your data may be transferred to and processed in the UK. Our third-party service providers (Google, Amazon, Anthropic, OpenAI) may process data in the United States and other countries. These transfers are governed by the respective provider's privacy policies and applicable data transfer mechanisms.
12. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make significant changes, we will update the "Last updated" date at the top of this page. We encourage you to review this policy periodically. Your continued use of the site after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.
13. Contact Us
If you have questions, concerns, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us:
- Email: contact@footballfixtures.org
- Contact form: footballfixtures.org/contact