Cookie Policy

Cookies are small text files placed on your device by websites you visit. They are widely used to make websites work efficiently, remember your preferences, and provide information to website operators.

Similar technologies include local storage (browser-side storage used for session data) and session tokens (short-lived authentication identifiers). This policy covers the cookies and similar technologies used on the Future Football Stars Platform at futurefootballstars4u.com. We do not use tracking pixels, web beacons, or advertising tags.

We use a minimal set of cookies necessary to operate the Platform. We do not use advertising or behavioural tracking cookies.

We do not place cookies for advertising, retargeting, cross-site tracking, or social media profiling.

Player profiles on this Platform include links to YouTube-hosted highlight videos. When you play an embedded YouTube video, YouTube (a Google service) may set cookies on your device, including cookies used for:

• Video playback preferences and watch history.
• YouTube analytics (tracking video views, engagement).
• Google advertising and personalisation, depending on your Google account settings and YouTube’s cookie configuration.

These YouTube/Google cookies are third-party cookies outside our control. We do not receive data from these cookies. Their use is governed by the Google Privacy Policy and the YouTube Terms of Service.

How to avoid YouTube cookies: Our video pages embed the standard YouTube player. Your browser contacts Google’s servers to load that player when the page loads, before you press play, and Google may receive your IP address, browser and device information, and the address of the page you are viewing at that point. Further cookies and viewing data follow once you start a video. If you wish to avoid this entirely, do not open pages containing embedded videos, or use your browser’s cookie-blocking or script-blocking controls to block third-party content (see Section 6).

The Platform uses the YouTube Data API v3 to retrieve video metadata (title, thumbnail image, view count, and channel information) for videos linked to player profiles. This API is used server-side; it does not set cookies on your device.

Use of the YouTube Data API is subject to Google’s API Services User Data Policy. By using the Platform, you acknowledge that video metadata displayed on player profiles is retrieved via this API and is governed by the Google Privacy Policy.

We use minimal server-side analytics only. We analyse anonymised aggregate data derived from server logs (page views, request counts, error rates) to monitor Platform performance and security.

We do not use client-side analytics scripts (such as Google Analytics, Mixpanel, or similar services) that track individual user behaviour across pages. No advertising-related tracking pixels or scripts are active.

If we introduce client-side analytics in the future, this policy will be updated, and appropriate consent mechanisms will be implemented before any tracking scripts are activated.

You can control and manage cookies using your browser settings. Most browsers allow you to:

• View which cookies are stored on your device.
• Delete all or specific cookies.
• Block cookies from specific websites or all websites.
• Block third-party cookies (this will prevent YouTube embed cookies).

Instructions for managing cookies in common browsers:

• Google Chrome
• Mozilla Firefox
• Apple Safari
• Microsoft Edge

Please note: blocking essential cookies (session_token, csrf_token) will prevent you from logging in to your account and using authenticated Platform features.

The cookies we set directly are strictly necessary (essential) cookies used for authentication and security. Under the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (“PECR”) and the EU ePrivacy Directive, strictly necessary cookies do not require prior consent. For this reason, we do not currently display a cookie consent banner.

The only non-essential cookies associated with the Platform are the third-party YouTube cookies described in Section 3. As explained there, the embedded player contacts Google when a page containing a video loads, not only when you press play, so some third-party storage or data collection may occur before you choose to watch anything. You can prevent it by not opening pages with embedded videos, or by blocking third-party cookies and content in your browser (see Section 6). We are keeping this arrangement under review.

If we introduce non-essential cookies that we set ourselves — such as analytics or advertising cookies — we will implement an appropriate consent mechanism and update this policy before those cookies are activated.

For questions about our use of cookies or to exercise your rights in relation to cookie-related data processing, contact: privacy@futurefootballstars4u.com

For general privacy enquiries, see our Privacy Policy.