Child Safety Policy

Future Football Stars is a community football showcase platform. The safety and privacy of minors who appear on the Platform — as player profiles created and managed by adult account holders — is our highest priority.

The Platform does not permit minors to register accounts. All account holders must be 18 years of age or older. Minors appear on the Platform exclusively as player profiles created, controlled, and managed by an adult account holder — typically a parent or guardian.

This Child Safety Policy describes the protections we apply to minor player data under the United States Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”), EU GDPR Article 8, and the UK Information Commissioner’s Age Appropriate Design Code (“UK Children’s Code”). This policy supplements our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

Minors do not register, log in, or interact with the Platform directly. The only way a minor’s personal data enters the Platform is through a player profile created by an adult account holder who holds parental or guardian authority over that minor.

• Adult account holder responsibility: by creating a player profile for a minor, the adult account holder represents and warrants that they are the minor’s parent, legal guardian, or authorised adult, and that they have the authority to submit that minor’s personal data to the Platform and to consent to its display.
• No separate minor accounts: minors do not receive login credentials, email addresses, or accounts of any kind. All access to and management of a minor’s player profile is carried out exclusively through the adult account holder’s account.
• Account holder is the data subject’s guardian: for the purposes of applicable data protection law, the adult account holder acts as the authorised representative for the minor’s data and may exercise all applicable data rights (access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection) on the minor’s behalf.

This design means that parental consent for the collection and display of minor player data is implicit in the act of the parent or guardian registering an adult account and creating the player profile. No separate minor registration or consent-email flow is required or exists.

All account holders must be 18 years of age or older. This requirement is enforced at registration through:

• A birth year field that prevents registration if the entered birth year indicates the applicant is under 18.
• A mandatory age-confirmation checkbox that the applicant must tick before submitting their registration.

If we learn that an account holder is under 18, we will terminate that account immediately and delete all data associated with it, including any player profiles linked to that account.

We do not knowingly collect personal data directly from any child. All minor data on the Platform is submitted by and under the control of an adult account holder.

We apply strict data minimisation to all personal data submitted for minor player profiles. The adult account holder may submit the following data for a minor’s player profile:

• Display name (screen name or first name and initial — full legal surname is not required).
• Playing position, preferred foot.
• Country of residence.
• Club or academy affiliation (optional).
• Profile photo (optional).
• YouTube highlight video links (optional).
• Birth year (to display the player’s age range on the profile — full birth date is not collected or displayed).

We do not collect or request:

• The minor’s email address, phone number, or any direct contact information.
• The minor’s school name, home address, or precise geolocation.
• Government-issued identification numbers or biometric data.
• Health, medical, or injury data.

We do not use minor player profile data for advertising, behavioural profiling, or to train machine learning models. Minor player data is used exclusively for Platform display and community showcase purposes.

Minor player profiles are accessible to all registered Platform users (parents, scouts, coaches, agents, and other users), subject to the following protections:

• No direct contact information disclosed: the minor’s contact details are never displayed on their profile. Any professional user who wishes to make contact must do so through the adult account holder.
• Professional users are not verified: Future Football Stars does not verify the identity, credentials, or professional standing of users who register as scouts, coaches, or agents. Adult account holders are strongly advised to independently verify the identity of anyone who contacts them claiming a professional role.
• No solicitation of minor contact details: it is strictly prohibited for any user — including professional users — to solicit the minor’s personal contact details (phone number, personal email, home address, school name, social media handles) directly from the minor or from their profile.
• No direct contact with the minor: all communications relating to a minor player must be directed to the adult account holder, not to the minor. Any attempt to bypass the account holder and contact a minor directly constitutes a violation of these Terms and will result in immediate account termination.

The following conduct is strictly prohibited on the Platform and constitutes grounds for immediate permanent account termination and, where applicable, referral to law enforcement:

• Any predatory, grooming, or sexually inappropriate contact with or in relation to a minor.
• Soliciting personal contact details, home address, school name, or social media handles from or about a minor.
• Attempting to contact a minor directly, bypassing their adult account holder.
• Impersonating a scout, coach, club, or other professional for the purpose of making contact with a minor or their family.
• Soliciting fees from players or their families in exchange for scouting attention, trial invitations, or introductions (“pay-to-play” schemes).
• Creating fake profiles claiming professional credentials for the purpose of accessing minor player profiles.
• Sharing, distributing, or republishing a minor’s profile content (photos, videos, personal information) outside the Platform without the express consent of the adult account holder.

Any user who encounters conduct they believe violates these rules should report it immediately (see Section 9).

We apply the following data minimisation and no-profiling commitments to all minor player data:

• We collect only the data strictly necessary for community showcase and Platform safety, as described in Section 4.
• We do not engage in behavioural tracking, commercial profiling, or interest-based advertising in relation to minor player data.
• Server logs that may incidentally contain minor player profile identifiers are retained for 90 days and are not used for any profiling purpose.
• We do not use minor player data to train machine learning models or for any commercial purpose.
• Minor player profile data is never sold, rented, or traded to any third party.

The adult account holder may delete a minor’s player profile at any time via their account settings. A parent or guardian (whether or not they hold the account) may also request deletion by contacting us:

• Submit a deletion request to privacy@futurefootballstars4u.com from an email address we can verify as associated with the account or the minor.
• We will verify the requestor’s identity before processing.
• All profile data, photo, video links, and profile content will be deleted within 72 hours of request confirmation.
• YouTube video links will be removed from the profile. The videos themselves remain on YouTube subject to YouTube’s own policies.
• Terms acceptance records are retained for 5 years following account closure, as required for legal compliance.

Any user, parent, guardian, or third party may report suspected inappropriate conduct involving a minor:

• Email our safety team at info@futurefootballstars4u.com with the subject line URGENT SAFETY.
• Reports involving suspected predatory behaviour, grooming, or inappropriate contact with a minor are reviewed by our team as a priority and the reported account is suspended pending investigation.
• Where reports indicate predatory behaviour or involve child sexual abuse material (CSAM), we will make a law enforcement referral and cooperate fully with investigating authorities.

If you believe a child is in immediate danger, contact your local law enforcement authority directly. Do not wait for a Platform response.

The Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (“COPPA”) applies to the personal information of children under 13 in the United States. Because minor players do not register accounts on the Platform, personal data about a child under 13 is submitted solely by the adult account holder (their parent or guardian). Our COPPA commitments include:

• No direct collection from children: we do not collect personal information directly from any child. All minor player data is submitted by the adult account holder acting in their parental or guardian capacity.
• Parental authority as consent: the adult account holder’s act of creating a minor’s player profile constitutes the parental or guardian consent for that data collection, consistent with COPPA’s requirement for verifiable parental consent before collecting children’s information. By submitting a minor’s profile data, the account holder represents that they hold the parental or guardian authority to do so.
• Parental review rights: a parent may review the personal information we hold about their child at any time by contacting privacy@futurefootballstars4u.com.
• Correction and deletion: a parent may request correction or deletion of their child’s personal information at any time. Deletion is completed within 72 hours as described in Section 8.
• No conditioning on excess data: creating a player profile for a minor is not conditioned on the collection of more personal information than is reasonably necessary for the community showcase purpose.
• No advertising: we do not direct advertising toward children and do not use minor player data for commercial profiling or advertising targeting of any kind.

For all COPPA requests: privacy@futurefootballstars4u.com

GDPR Article 8 governs the processing of personal data of children where consent is the legal basis. Because minors do not register on the Platform, the relevant question under Article 8 is the authority of the adult who submits the minor’s data:

• The adult account holder creates a minor player profile in their capacity as parent or legal guardian. Their consent to submit and display the minor’s data is given through the registration Terms of Service acceptance and the act of creating the profile.
• We treat this as processing under Article 6(1)(a) — consent provided by the holder of parental responsibility, consistent with Article 8’s requirement that consent for child data processing be given or authorised by a person holding parental responsibility.
• EU users: we apply a protective approach and treat all player profiles where the player is under 16 as minor profiles requiring the account holder to confirm parental or guardian authority.
• UK users: the UK GDPR sets the digital age of consent at 13. We apply the same heightened protections to all minor player profiles regardless of the player’s age.
• The adult account holder may withdraw consent and request erasure of the minor’s data at any time, as described in Section 8.

The UK Information Commissioner’s Age Appropriate Design Code sets standards for online services likely to be accessed by children or to process children’s data. Our commitments include:

• Best interests of the child: the best interests of the minor are the primary consideration in all design decisions affecting minor player profiles and data.
• High privacy by default: minor player profiles are created with privacy-protective settings as the default. The adult account holder controls all visibility settings.
• Data minimisation: we collect only the data described in Section 4, which is the minimum necessary for community showcase.
• No profiling: we do not profile minor players for advertising, commercial, or personalisation purposes.
• No nudge techniques: we do not use design patterns that encourage adult account holders to submit more minor data than is necessary.
• Parental control: the adult account holder has full control over the minor’s profile — they can edit, restrict, or delete it at any time.
• Transparency: this policy is written to be understood by parents and guardians making decisions about their child’s presence on the Platform.

For all child safety concerns, data requests, or enquiries about minor player profiles:

• Safety reports (mark URGENT SAFETY): info@futurefootballstars4u.com
• Privacy and data deletion requests: privacy@futurefootballstars4u.com

If you believe a child is in immediate danger, contact your local law enforcement authority directly. Do not wait for a Platform response.