Cookie Policy

This Cookie Policy explains how the Next Phase Football website may use cookies and similar technologies.

It describes:

• What cookies are
• Why they may be used
• The categories of technology involved
• When visitor consent may be requested
• How visitors can manage their preferences
• How third-party content may affect cookies

This policy should be read alongside the Privacy Policy.

Cookies are small pieces of information stored on a computer, phone, tablet or other device when a person visits a website.

Cookies can help a website:

• Operate securely
• Remember visitor choices
• Keep forms working
• Understand website use
• Display embedded content
• Measure performance

Similar technologies may include:

• Local storage
• Session storage
• Pixels
• Tags
• Scripts
• Software development kits
• Device identifiers

This policy uses the word “cookies” to cover cookies and comparable storage or access technologies.

The Next Phase Football website is responsible for deciding which website technologies it activates directly.

Email: info@nextphasefootball.com

Some third-party providers may also process information when their tools or embedded content are used.

The website may use the following categories.

Strictly necessary

These technologies support functions required for the website to operate securely or provide a service requested by the visitor.

They may be used for:

• Website security
• Form protection
• Load balancing
• Session management
• Remembering privacy choices
• Preventing fraud or misuse
• Maintaining essential website functionality

Where a technology is genuinely necessary, consent may not be required.

Strictly necessary cookies cannot be disabled through the website preference centre where doing so would prevent the requested service from working.

Functionality and preference

These technologies may remember choices such as:

• Display preferences
• Language
• Accessibility settings
• Form progress
• Interface settings

Some functionality technologies may operate without consent where a legal exception applies and the required safeguards are followed.

Others will be activated only after an appropriate visitor choice.

Analytics and statistical

Analytics technologies help us understand matters such as:

• Which pages are visited
• How visitors move through the website
• Whether errors occur
• How quickly pages load
• Which features are useful
• How the website can be improved

Analytics should be configured to collect no more information than reasonably necessary.

Some limited statistical technologies may qualify for an applicable legal exception where they are used solely to understand and improve the website and visitors are provided with the required information and objection controls.

Where an exception does not apply, analytics will remain disabled until consent is given.

Marketing and advertising

Marketing technologies may be used to:

• Measure advertising
• Build audience profiles
• Track activity across services
• Personalise marketing
• Connect website visits with social-media advertising

Next Phase Football must not activate marketing or cross-site tracking technologies before valid consent is received.

Marketing cookies must remain optional.

Embedded content

The website may include or later introduce content from external services, such as:

• Instagram
• Video platforms
• Google Forms
• Maps
• Booking services
• Payment providers

Embedded content can behave as though the visitor accessed the external provider directly.

The external provider may set cookies or collect information according to its own policies.

Where consent is required, optional embedded content must remain blocked until the visitor chooses to enable the relevant category.

A simple link to an external website is preferred where embedding is unnecessary.

The register below lists the technologies genuinely active on this website today. It is updated whenever a technology is added or removed.

No analytics, advertising, profiling or cross-site tracking technology is currently installed on this website. If any such technology is introduced, it will be added to the register above and will remain blocked until the required visitor choice is made.

Where consent is required, cookies are not activated until the visitor has made an appropriate choice.

The cookie banner provides:

• Accept optional cookies
• Reject optional cookies
• Manage preferences

The Accept and Reject options are presented with equal prominence.

We do not:

• Preselect optional categories
• Treat continued browsing as consent
• Hide the Reject option
• Make rejection more difficult than acceptance
• Use misleading colours or wording
• Bundle optional cookie consent into the Terms and Conditions
• Prevent access to ordinary website content merely because optional cookies were rejected

Visitors can change their cookie choices at any time.

A persistent Manage Cookie Preferences link appears in the website footer on every page. Selecting it reopens the preference centre.

The preference centre allows visitors to:

• View each cookie category
• Enable or disable optional categories
• Review providers and purposes
• Save updated preferences
• Withdraw previous consent

Strictly necessary technologies are clearly identified.

A visitor who previously accepted optional cookies may withdraw consent through the preference centre.

After withdrawal:

• Optional technologies stop being activated
• Future optional tracking stops
• Existing optional cookies are removed where technically possible
• The visitor’s new preference is respected

Withdrawal does not automatically remove information that was lawfully processed before consent was withdrawn.

Visitors may also manage cookies using their browser or device settings.

Browser controls may allow a visitor to:

• View stored cookies
• Delete cookies
• Block future cookies
• Block third-party cookies
• Clear local website storage
• Receive warnings before storage occurs

Blocking strictly necessary technologies may cause parts of the website to stop functioning correctly.

Instructions differ between browsers and devices, so visitors should follow the guidance published by the provider of the browser or device they use.

Third-party providers are responsible for their own technologies and privacy practices.

Visitors should review the relevant provider’s information before enabling optional embedded content.

Next Phase Football reviews third-party technologies used on the website periodically.

Third-party tools are removed where:

• They are no longer needed
• Their purpose is unclear
• They collect excessive information
• Their settings cannot be configured appropriately
• Their use is inconsistent with this policy

The website currently links to @nextphasefootballtrials_ on Instagram.

Opening that link takes the visitor to Instagram.

A normal external link does not require Instagram content to load within the Next Phase Football website, so no Instagram cookie is set by this website.

If an Instagram feed, post, video or other social content is embedded in the future, we will review whether the embed stores or accesses information on the visitor’s device.

Where consent is required, the embed will remain blocked until the visitor enables the relevant preference, and a privacy-friendly placeholder will be displayed first.

No Google Form is embedded in this website at present, so no Google Form technology appears in the register.

If a Google Form is embedded in the future, we will assess the cookies and similar technologies used by the form before publishing it.

The website will:

• Explain that the form is supplied through Google
• Link to relevant privacy information
• Avoid sending unnecessary website data to the provider
• Block optional embedded functionality until consent where required
• Offer a suitable alternative route where reasonably possible
• Keep player and parent information separate from advertising activity

Where analytics is introduced, it will be configured in a privacy-conscious manner.

We will consider:

• Data minimisation
• Short retention
• Restricted data sharing
• Disabling advertising features
• Avoiding unnecessary identifiers
• Limiting access
• Avoiding collection of sensitive form content
• Preventing analytics from recording safeguarding forms
• Preventing analytics from recording medical information
• Preventing analytics from recording children’s form responses

Analytics will never capture form-field content, passwords, medical information, safeguarding reports or uploaded documents.

The website and services may be used by or relate to children.

Cookie and tracking choices are presented clearly.

We do not use children’s website activity for behavioural advertising or profiling.

We avoid unnecessary tracking on:

• Player application pages
• Safeguarding pages
• Medical forms
• Parent-consent pages
• Children’s profile areas

Cookies may be:

Session cookies

These normally expire when the browser session ends.

Persistent cookies

These remain for a defined period or until deleted.

The live cookie register states the actual duration of each active technology.

Retention periods are not longer than reasonably necessary for the stated purpose.

Cookie and preference systems are configured securely.

We do not store sensitive player, medical, payment or safeguarding information directly in ordinary browser cookies.

Where an identifier is necessary, an appropriately secure and limited value is used.

This Cookie Policy may be updated when:

• Website functions change
• New providers are introduced
• Technologies are removed
• Legal requirements change
• Consent controls change

The current revision date appears at the top of the page.

Where a material change affects existing consent, visitors will be asked to make a new choice where required.

Questions about cookies, website technologies or privacy can be sent to:

Next Phase Football

Telephone and WhatsApp: 07757 640536

Email: info@nextphasefootball.com

General questions may be raised by telephone or WhatsApp. Formal privacy requests and legal correspondence should be submitted by email so that a written record is available.