This Privacy Policy explains how François Fortier, operating footballleaguesimulator.com ("FLS", "the Website", "we", "us"), collects, uses, discloses, and protects information when you use the Service. It is incorporated into, and should be read together with, our Terms of Service. By using the Website, you acknowledge that your information will be processed as described here.
On this page:
- Who Is Responsible For Your Data
- Information We Collect
- Legal Bases for Processing (EEA/UK Users)
- How We Use Your Information
- Cookies and Similar Technologies
- How We Share Your Information
- International Data Transfers
- Data Retention
- Data Security
- Children's Privacy
- Your Privacy Rights
- Do Not Track & Global Privacy Control
- Changes to This Policy
- Contact & Complaints
1. Who Is Responsible For Your Data
For the purposes of applicable data protection laws (including the EU/UK GDPR), François Fortier is the data controller for personal information collected through the Website. Contact and hosting details are available on our Legal Notices page.
2. Information We Collect
We collect the following categories of information:
- Account information: username, email address, and a securely hashed password (we never store your password in plain text; it is hashed using the Argon2id algorithm). We also store your subscription level, in-app currency balance, and preferred language.
- Gameplay / usage data: the leagues, cups, seasons, teams, players, and datasets you create or manage; match results and statistics you generate; tactical preferences and formations; activity logs related to actions you take on leagues you manage.
- Payment data: if you subscribe to a paid plan, payment is handled directly by our payment processor, Stripe. We do not collect or store your full card number; we receive limited information from Stripe necessary to manage your subscription (such as your Stripe customer/subscription identifiers and subscription status).
- Technical and device data: IP address, browser type and version, device type, referring/exit pages, and general log data collected automatically for security, rate-limiting, and troubleshooting purposes.
- Cookies and similar identifiers: see Section 5 below.
- Communications: information you submit through our contact form or by email, including the content of your message.
We do not intentionally collect sensitive categories of personal data (such as health, religious, or biometric data), and ask that you do not submit such information to us.
3. Legal Bases for Processing (EEA/UK Users)
If you are located in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom, we process your personal information on the following legal bases: (a) performance of a contract, to create and manage your account and provide the Service you request, including paid subscriptions; (b) consent, for non-essential cookies, analytics, and advertising, which you may withdraw at any time (see Section 5); (c) legitimate interests, to secure the Service, prevent fraud and abuse, and improve the simulation engine, provided this does not override your fundamental rights; and (d) legal obligation, where we must retain or disclose information to comply with the law.
4. How We Use Your Information
We use the information described above to:
- Create, authenticate, and manage your account, including "remember me" sessions and password resets;
- Operate the simulation engine and save your leagues, teams, players, matches, and related progress;
- Process subscription purchases, renewals, upgrades, downgrades, and cancellations, and enforce plan limits;
- Protect the Website against fraud, abuse, unauthorized access, and automated (bot) traffic, including via reCAPTCHA and login rate-limiting;
- Communicate with you about your account, transactional matters, and, where permitted, respond to support and contact requests;
- Analyze aggregated usage trends to maintain and improve the Service;
- Where enabled and consented to, show relevant advertising to Free-tier users and measure Website usage via analytics;
- Comply with legal obligations and enforce our Terms of Service.
5. Cookies and Similar Technologies
We use cookies and similar technologies (such as local storage) for purposes that generally fall into these categories: (a) strictly necessary cookies required for login sessions, security, and core site functionality; (b) analytics cookies (Google Analytics) that help us understand how the Website is used; and (c) advertising cookies (Google AdSense), used, where enabled, to serve and measure advertising to users on our Free plan.
We use CookieYes as our consent management platform. Depending on your location, you will be shown a consent banner allowing you to accept or reject non-essential cookie categories before they are set, and/or an option to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of information for advertising purposes where applicable law (such as the CCPA/CPRA) requires it. You can change your preferences at any time using the cookie icon displayed on the Website (bottom-left corner) or by clearing cookies in your browser. Strictly necessary cookies cannot be disabled through this tool, as the Service cannot function without them (for example, you cannot remain logged in without them).
Because some non-essential cookies and advertising require your prior consent depending on your region, if you decline advertising cookies as a Free-tier user in a region where such consent is legally required, some features that depend on ad-supported access (such as simulating a match) may not be available to you unless you subscribe to a paid, ad-free plan.
6. How We Share Your Information
We do not sell your personal information for money. Depending on your jurisdiction, sharing information with advertising partners as described below may nonetheless be considered a "sale" or "sharing" under laws such as the CCPA/CPRA; you can opt out of this via our cookie consent tool. We disclose information to the following categories of recipients, each acting as an independent controller or as our processor under contract:
- Stripe, Inc. — payment processing and subscription management;
- Google LLC — reCAPTCHA (fraud/bot prevention), Google Analytics (usage analytics), and Google AdSense (advertising, where enabled);
- CookieYes — cookie and consent management;
- Our hosting provider (Pense Web Inc.) — infrastructure hosting the Website and its database;
- Legal and safety authorities — where required to comply with a legal obligation, enforce our Terms, or protect the rights, property, or safety of the Operator, our users, or the public;
- Successors — in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, subject to this Policy or a policy at least as protective.
Some other users may see information you choose to make public, such as your username, public team/league/dataset names, and associated statistics, if you use our Community/"Explore" features.
7. International Data Transfers
We operate from Québec, Canada. Canada's federal privacy law (PIPEDA) benefits from an adequacy decision under the EU GDPR for data transferred to commercial organizations, which facilitates transfers from the EEA to Canada. However, some of our third-party providers (such as Google and Stripe) may process personal information in the United States or other countries. Where required, such transfers are supported by appropriate safeguards, such as Standard Contractual Clauses or the provider's own certified transfer mechanisms. Contact us if you would like more information about the safeguards used for a specific transfer.
8. Data Retention
We retain your personal information for as long as your account remains active and as necessary to provide the Service. If you delete a team, dataset, or your account, the associated data is typically marked for deletion and kept for a limited grace period (ranging from a few hours to a few weeks depending on the type of data) to allow for recovery from accidental deletion and for technical/backup reasons, after which it is permanently erased from our active database, unless we are legally required to retain it longer (for example, transaction records for tax or accounting purposes). Aggregated or de-identified statistics that no longer identify you may be retained indefinitely.
9. Data Security
We apply reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your information, including password hashing with Argon2id, parameterized database queries, brute-force login protection with temporary lockouts, and restricted access to production credentials. However, no method of transmission over the internet or electronic storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. If we become aware of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify you and the competent authorities as required by applicable law.
10. Children's Privacy
Our Service is not directed at, and is not intended for use by, children under 13 years of age (or the higher minimum age required in your country to consent to online services without parental involvement). We do not knowingly collect personal information from children below that age. If you are a parent or guardian and believe your child has provided us with personal information, please contact us at contact@footballleaguesimulator.com so we can investigate and delete such information as appropriate.
11. Your Privacy Rights
If you are in the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom (GDPR / UK GDPR), you have the right to: access the personal information we hold about you; request rectification of inaccurate data; request erasure of your data ("right to be forgotten"); request restriction of, or object to, certain processing; request data portability; and withdraw consent at any time where processing is based on consent, without affecting the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority (for example, the CNIL in France, or your relevant national authority).
If you are in Québec, you have rights under the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector (Law 25), including the right to access and rectify your personal information, to request its deletion, and to be informed of automated decisions and profiling, where applicable. Complaints can be directed to the Commission d'accès à l'information du Québec (CAI).
If you are elsewhere in Canada, similar rights of access and correction apply under the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).
If you are a California resident (CCPA/CPRA), you have the right to know what personal information we collect, use, and disclose; to request deletion of your personal information; to correct inaccurate information; to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of your personal information (see Section 5 for how to opt out via our cookie tool); and to non-discrimination for exercising these rights.
To exercise any of these rights, contact us at contact@footballleaguesimulator.com. We may need to verify your identity before responding, and may decline requests where permitted by law (for example, if fulfilling the request would compromise the rights of others or our legal obligations). You can also directly access, correct, and delete much of your account data using the account and creation-center tools on the Website.
12. Do Not Track & Global Privacy Control
Some browsers offer a "Do Not Track" (DNT) signal; because no common industry standard for DNT exists, our Website does not currently respond to DNT signals. Where required by applicable law, our cookie consent tool is configured to recognize and honor the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as a valid opt-out of the sale/sharing of personal information for California residents.
13. Changes to This Policy
We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will revise the "Last Updated" date above and, for material changes, take reasonable steps to notify active users. Your continued use of the Service after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the revised Policy.
14. Contact & Complaints
If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data rights, or wish to make a complaint, please contact us at contact@footballleaguesimulator.com or via our Contact page. We will do our best to resolve your concern directly; you also retain the right to contact the supervisory authority applicable to your place of residence, as described in Section 11.