Privacy Notice

Who we are

Athlete Futures Abroad ("AFA") is the data controller for personal data processed through this platform. Contact us at privacy@athletefutures-abroad.com.

What we collect

• Account details: name, email, sign-in activity.
• Athlete profile: sport, competition history, results, academic information, photos and highlight video URLs you upload.
• Consent records: your choices about marketing email.
• Basic usage data such as pages visited and device type.

Why we use it

• To operate your account and let you build a profile.
• To personalise and rank relevant opportunities for you (see “How matching works” below).
• To send transactional emails you need - magic links, introductions, coach invitations, application-support confirmations and application journey updates. These are sent regardless of marketing consent.
• To send marketing email (new opportunities, launch updates, athlete resources) - only if you opt in.

Lawful bases (UK GDPR)

• Contract: to run your account and provide the service you signed up for.
• Consent: for marketing emails and any optional cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests: to keep the platform secure and to make coach introductions when you have published your profile.

Profile visibility to coaches

Your profile is private until you choose to publish it. When it is published, verified university coaches can view it to consider you for their opportunities. You can pause or hide your profile at any time from your dashboard.

How matching works

We use the details on your profile - sport, results, academic record, preferences and eligibility - to personalise and rank the opportunities we show you. This helps surface opportunities that are more likely to be a fit.

• Matching does not make university admissions or recruitment decisions. Those decisions are made by the university.
• You can still browse every available opportunity yourself.
• You can hide your profile at any time - this stops coaches from discovering you through recommendations.

Marketing emails

Marketing emails are only sent when you tick the opt-in box during sign-up (or later in Settings). Every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link, and you can withdraw consent at any time. We keep a record of when you gave or withdrew consent, and the exact wording you saw, so we can honour your choice.

Retention

We keep your profile for as long as your account is active. If you close your account we delete or anonymise personal data within a reasonable period, unless we need to retain it to meet a legal obligation.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict or object to processing of your data, and to data portability. To exercise any right, email privacy@athletefutures-abroad.com. You can also complain to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ico.org.uk).

Sharing

We share profile data with verified university coaches only when you publish your profile or when we make an introduction on your behalf. We use trusted processors (hosting, email delivery) under written contracts.

Cookies

We use a small number of essential cookies and similar storage to keep you signed in and to remember your cookie choice. These are always on because the platform cannot work without them.

We also use optional analytics cookies (Google Analytics) to understand how the site is used. These are only set after you accept them in the cookie banner. If you reject them, no analytics scripts are loaded at all. You can change your choice at any time using the “Cookies” link in the footer.

Changes to this notice

We’ll update the “last updated” date and, for material changes, notify you by email.