PRIVACY POLICY

Last updated: July 2026

The Football Business Academy (“The FBA”, “we”, “us” or “our”) is committed to protecting your privacy and handling your personal data responsibly and transparently.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store and share personal data when you visit our website, request information about our programmes, communicate with us, apply to or participate in one of our programmes, attend our events, or otherwise interact with The FBA.

1. Who we are

The controller responsible for the processing of your personal data is:

The Football Business Academy
Cours de Rive 6
1204 Geneva
Switzerland

For questions about this Privacy Policy or how we process your personal data, please contact us at privacy@the-fba.org.

2. Personal data we collect

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect the following categories of personal data:

• identification information, such as your name, date of birth and nationality;
• contact information, such as your email address, telephone number, postal address and country of residence;
• professional and educational information, such as your employment history, job title, employer, CV, academic background and qualifications;
• information relating to your interest in The FBA, our programmes, events and other activities;
• application and admissions information, including information you provide during the application and interview process;
• financial and payment-related information necessary to manage tuition fees, payments, refunds and other financial transactions;
• information you provide when applying for scholarships or financial support;
• records of our communications with you, including emails, telephone calls and messages exchanged through communication platforms such as WhatsApp;
• information relating to your attendance at or participation in our programmes, events and activities;
• email engagement data, such as whether you open our emails or click on links within them;
• website and device information, such as your IP address, browser type, device information, cookie identifiers, pages visited and interactions with our website;
• advertising and campaign information, including information about how you arrived at our website and interacted with our advertising campaigns; and
• any other personal data you choose to provide to us.

We do not intentionally collect sensitive personal data unless it is necessary for a specific purpose and permitted by applicable law. Where we request such information, we will provide appropriate information about how and why it will be processed.

3. How we collect your personal data

We may collect personal data directly from you when you:

• make an enquiry;
• request information about one of our programmes;
• request or download a brochure, report or other resource;
• subscribe to a newsletter or other communication;
• complete a form on our website or landing pages;
• apply to one of our programmes;
• participate in an admissions interview;
• apply for a scholarship or other form of financial support;
• enrol in or participate in one of our programmes;
• register for or attend an event;
• communicate with us by email, telephone, WhatsApp or another communication channel;
• make a payment;
• interact with our website, emails or digital advertising; or
• otherwise provide information to us.

We may also receive personal data from other sources, including:

• advertising and social media platforms;
• recruitment, education and industry partners;
• event organisers;
• referral partners;
• publicly available professional sources; and
• other third parties where permitted by applicable law.

Where personal data is provided to us by a third party, we process it in accordance with applicable data protection laws and this Privacy Policy.

4. How and why we use your personal data

We may use your personal data to:

• respond to your enquiries and provide information you have requested;
• contact you about our programmes, admissions opportunities, scholarships, events and related activities;
• understand your interests and provide more relevant communications;
• manage enquiries, leads and prospective student relationships;
• assess and process applications;
• conduct admissions interviews and make admissions decisions;
• manage enrolment and participation in our programmes;
• deliver educational, administrative and student support services;
• manage scholarships and financial support;
• process and administer payments;
• organise and manage events;
• communicate with students, alumni, partners and other members of our community;
• send newsletters and other marketing communications where permitted;
• measure and improve the effectiveness of our emails, website, advertising and marketing campaigns;
• analyse the use and performance of our website and digital services;
• improve our programmes, services and business operations;
• maintain the security and integrity of our systems;
• prevent fraud and misuse;
• comply with legal, regulatory, accounting and contractual obligations; and
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

5. Legal bases for processing

Where applicable data protection law requires us to identify a legal basis for processing, we may rely on one or more of the following:

Consent

Where you have given us permission to process your personal data for a specific purpose, including certain communications, cookies, tracking technologies or other activities where consent is required by law.

Steps taken at your request before entering into a contract and performance of a contract

Where processing is necessary to respond to an application, manage your enrolment, provide our programmes or services, or fulfil our contractual obligations to you.

Legitimate interests

Where processing is necessary for our legitimate business interests or those of a third party, provided that those interests are not overridden by your rights and interests. These interests may include managing prospective student relationships, improving our programmes and communications, protecting our systems and understanding the effectiveness of our activities.

Legal obligations

Where processing is necessary for us to comply with applicable legal, regulatory, accounting or other obligations.

The legal basis applicable to a particular processing activity may vary depending on the circumstances and your location.

6. Email communications and engagement data

When you receive emails from The FBA, we may use email engagement technologies to understand how you interact with our communications.

This may include information about:

• whether an email has been opened;
• whether links within an email have been clicked; and
• the date and time of those interactions.

We use this information to understand your interests, improve the relevance of our communications, assess the effectiveness of our admissions and marketing activities, and improve how and when we communicate with you.

We use HubSpot to manage certain email communications and associated engagement data.

Where required by applicable law, we will only use email engagement tracking with your prior consent. You may withdraw your consent at any time.

You may also unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in the relevant email or by contacting us at privacy@the-fba.org.

7. Cookies and similar technologies

Our website uses cookies and similar technologies to operate correctly, remember preferences, understand how visitors use our website, measure performance, and support our marketing and advertising activities.

We use Cookiebot by Usercentrics to manage cookie consent and preferences. Through our cookie consent tool, you can accept or reject non-essential cookies and manage your preferences by category.

The cookies and similar technologies used on our website are classified into the following categories:

Necessary

These technologies are required for the basic operation, security and functionality of our website.

Preferences

These technologies allow the website to remember information that changes the way it behaves or appears, such as your preferred language or region.

Statistics

These technologies help us understand how visitors interact with our website and how our digital services perform.

Marketing

These technologies may be used to track visitors across websites, measure the effectiveness of our advertising and, where applicable, deliver more relevant advertising.

Non-essential cookies and similar technologies will only be activated based on your consent where required by applicable law. You can accept all cookies, reject non-essential cookies, or select the categories you wish to allow through our cookie consent tool.

You can change or withdraw your consent at any time by reopening the cookie settings available on our website.

We use third-party services, including Google, Meta and Microsoft, for certain analytics and advertising activities. The specific cookies and technologies currently in use, their purposes, providers and retention periods are available through the Details section of our cookie consent tool.

8. How we communicate with you

We may communicate with you through email, telephone, WhatsApp, other messaging services, and other channels that you use to contact us.

We use third-party service providers to support these communications. These include HubSpot for customer relationship management and email communications, and WhatsApp Business for certain messaging communications.

We also use other communications, messaging and calling service providers to support these activities.

When you communicate with us through a third-party service, that provider may also process personal data in accordance with its own privacy practices.

9. Who we share your personal data with

We may share personal data with trusted third parties where necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

These may include:

• CRM and marketing automation providers;
• email, messaging and communications providers;
• website hosting and technology providers;
• analytics and advertising platforms;
• admissions and educational service providers;
• programme, event and industry partners;
• payment service providers;
• professional advisers, including legal, accounting and compliance advisers;
• regulators, public authorities and law enforcement bodies where required by law; and
• other service providers that support our operations.

We require service providers acting on our behalf to process personal data in accordance with applicable data protection requirements and appropriate contractual safeguards.

We do not sell your personal data.

10. Payments

Payments may be processed through third-party payment providers, including Flywire and Stripe.

Depending on the payment method used, these providers may collect and process information such as:

• your name and contact details;
• transaction details;
• payment method information;
• billing information; and
• information required for fraud prevention, regulatory compliance and payment processing.

Payment providers may process certain information directly under their own terms and privacy policies.

The FBA does not necessarily receive or store all payment information collected directly by these providers, such as complete payment card details.

11. International transfers of personal data

The FBA is based in Switzerland and works with students, prospective students, partners and service providers internationally.

As a result, your personal data may be processed or stored in countries other than the country in which you are located.

Where personal data is transferred internationally, we take appropriate measures as required by applicable law. These may include:

• transfers to countries recognised as providing an adequate level of data protection;
• contractual safeguards, such as recognised standard contractual clauses; and
• other lawful transfer mechanisms.

Some of our service providers may process personal data in the United States or other countries outside Switzerland, the European Economic Area or the United Kingdom.

Where required, we take appropriate steps to ensure that such transfers are subject to suitable safeguards.

12. How long we retain your personal data

We retain personal data only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, including to:

• manage our relationship with you;
• respond to enquiries and applications;
• provide our programmes and services;
• maintain appropriate academic, administrative and financial records;
• comply with legal, accounting and regulatory obligations; and
• establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

The applicable retention period depends on the nature of the information, the purpose for which it is processed and any legal or contractual requirements.

When personal data is no longer required, we will delete, anonymise or otherwise securely dispose of it in accordance with our data retention practices.

13. Your data protection rights

Depending on the laws applicable to you, you may have the right to:

• request access to the personal data we hold about you;
• request correction of inaccurate or incomplete personal data;
• request deletion of your personal data;
• request restriction of certain processing;
• object to certain processing of your personal data;
• withdraw your consent at any time where processing is based on consent;
• request the transfer of your personal data in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, where applicable;
• object to certain direct marketing activities; and
• lodge a complaint with a competent data protection authority.

These rights may be subject to legal conditions, limitations and exceptions.

Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before consent was withdrawn.

To exercise your rights, please contact us at privacy@the-fba.org. We may need to verify your identity before responding to a request.

14. Marketing communications

You can unsubscribe from marketing emails at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in our communications.

You may also contact us at privacy@the-fba.org to update your communication preferences or withdraw consent where applicable.

Please note that even if you opt out of marketing communications, we may still send you administrative or service-related communications where necessary, for example in relation to an application, enrolment, payment or programme in which you participate.

15. Data security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures designed to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.

However, no method of transmitting or storing information is completely secure. We therefore cannot guarantee absolute security.

16. Third-party websites and services

Our website and communications may contain links to third-party websites or services.

We are not responsible for the privacy practices of third parties that operate independently from The FBA. We encourage you to review their privacy policies before providing personal data.

17. Children’s data

Our programmes and services are generally intended for adults.

We do not knowingly collect personal data from children where parental or guardian consent would be required under applicable law.

If you believe that a child has provided us with personal data inappropriately, please contact us at privacy@the-fba.org.

18. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our activities, technologies, legal requirements or privacy practices.

When we make material changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy and take any additional steps required by applicable law.

19. Contact us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy, wish to exercise your data protection rights or have concerns about how we process your personal data, please contact:

The Football Business Academy
Cours de Rive 6
1204 Geneva
Switzerland

Email: privacy@the-fba.org