Terms of Service

These Terms of Service ("Terms") form a legally binding agreement between you ("you", "your", "User") and The Half Spaces ("we", "our", "us", the "Publication") and govern your access to and use of thehalfspaces.com together with any subdomains, content, features, tools, and services we make available (collectively, the "Site"). By accessing, browsing, or using the Site in any way, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy and Editorial Disclaimer, which are incorporated by reference. If you do not agree to all of these terms, you must immediately cease using the Site.

1. About The Half Spaces

The Half Spaces is an independent editorial publication providing tactical analysis, opinion, scouting features, match commentary, and interactive tools. Coverage is produced by editorial desks (see the Editorial Disclaimer) and may be drafted with the assistance of large language models, with editorial direction, structural choices, fact-checking, and final approval performed by the desk and its editors before publication.

We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or in any partnership with the English Premier League, the Football Association, UEFA, FIFA, the Confederation of African Football, CONMEBOL, the AFC, OFC, Concacaf, La Liga, the Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1, the Primeira Liga, MLS, the National Women's Soccer League, the Women's Super League, any individual football club, manager, player, agent, broadcaster, sponsor, governing body, or any of their respective licensees, agents, or affiliates. Use of any name, mark, crest, logo, badge, or insignia belonging to any of the foregoing is strictly for editorial identification under principles of nominative fair use, as further described in the Editorial Disclaimer.

2. Eligibility

You may use the Site only if you are at least thirteen (13) years of age (or the minimum age required to consent to digital services in your jurisdiction, including sixteen (16) in parts of the European Economic Area and the United Kingdom). By using the Site, you represent and warrant that you meet this requirement, that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms, and that you are not barred from using the Site under any applicable law. If you are accessing the Site on behalf of an organisation, you represent that you have authority to bind that organisation to these Terms.

3. Editorial nature of content; No professional advice

All articles, opinions, match breakdowns, scouting profiles, rankings, predictions, debates, glossary entries, and similar content (collectively, "Content") published on the Site are editorial commentary, journalism, or opinion and represent the editorial judgement of The Half Spaces at the time of publication. The Content is provided for general information and entertainment purposes only.

Nothing on the Site constitutes, or is intended to constitute, advice of any kind, including but not limited to: betting, wagering, gambling, or odds-making advice; financial, investment, securities, tax, or accounting advice; legal advice; medical, dietary, or fitness advice; recruitment or transfer-market advice; coaching, training, or refereeing advice; or any other professional advice. You must not rely on any Content as a substitute for advice from a qualified professional. Power Rankings, Tactical Debate verdicts, World Cup 2026 Predictor outputs, transfer-tracker entries, scouting profiles, and similar features are editorial opinion, will change over time, and are inherently incapable of predicting future events.

4. Accuracy and corrections

We endeavour to ensure that the Content is accurate at the date of publication, but we make no warranty or representation that any Content is accurate, complete, current, reliable, or fit for any particular purpose. Statistics displayed on league hubs, competition pages, and analytics widgets are sourced from licensed third-party data feeds and may lag the most recent fixtures, may contain errors introduced by the upstream provider, and may be replaced or removed without notice. Quotes attributed to public figures are sourced from publicly available interviews, press conferences, and reporting. If you believe any Content contains a factual error, please email [email protected] with the article URL and a description of the issue. We will review and, where appropriate, correct.

5. Intellectual property

5.1 Our Content

The Site, the Content, the page layouts, the design system, the editorial graphics, the underlying source code, and the selection, arrangement, and coordination of the foregoing are owned by or licensed to The Half Spaces and are protected by copyright, database right, trade-mark right, design right, and other intellectual-property laws around the world. All rights are reserved. Except for the limited licence granted in Section 5.2, you obtain no right, title, or interest in any of our intellectual property by accessing the Site.

5.2 Your limited licence to use the Site

Subject to your continuous compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable licence to access and view the Content on the Site through a standard web browser for your own personal, non-commercial use. You may quote short, attributed excerpts from individual articles (up to approximately two hundred (200) words per article) for the purpose of comment, criticism, or news reporting, provided that you (a) clearly attribute "The Half Spaces" and link back to the original article URL, and (b) do not reproduce a sufficient quantity to substitute for visiting the Site. For any longer reproduction, syndication, training of machine-learning models, or commercial use, you must obtain our prior written permission.

5.3 Things you may not do

Without our prior written permission you must not, and you must not assist or permit any third party to:

• copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, display, perform, or transmit the Content other than as expressly permitted;
• scrape, crawl, harvest, mirror, frame, deep-link, index, or use any automated means to extract data from the Site, except for indexing by general-purpose search engines that obey our robots.txt;
• use the Site or the Content (in whole or in part) to train, fine-tune, evaluate, or otherwise develop any artificial-intelligence model, large-language model, generative system, or similar product;
• modify, translate, create derivative works of, or reverse-engineer the Site or the Content;
• remove, alter, or obscure any copyright, trade-mark, or other proprietary notice;
• circumvent, disable, or attempt to circumvent any technical or access-control measure;
• use the Site to send unsolicited commercial communications, malware, or any harmful code;
• interfere with the integrity or performance of the Site or any data it contains;
• impersonate any person or entity or misrepresent your affiliation with any person or entity;
• use the Site for any illegal, fraudulent, or unauthorised purpose, or in violation of any applicable law.

5.4 Third-party content and trademarks

Cover images on article pages are typically sourced from Wikimedia Commons and are reproduced under the licence specified by the original uploader (commonly Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike). Player photographs, club crests, and competition badges displayed alongside statistics, fixtures, and competition pages are supplied by licensed third-party data providers and are used solely for editorial identification within the Site. Underlying rights remain with the original photographers, agencies, clubs, leagues, and rights-holders. Club crests, league logos, and competition badges are the registered or unregistered trade marks of their respective owners; their appearance on the Site is editorial nominative use only.

5.5 Copyright complaints (DMCA / takedown)

If you believe Content on the Site infringes your copyright, send a takedown notice to [email protected] in the form described in our Editorial Disclaimer. We operate a repeat-infringer policy under which we may, in appropriate circumstances, terminate access to the Site for users who repeatedly infringe the rights of others. Submission of a knowingly false takedown notice may expose you to liability under applicable law (including 17 U.S.C. § 512(f) where the United States DMCA applies).

6. Newsletter and email

If you submit your email address to the Site, you consent to us using that address to deliver The Half Spaces newsletter and any reasonable, account-related notice (including notice of changes to these Terms or to the Privacy Policy). You may unsubscribe at any time using the link in any newsletter or by emailing us. Your email is processed in accordance with the Privacy Policy.

7. Interactive features and User submissions

Interactive features on the Site (the Starting XI Builder, World Cup 2026 Predictor, Tactical Debate voting, Tactical Glossary, and similar) save your inputs in your browser's local storage. We do not collect or process those inputs on our servers. If we introduce features in future that allow you to submit content (comments, profiles, etc.), additional terms will apply and will be linked from those features; in the meantime, do not assume that any data submitted through the Site is private to you alone.

Without prejudice to the foregoing: by submitting any content to us (including by emailing us a tip, correction, or letter), you grant us a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable, transferable licence to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, distribute, and display that content in any media for any editorial or operational purpose connected with the Site, with appropriate attribution where reasonable. You represent and warrant that you have the right to grant this licence and that the content does not infringe any third-party right.

8. Third-party links and resources

The Site contains links to third-party websites, services, and resources (including image libraries, our social-media accounts, external articles cited in editorial pieces, and the Wikipedia article-source pages used for some cover photographs). We do not control those sites and we are not responsible for their availability, content, accuracy, policies, or practices. The inclusion of any link is not an endorsement. Following an external link is at your sole discretion and risk.

9. Disclaimers ("AS-IS")

The Site, the Content, and any features, tools, or services made available through the Site are provided "AS-IS", "AS-AVAILABLE", AND "WITH ALL FAULTS", without warranty of any kind, express or implied. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, The Half Spaces, its contributors, and its operators expressly disclaim all warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, or statutory, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, non-infringement, accuracy of content, freedom from computer viruses, system integration, quiet enjoyment, and any warranties arising from course of dealing, course of performance, usage, or trade practice.

Without limiting the foregoing, we make no warranty or representation that: (a) the Site will operate uninterrupted, error-free, or be free of viruses or other harmful components; (b) any defect or error will be corrected; (c) the Content will be accurate, current, complete, reliable, or fit for any particular purpose; (d) the Site will meet your requirements or expectations; or (e) any information you obtain from the Site is suitable for any decision you may make.

10. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, The Half Spaces, its contributors, agents, employees, officers, directors, and operators (collectively, the "Released Parties") accept no liability of any kind for any loss or damage of any kind — direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, special, exemplary, punitive, or any other category of loss — arising out of or in connection with: (a) your access to, use of, or inability to access or use the Site or the Content; (b) any reliance placed on Content; (c) any decision made or action taken on the basis of Content; (d) any errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or delays in Content; (e) any unauthorised access to your data; (f) any conduct of any third party on or in connection with the Site; (g) the temporary or permanent unavailability of the Site; or (h) any other matter relating to the Site, however arising, whether based in contract, tort (including negligence), strict liability, statute, or any other legal theory, and whether or not the Released Parties have been advised of the possibility of such loss or damage.

This includes but is not limited to: loss of revenue, profits, business, goodwill, reputation, anticipated savings, opportunity, data, or use of data. Nothing in these Terms is intended to limit any liability that cannot lawfully be excluded or limited under applicable law (including, where relevant, liability for fraud, fraudulent misrepresentation, gross negligence, or for death or personal injury caused by negligence). If a court of competent jurisdiction holds any part of this Section 10 unenforceable, the remainder will continue to apply, and liability will be limited to the maximum extent permissible by law.

11. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Released Parties from and against any and all claims, demands, suits, actions, losses, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or connected with: (a) your breach of these Terms; (b) your misuse of the Site; (c) your violation of any law or any third-party right (including intellectual-property rights, privacy rights, and rights of publicity); (d) any content you submit to us; or (e) your reliance on any Content for any purpose. We reserve the right, at our own expense, to assume the exclusive defence and control of any matter otherwise subject to indemnification by you, in which case you agree to cooperate with our defence.

12. Suspension and termination

We may, at any time and in our sole discretion, with or without cause and with or without notice, modify, suspend, or terminate (in whole or in part) your access to the Site, the Content, or any feature, including blocking specific IP ranges that engage in scraping, abuse, or other prohibited conduct. The provisions of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination — including Sections 5 (Intellectual property), 9 (Disclaimers), 10 (Limitation of liability), 11 (Indemnification), 13 (Governing law), 14 (General), and any obligation that has accrued prior to termination — will so survive.

13. Governing law, venue, and dispute resolution

These Terms, and any non-contractual obligation arising out of or in connection with them, are governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales, without regard to conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute, controversy, or claim arising out of or in connection with these Terms, the Site, or the Content (a "Dispute") will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales, except that nothing in this Section limits any right you have to bring proceedings against us in your country of residence under applicable mandatory consumer-protection law. You and we each agree to waive any objection on the grounds of forum non conveniens, and you and we each agree, to the maximum extent permitted by law, to bring any Dispute on an individual basis only — class actions, collective actions, mass actions, and representative actions are waived.

14. General

• Entire agreement. These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and the Editorial Disclaimer, constitute the entire agreement between you and us with respect to the Site and supersede all prior agreements, communications, and understandings, whether written or oral.
• Severability. If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, that provision will be deemed modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it enforceable, and the remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.
• No waiver. No failure or delay by us in exercising any right or remedy will operate as a waiver, and no single or partial exercise of any right or remedy will preclude any other or further exercise.
• Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights under these Terms without our prior written consent. We may assign or transfer our rights and obligations to any successor in connection with a sale, merger, reorganisation, or similar event.
• No agency. Nothing in these Terms creates an agency, partnership, joint venture, employment, or franchise relationship between you and us.
• Force majeure. We are not liable for any failure or delay in performance caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including acts of God, natural disasters, pandemics, civil unrest, war, terrorism, regulatory action, internet outages, third-party service-provider failures, or labour disputes.
• Notices. Notices to us under these Terms must be sent to [email protected]. Notices from us will be posted on the Site or sent to the email address (if any) you have provided.
• Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.
• Reservation of rights. All rights not expressly granted to you in these Terms are reserved.

15. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of the page reflects the date of the most recent change. If a change is material, we will give at least seven (7) days' notice on the homepage before it takes effect. Your continued use of the Site after a change takes effect constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree to the updated Terms, you must stop using the Site.

16. Contact

The Half Spaces · [email protected]