Cookie policy

1. What cookies are

Cookies are small text files a website stores in your browser. Similar technology called local storage keeps small settings on your device without sending them to us.

2. Cookies we use

Name	Why	Type	How long
sessionid	Keeps you signed in	Essential	Until you close the browser, or 2 weeks if you choose "Keep me signed in on this device"
csrftoken	Protects forms against forged requests	Essential	1 year
messages	Shows one-off notices such as "Message sent"	Essential	Until the notice is shown
tl_scope	Remembers the country you choose in the Showing menu	Preference	1 year
tl_country	Remembers the country edition you visited	Preference	1 year
tl_tz	Your browser's time zone, used to open pages on your country when we cannot tell from your connection	Preference	1 year
_vid	A random visitor number for our own visit statistics (for visitors who are not signed in)	Statistics	2 years

3. Settings kept on your device

Some pages keep settings in your browser's local storage, which is not sent to us: dark mode, a favourite team, an unsaved article draft for writers, and match entries waiting to sync for contributors working offline.

4. Third parties

We do not use advertising networks or third-party analytics. Fonts and some page components load from Google Fonts and jsDelivr; your browser connects to them directly, which shares your IP address with them under their own policies.

5. Your choices

• You can delete cookies or block them in your browser settings. Blocking essential cookies will stop sign-in and forms from working.
• You can change your country at any time from the Showing menu at the top of the page.
• Clearing site data in your browser removes local storage settings.

More about how we handle personal data is in our privacy policy.