General Terms & Conditions of Use

These are the General Terms & Conditions of Use (hereinafter “GTC”) of Transfermarkt GmbH & Co. KG, Wandsbeker Zollstraße 5a, 22041 Hamburg, registered at the Local Court [Amtsgericht] of Hamburg under No. HRA 109005 (hereinafter “Transfermarkt”) for the use of the German-language websites “transfermarkt.de”, “transfermarkt.at” and “transfermarkt.ch” and all other websites that Transfermarkt GmbH & Co. KG operates under the URL address “transfermarkt” and provides with the relevant country code (hereinafter collectively “the websites”). By registering with Transfermarkt, you are confirming that you have read and understood the GTC and that you accept them.


1. Subject matter of the GTC

1.1.The GTC apply to all content, functions, and other services (hereinafter collectively “services”) that Transfermarkt makes available to you on the websites.
1.2.Transfermarkt reserves the right to amend these GTC for the future and/or to supplement them. Transfermarkt will give you due notice of such amendments. Such amendments will be considered approved by you if you do not object to the amendments or cancel the contract within one month of receiving notification of the amendment. In the event of an objection, you may no longer make use of Transfermarkt’s services.

2. Registration

2.1. You may use the websites without registering and view all services that are enabled for non-registered use. If you wish to place any content on the websites yourself, however, you must register with Transfermarkt in advance by opening a user account. Registration is free. With your registration, you enter into a contract with Transfermarkt for use of the websites.
2.2. When registering, you must enter your first and last name, in full and correctly, and a valid e-mail address. Further information is voluntary.
2.3. The username must not consist of an e-mail or Internet address; infringe the rights of third parties, particularly the rights of third parties to names or marks; infringe common decency or be vulgar, racist, or offensive in any other way.
2.4. When registering, you must choose a username and a password.
2.5. You are responsible and liable for all activities that are engagedin with the use of your username. You must therefore keep your password secret and carefully safeguard access to your user account. If you have reason to believe that third parties are improperly using your user account, you must delete it and, if you wish, create a new one. You will not be liable if you have maintained your duties of due care.
2.6. You are not entitled to transfer your member account to a third party without the prior written consent of Transfermarkt.


3. Services

3.1.Transfermarkt reserves the right to discontinue individual services or parts of individual services at any time without advance notice.
3.2. All rights to programs, services, processes, software, technologies, features, inventions, databases, and to all materials that belong to Transfermarkt are owned exclusively by Transfermarkt. The use of all programs and of the contents, materials and identifying features they contain is permitted only for the purposes stated in these terms of use. Duplication of the programs, services, processes, software, etc. – for whatever purpose – is prohibited.


4. Content

4.1.You are responsible for all content such as, for example, texts, data, photos, or photo series (hereinafter “content”) that you transmit to Transfermarkt. This content is not inspected by Transfermarkt before it is placed on the websites or on one of the websites and does not represent the opinion of Transfermarkt. Transfermarkt expressly dissociates itself from this content. Content in this sense refers not to Transfermarkt’s own content, but to third-party content of users of Transfermarkt. Transfermarkt is interested in the plurality of its users’ opinions and provides them with a forum for these opinions. Transfermarkt reserves the right to inspect content in individual cases. You have no legal claim to publication of the transmitted content.
4.2. It is your responsibility to ensure that the transmitted content is lawful; that, above all, it does not violate the laws in force; and that it does not infringe the rights of third parties. In particular, you assume an obligation to Transfermarkt to ensure that the transmitted content does not violate provisions of criminal law, copyright, competition law, youth protection law, trademark law or other industrial property rights, or the personality rights of third parties. In particular, it is forbidden to transmit content that
4.2.1. is offensive, libellous, threatening, obscene, or harassing;
4.2.2. serves racist, National Socialist, or other illegal purposes;
4.2.3. represents propaganda for organisations that are hostile to the Constitution of the state;
4.2.4. glorifies and/or trivialises drugs;
4.2.5. glorifies and/or trivialises war or violence;
4.2.6. offends against common decency, good taste, or good manners;
4.2.7. is grossly offensive;
4.2.8. is of a pornographic or sexual nature;
4.2.9. is harmful to young people;
4.2.10. is extremist;
4.2.11. promotes a terrorist or extremist political organisation;
4.2.12. calls for a criminal offence to be committed;
4.2.13. contains insulting statements;
4.2.14. is criminal or otherwise illegal or that links to illegal content; or
4.2.15. contains partisan or political propaganda.
4.3. When using the forums or other services, you must observe the relevant ground rules of the “11 Commandments” [hyperlink to the 11 Commandments].
4.4. The content that you transmit must not contain any falsehoods about third parties and must not otherwise infringe the rights, particularly personality rights, of third parties.
4.5. By transmitting content, you give your assurance that you hold the required rights of use for publication of this content on the Internet. Furthermore, you guarantee and warrant that the content you transmit is not subject to the rights of third parties.
4.6. In particular, you shall, before transmitting an image file, ensure that you have the rights to the use of the photo or file, including the right to make it publicly accessible over the Internet.
4.7. You are obligated to indemnify Transfermarkt against all claims of third parties arising from infringement of their rights, particularly their copyrights, industrial property rights, and other proprietary rights, owing to the transmitted content. You are, furthermore, obligated to promptly notify Transfermarkt if it subsequently becomes known to you that you do not have the required rights of use for publication of this content, or if it subsequently becomes known to you that this content is not lawful. Transfermarkt is entitled to disclose your personal data to third parties if, in the view of Transfermarkt, there is reason to suspect that the content transmitted by you has infringed the rights of third parties and third parties charge Transfermarkt with the infringement of these rights.
4.8. By transmitting content, you grant Transfermarkt the irrevocable and transferable right, for an indefinite period and without limitation as to place, to reproduce, distribute, publish, display, make publicly accessible, alter, translate, and store the content. This includes the right to edit or shape the content, to adapt it to the file formats required for use, or to alter and/or improve its display quality. This permission for use shall continue past the term of this Agreement; i.e., in the event that the Agreement is terminated, we will not be obliged to delete content that you have transmitted to Transfermarkt. Your obligation to notify and to indemnify as per item 4.7 remains unaffected by this. Your obligation of notification and indemnification to Transfermarkt shall cease, however, if you have notified Transfermarkt that you do not (or no longer) have the rights of use required for publication of the content, or that the content is, in your view, not (or no longer) lawful, and Transfermarkt does not thereupon remove the content from its website within a reasonable period. You are obligated to precisely describe (posting time and place, which forum, rumour mill, discussion group, etc.) to Transfermarkt the content that, in your view, is so affected, for only in this way is Transfermarkt assured of being able to remove the content from its webpage within a reasonable period.


5. Deletion, warning and blocking

5.1.If there are concrete reasons to believe that, when transmitting content and/or using the services, you are in violation of statutory provisions, the rights of third parties, or these GTC, or if there is other good cause, Transfermarkt may, without further notice or extension, delete all or some of the content that you have sent, limit your rights of use in forums or in other categories of use, give you a warning, or temporarily and permanently block your user account. In deciding whether to adopt such measures, Transfermarkt shall consider your legitimate interests.


6. Liability of Transfermarkt

6.1. Transfermarkt expressly dissociates itself from the contents of all pages linked to Transfermarkt and assumes no responsibility and liability for such contents. The providers of the pages in question are themselves responsible for such contents.
6.2. Transfermarkt cannot guarantee the constant availability and functional capability of the websites and services, although it strives to make the websites as consistently available as possible. Transfermarkt assumes no liability for service failures, data losses, and transmission errors. Transfermarkt is also not liable for disruptions in the quality of access to its services. Transfermarkt is entitled to discontinue operation of the websites or individual services at any time and without advance notice. Transfermarkt is exempt from liability for loss or consequential loss in these cases as well.
6.3. As per § 10 of the German Teleservices Act [Telemediengesetz], Transfermarkt is liable for unlawful content that is maintained for use only if
6.3.1. Transfermarkt is aware of the unlawful content or knows of facts or circumstances from which it becomes obvious that the content is unlawful, and
6.3.2. Transfermarkt did not promptly take action to remove the information or to block access to it as soon as Transfermarkt became aware of it.
6.4. Transfermarkt is otherwise liable only for losses from wilful or grossly negligent conduct and for losses resulting from slightly negligent breaches of essential contractual duties. In the latter case, liability is limited to the typically predictable damage. These limitations of liability apply also to breaches of duties by Transfermarkt’s legal representatives or vicarious agents. The aforementioned limitations of liability shall not apply to the extent that life, body or health are affected by the breach of duty.
6.5. Any other liability is excluded.


7. Term of contract / termination

7.1. You are entitled to terminate at any time, with immediate effect, the Use Agreement without observing a period of notice and without stating a reason.
7.2. Both parties are entitled to terminate the Use Agreement based on good cause. Good cause for termination by Transfermarkt will exist in particular if you, despite a warning, continue to violate essential provisions of these GTC.
7.3. Termination by you is effected by filling out and submitting an electronic form that Transfermarkt provides for this purpose on its website [hyperlink to this form]. Transfermarkt will then promptly deactivate your user account. Termination by Transfermarkt is effected by permanently blocking your user account.


8. Right of revocation

8.1. If you have registered with Transfermarkt for a purpose that can be attributed neither to a business activity nor to a self-employed professional activity, the following additional provisions will apply to you as a consumer under § 13 of the German Civil Code (BGB): You may revoke your registration in writing (e.g., by letter, fax, or e-mail) within two weeks without stating reasons. This period begins once Transfermarkt has enabled the user account, but no earlier than upon receipt of this instruction. In each of the above cases, the revocation must merely be sent within the revocation period. In each of the above cases, the revocation may be sent by mail to Transfermarkt GmbH & Co. KG, Walddörferstrasse 126, 22041 Hamburg, or transmitted by e-mail to info@transfermarkt.de.
8.2. Your right of revocation will, in accordance with § 312d(3) of the German Civil Code, expire even before the end of the two-week revocation period as per item 8.1 if Transfermarkt has, with your express consent, begun performance of those of its services for which you have registered, or if you yourself have brought about performance of services of Transfermarkt for which you have registered (e.g., by placing content on one or more of the websites).
8.3. In the event of a revocation, the performance received on either side and any derived benefits shall be returned. If you are wholly or partially unable to return the received performance to Transfermarkt or able to do so only in a diminished condition, you must, if applicable, pay us compensation for lost value.


9. Data protection

9.1. The security and protection of data is of special concern to Transfermarkt. Transfermarkt agrees to comply with the statutory provisions for data protection, particularly the German Federal Data Protection Act [Bundesdatenschutzgesetz] (BDSG) and the German Law on Data Protection for Teleservices [Gesetz über den Datenschutz bei Teledienstleistungen] (TDDSG). Transfermarkt uses special encryption techniques to protect your personal data.
9.2. Transfermarkt collects, processes, and uses, in strict compliance with the data protection provisions in force, the personal data you enter solely to enable you to use the services of Transfermarkt for which registration is required. If you wish to use these services of Transfermarkt for which registration is required, you must first submit the declaration of consent to Transfermarkt’s use of your personal data. For this purpose you should begin by reading Transfermarkt's comprehensive data protection statement so that you may be able to make an informed and responsible decision regarding the release of your personal data. In this case you agree to allow Transfermarkt to collect, process and use your personal data to enable use of the services of Transfermarkt for which registration is required. The services for which registration is required also include the merging of users on the basis of their profile entries (for example, “Werderfan”), should you wish to use this service feature. You yourself decide whether you wish to make data and content, or which data and content you wish to make, accessible to other registered users. You determine, on the one hand, whether, and to what extent, you will enter personal data and content in the created profile, if at all; on the other hand, you must expressly confirm the release of this data to other registered users.
9.3. For the rest, Transfermarkt refers all users to its provisions for data protection.


10. Final clauses

10.1. The Use Agreement and use of the services of Transfermarkt are subject exclusively to German substantive law.
10.2. The courts in Hamburg have jurisdiction for disputes arising from or in connection with the Use Agreement or use of the services of Transfermarkt, provided you are a businessman or have no fixed abode in Germany, you move your residence or usual place of abode abroad after these terms become effective, or if your residence or usual place of abode is unknown at the time at which an action is brought. Transfermarkt is, however, entitled to take action against you in other courts of competent jurisdiction.
10.3. Should one or more provisions of these GTC be or become ineffective, this shall not affect the effectiveness of the other provisions. The ineffective provision shall be considered replaced by an effective provision that most closely approximates the economic intent and purpose of the ineffective provision.