Newsroom Policy

Editorial Standards

football-news is an independent English-language football newsroom. These are the rules our reporters and editors work to — every story you read on this site has been produced within them.

Sourcing

We attribute every claim. When a story is based on a single source, we say so. When it is based on multiple sources, we say so. We do not republish wire copy without rewriting it in our own voice and adding our own analysis. We name clubs, players, and competitions in their canonical English form across every article, using a translation memory that keeps spellings consistent for international readers.

Verification

Transfer rumours and breaking-news items are checked against at least one independent corroborating source before we headline them as confirmed. Statistics — scorelines, transfer fees, contract lengths, appearance records — are checked against the relevant league or club source of record. If we can only confirm a partial fact, the article reflects that uncertainty in its language.

Use of AI

We use AI tools to help our newsroom move faster: translation of foreign-language source material into English, drafting structural outlines, and surfacing related coverage to readers. Every AI-assisted article passes through a human editor before publication. Drafts produced from automated feeds are held in a review queue and are never published directly to readers without editorial sign-off. The AI is instructed to never invent facts, names, numbers, dates, or quotations — only to work with material already present in the source brief.

Quotations

Direct quotes appear inside quotation marks and are reproduced verbatim from the original interview, press conference, or club statement. We do not paraphrase a speaker and then place the result in quote marks. When a quote was originally given in a language other than English, our translation aims to be faithful to meaning and tone, and the original language is noted where relevant.

Corrections

If we get something wrong, we fix it openly. Material corrections are dated and noted on the article. Trivial fixes (typos, broken links) are made silently. If you spot an error, email ftball-news@outlook.com and we will respond.

Independence

football-news is funded by display advertising and reader subscriptions. Our reporters do not accept gifts, paid travel, or hospitality from clubs, agents, leagues, or sponsors they cover. Sponsored content, where it appears, is labelled clearly and is never written by the editorial team.

Privacy and complaints

Read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. For complaints about coverage, write to the same email above with the article URL and the specific issue, and we will reply within five working days.