📕 Poteau Terms of Use
Last updated: 29 September 2026
Effective: 1 November 2026
These terms set the rules of the game on Poteau. By creating an account, you accept them.
What we do with your data is explained separately, in our Privacy Policy. It is part of these terms.
1. Who we are
Poteau is published by Krank, a SAS (French simplified joint-stock company) with share capital of €4,910.60, registered with the RCS (Trade and Companies Register) of Paris under number 809 684 533, with its registered office at 18 bis rue d'Anjou, 75008 Paris. In this text, "we" and "us" means Krank.
To write to us: contact@poteau.team
2. What Poteau does
Poteau is for finding players, joining games and organising them, for football and padel.
We don't organise the games. Each game is created by a player or by a partner sports centre, who is its organiser. We put people in touch, but we don't book pitches, we don't guarantee a game will happen and we're not there on the day.
That's why responsibilities are split the way you'll see below.
3. Your account
3.1 Signing up
You must be at least 16. We don't check your age, but an account opened by someone younger may be deleted.
You sign up with your email, your Apple account or your Google account. We also ask for your phone number, so the organiser can reach you on the day of the game (see 5.1).
The information you give must be accurate. Your account is personal: you don't lend it and you don't share it.
3.2 Security
Keep your login details to yourself. You are responsible for what happens from your account. If you think someone else is using it, tell us right away.
3.3 Deleting your account
You can delete your account whenever you like, in Settings, then "Delete my account". Deletion is immediate. What's erased and what's kept is set out in the Privacy Policy.
4. Organising a game
When you create a game, you're the organiser, with everything that comes with it.
4.1 The pitch is your job
Publishing a game on Poteau does not book a pitch. Whether you play at a centre or on a public pitch, it's up to you to make sure the pitch is available. We don't book anything for you and we don't check anything.
If the pitch isn't there on the day, you're the one who answers to the players.
4.2 Accurate information
Place, time, price, level, number of spots: everything must be right. The price shown must be the price you actually charge.
4.3 The game is your responsibility
You are responsible for the game running properly and for whatever may happen during it. We strongly recommend you have civil liability insurance.
4.4 Players are counting on you
If you have to cancel, do it as early as possible and let the players know in the game chat.
4.5 Contacting and removing players
As the organiser, you can call or text the players in your game, and remove a player, in the 4 hours before the game. With Poteau Gold, you can do this at any time. Only use these numbers for the game.
5. Playing a game
Signing up for a game means committing to show up.
Dropping out happens, and that's normal. But leaving at the last minute leaves a gap in the team, and sometimes the game can no longer go ahead. That's what the rules in articles 6 and 8 are for.
5.1 Your phone number
The organiser of your game (or the captain) can see your number to call or text you, as set out in 4.5. Partner centres can see it too. That's how everyone finds each other on the pitch.
5.2 Behaviour
In the app as on the pitch, we respect each other. Among other things, the following are not allowed: insults, harassment, discriminatory remarks, violence, spam, scams, promoting other services in chats, and any commercial use of the app without our agreement.
6. Paying for a game
6.1 On site or in the app
Paying on site: you pay the organiser or the centre directly. Poteau isn't involved.
Paying in the app: available on some games, organised by partner centres or by Poteau ambassadors. It's shown on the game.
The rules below apply to paying in the app. The amounts and deadlines given are the ones that apply in France today. The ones that apply to a game are always shown in the app before you commit.
6.2 What you pay
You pay the price of your spot set by the organiser, plus a service fee of €3 per spot. Gold members don't pay this fee.
You can take several spots, for example to come with friends. Each spot is paid for.
Your card is handled by Stripe, our payment provider. Its numbers never go through our servers.
6.3 Reserve, then confirm
If the game is more than 5 days away, you can reserve your spot without paying. You then have to confirm it by saving your card, from 7 days before the game and no later than 5 days before. We'll remind you with a notification. If your spot isn't confirmed in time, it's released automatically.
If the game is 5 days away or less, you confirm your spot straight away, with your card.
Confirming your spot doesn't charge you: we hold the amount on your card, without taking it.
6.4 Charged only if the game is full
Just before kickoff, we check whether the game is full, meaning every spot is taken.
If it's full, your card is charged the amount on hold.
If it isn't, the game is cancelled automatically, the hold is released and you're not charged anything. We'll let you know with a notification.
If the organiser cancels the game before kickoff, the hold is released, and you're not charged anything either.
6.5 If you drop out
More than 4 hours before the game: it's free. The hold is released.
In the 4 hours before the game: it's free too, unless the game was full when you left. In that case, €5 is taken from the amount on hold, to make up for the gap you leave the others. The rest is released.
Once the game has been charged, there is no refund.
If you think you've been charged by mistake, email us at contact@poteau.team: we look at every case.
6.6 Right of withdrawal
The 14-day withdrawal period does not apply to a spot in a game: it's a leisure service scheduled for a specific date (article L221-28 of the Code de la consommation, the French Consumer Code).
The Gold subscription has its own rules (article 7).
7. Poteau Gold
7.1 What Gold gives you
access to games reserved for Gold members. Some games, at the most popular centres, are reserved for them until 4 hours before kickoff, then open to everyone;
no service fee on games paid in the app (article 6.2);
when you organise: remove or contact a player at any time, and choose whether your game is for Gold members only or open to everyone;
your Gold status, shown on your profile and next to your name.
The benefits may change. The current ones are described in the app, when you subscribe.
7.2 Price, payment and renewal
Gold comes weekly, monthly or yearly. The price is shown in the app before you subscribe.
You pay through the App Store or Google Play, not directly to Poteau. The subscription renews automatically at the end of each period, unless you cancel it.
7.3 Cancelling
You can cancel whenever you like from your Apple or Google account settings, no later than 24 hours before the end of the current period. You keep Gold until the end of the period you've already paid for.
7.4 Withdrawal and refunds
You have 14 days to withdraw after subscribing. Since Apple or Google collects the payment, you need to ask them for the refund. If you get stuck, email us and we'll help.
8. Cards and sanctions
8.1 Cards
We use cards, just like on the pitch.
🟨 Yellow card: a warning. It doesn't block you.
🟥 Red card: your account is blocked, with no time limit, until we lift the sanction.
Two yellow cards make a red. For serious misconduct, we can give a red straight away.
Cards don't wear off over time. We can remove one after a review (see 8.4). They show on your profile, with the reason.
8.2 What gets you a card
Some cards are given automatically:
Last-minute drop-out: you leave a full game yourself in the hour before kickoff. Our servers record the time you left themselves.
Several players report the same problem: after a game, three different players from that game say you didn't show up, that you were late, or that your behaviour was a problem. The same reason can only earn you one card this way.
The others are decided by our team, after a report or when we spot a problem: not showing up without warning, abusive behaviour, false information about a game, several accounts used to get around a sanction.
A single report never gets you a card on its own: it alerts our team, who look into the situation.
8.3 Spam and scams
When an account shows clear signs of spam or a scam (for example, luring players out of the app to get their number or their money), we can block it automatically. Its messages are then deleted and its games cancelled.
8.4 Challenging a decision
If your account is blocked, you can appeal directly from the screen that appears in the app. You can also challenge any card by emailing contact@poteau.team. Someone on the team reviews your case.
9. What you post
Your photos and messages remain yours. You allow us to host them and show them in the app, only to run the service.
A game's chat can be read by anyone who opens that game in the app, not only by its players. Don't put anything in it you wouldn't want read.
You must have the right to post what you post, and it must not harm anyone.
We may remove content that is clearly unlawful or goes against these terms. To report content to us, email contact@poteau.team: we'll tell you what we did about it.
10. Places
The places shown in the app come from Google Maps. We don't control that information. To add, correct or remove a place, you need to contact Google.
11. Service availability
We do our best to keep the app running at all times, but we can't guarantee it. There may be interruptions for maintenance, or for reasons beyond our control.
The app evolves: we may add, change or remove features.
12. Liability
We are responsible for the app working properly.
We are not responsible for:
whether a game takes place, how it goes, or its cancellation;
booking the pitch, which is the organiser's job;
injuries or damage during a game;
how players behave towards each other;
information posted by an organiser.
These limits don't apply in the case of gross negligence or intentional misconduct on our part, or where the law does not allow liability to be limited, in particular for personal injury.
Nothing in these terms takes away the rights the law guarantees you as a consumer, in particular the legal guarantee of conformity.
13. Freedom of association
Poteau respects and supports the freedom to associate and to assemble peacefully, as guaranteed by French and European law.
14. When these terms change
These terms may change. If we change something important, we'll let you know in the app or by email at least 30 days in advance.
If you don't agree with the new terms, you can delete your account before they apply.
15. Governing law and disputes
These terms are governed by French law.
If there's a disagreement, email us first at contact@poteau.team: most problems get sorted out that way.
If we can't find a solution together, you can turn to a consumer mediator free of charge, as provided for by article L612-1 of the Code de la consommation:
CM2C, Centre de la Médiation de la Consommation de Conciliateurs de Justice
49 rue de Ponthieu, 75008 Paris
Website: www.cm2c.net, where you can submit your dispute online
Email: contact@cm2c.net
Phone: 01 89 47 00 14
Otherwise, the French courts have jurisdiction. As a consumer, you can bring a case before the court where you live.
16. Contact us
Krank, 18 bis rue d'Anjou, 75008 Paris
Thanks for your trust, and have a great game.