May 10, 2019
The European Disc Golf Federation (EDGF) is pleased to announce that the recent electronic vote of the EDGF General Assembly approved the new EDGC/EMDGC Spot Distribution and Registration Rules. The document that can be found at https://tinyurl.com/ EDGCSpotDistributionRules2019 and that is also included as the attachment of this announcement contains detailed rules how the spots will be distributed to players and countries at future European Disc Golf Championships and European Masters Disc Golf Championships, including the recently announced 2020 joint EDGC & EMDGC in Konopiště, Czech Republic.
The rules have many new features, the most important ones are (1) all spots are now division specific (i.e., players and countries receive spots for each division separately) and (2) there are various ways players can receive their spot (they can either be nominated by their country for a national spot or they can earn their individual spots if they are among the highest rated players in their division in Europe). Also, the current European Champions will automatically receive individual spots, including juniors in MPO/FPO if they are not anymore eligible to play in the junior division.
Each European country in Group I (see EDGC/EMDGC Format & Standards) will receive one spot in the divisions MPO, FPO, and MJ18 (EDGC) and MP40, FP40 (EMDGC). Countries with a large number of players in these divisions will receive more spots based on a fixed mathematical formula, and all countries will be also sorted on the waiting list for the national spots in each division. The remaining spots will be distributed as individual spots; in divisions FJ18 (EDGC), MP50, FP50, MP60, MP65 the individual spots will be the only way the players can qualify to play at European Championships. New features are also a possibility for each country to nominate a substitute player that can fill in a spot at last moment, and also possibility to leave the national spots unnamed until a short time before the event. Also, the rules distribute the spots for the official Sunday doubles competition at both EDGC and EMDGC.
“We believe that the new spot distribution rules will allow both a minimal participation of a quickly growing number of European disc golf countries and participation of all real medal contenders in each division. Furthermore, we want to allow more women and more junior players to compete at the championships to further promote development of these divisions across the whole Europe,” stated EDGF president Richard Kollár. “Each country that has players that satisfy minimum eligibility rules (minimum PDGA rating 800 for males, 600 for females, no minimum for juniors) will now have a chance to send their best male, best female, best junior male player, best male master player in MP40, and the best female master player in FP40 to the event. On the other hand, the number of players from countries that dominate in their divisions as Finland, Sweden, or Germany will significantly grow, thus allowing the players to compete for the European titles regardless of the countries they represent. All of this should make the European Championships more exciting event for both players, spectators, and fans all over the world."
Based on the approved rules EDGF announces the following preliminary spots distribution and registration schedule:
- August 14, 2019 - EDGF evaluates the players data (eligible PDGA members in each age division in each European country); each country should make sure that their players are active PDGA members by this date and that their PDGA country is properly indicated for each player, they will have 12 days to check the data and request corrections
- September 5, 2019 - EDGF publishes final division sizes and distribution of national spots in each division
- September 16, 2019 - the deadline for nomination of team captains from countries in Group I, the deadline for eligible players from countries in Groups II and III to contact EDGF Players Representative, preliminary claim of the number of national spots
- September 19, 2019 - EDGF publishes the number of individual spots in each division
- November 18, 2019 - the deadline for nomination of players for individual spots by their team captains
- November 26, 2019 - EDGF publishes the final list of players with individual spots and final waiting lists for individual spots in each division
- February 18, 2020 - the deadline for official registration of players with national spots and individual spots by their team captains, national spots may remain unnamed at this point
- March 3, 2020 - the deadline for payment of the fees for registered players including substitute players
EDGF thanks the members of the joint European Championships committee and also other involved in the process of preparation of these rules. We hope the new rules will allow all national disc golf governing bodies in Europe better short term and long term planning of their competitive sport.
Best regards,
Richard Kollar
President EDGF