EUF Eligibility Rules for National Teams
The EUF Eligibility Rules for National Teams follow the WFDF Ultimate Eligibility Rules v4 2025 with small adaptations to better cope with the European Situation.
There are following differences to the version 2025 of the WFDF eligibility rules:
- Unlike WFDF, EUF doesn't distinguish whether a person has a "legal certificate of permanent residency."
In most of Europe, people are free to move and don't need to obtain permanent residency if they live outside of their country of birth. There have been cases in the past where players from outside Europe just moved into the country and could play, while Europeans, who don’t need any certificate to be in the new country and have lived there longer, could not. Furthermore, it's important for the EUF that a foreign player is well integrated into the nation's community, where they want to wear the national team Jersey. EUF bases the eligibility for Resident non-citizens only on the date when they moved to the new country. The national federation is directly responsible for checking that the player has moved to the country before the eligibility deadline. - Underage residents non-citizens have a shorter period to become eligible.
Minors who move to a foreign country because of their parents will be supported to stay in the sport and continue playing for their new country - Not all divisions are at the same development stage. In order to support participation in these divisions, the eligibility rules are less strict for all teams. The criteria for a division that is developing are clearly defined.
NOTE: This document has no modifications to the WFDF criteria to determine if a team belongs to a small community. Discussions are still in progress within the EUF board and Competition Committee.
Differences from the WFDF eligibility rules are marked in red.
D1. Team Eligibility – General
- D1.1. EUF or EFDF membership is a requirement for registering and competing in EUF/EFDF-sanctioned championship events. Only regular, organisational, and associate member organisations in good standing may register teams.
- D1.2. All players on a Roster must be members of the National Federation in good standing and must meet whatever other requirements are placed on them by the National Federation.
- D1.3. A National Federation is an EUF Member recognised by EUF as representing the sport of ultimate for a country.
- D1.4. A single player may not participate on multiple teams during a single EUF Event.
- D1.5. The team roster must be inspected by an official of the National Federation who represents the team before being submitted. This official must countersign the roster to indicate they have inspected it and found it to be in accordance with player eligibility.
The team roster must be submitted by an official of the National Federation, which guarantees that all players are in accordance with player eligibility. - D1.6. EUF reserves the right to invalidate a submitted roster if it is felt that the team does not adequately represent the country the team is intended to represent.
D2. Team Eligibility – National Team Rosters
- D2.1. EUF European Ultimate Championship Events for National Teams are:
- D2.1.1. EUF/EFDF European Ultimate Championships (EUC)
- D2.1.2. EUF/EFDF European Youth Ultimate Championships U17 (EYUC U17)
- D2.1.3. EUF/EFDF European Youth Ultimate Championships U20 (EYUC U20)
- D2.1.4. EUF/EFDF European Masters Ultimate Championships (EMUC)
- D2.1.5. EUF/EFDF European Indoor Ultimate Championships (EIUC)
- D2.2. A country which fulfils the following criteria will be considered a small Ultimate community for the purposes of National Team roster eligibility per division (for Juniors events, only the number of eligible registered players for that division shall be used for the calculations):
- D2.2.1. Mixed Divisions: A maximum of one hundred and fifty (150) female ultimate players or a maximum of one hundred and fifty (150) male ultimate players are registered with the National Federation (Ultimate Federation, Flying Disc Federation or similar) according to the WFDF census data from the calendar year prior to the event.
- D2.2.2. Open Divisions: A maximum of one hundred and fifty (150) male ultimate players are registered with the National Federation (Ultimate Federation, Flying Disc Federation or similar) according to the WFDF census data from the calendar year prior to the event.
- D2.2.3. Women’s Divisions: A maximum of one hundred and fifty (150) female ultimate players are registered with the National Federation (Ultimate Federation, Flying Disc Federation or similar) according to the WFDF census data from the calendar year prior to the event.
- D2.2.4. Under-20/Under-17 Mixed Divisions: A maximum of seventy-five (75) U20/U17 female ultimate players or a maximum of seventy-five (75) U20/U17 male ultimate players are registered with the National Federation (Ultimate Federation, Flying Disc Federation or similar) according to the WFDF census data from the calendar year prior to the event.
- D2.2.5. Under-20/Under-17 Open Division: A maximum of seventy-five (75) U20/U17 male ultimate players are registered with the National Federation (Ultimate Federation, Flying Disc Federation or similar) according to the WFDF census data from the calendar year prior to the event.
- D2.2.6. Under-20/Under-17 Women’s Division: A maximum of seventy-five (75) U20/U17 female ultimate players are registered with the National Federation (Ultimate Federation, Flying Disc Federation or similar) according to the WFDF census data from the calendar year prior to the event.
- D2.2.7. The country has been a National Federation for less than sixteen (16) years.
- D2.4 Developing Divisions
- D2.4.1. A division in an EUF-sanctioned event has the "developing" status if it had 7 or fewer teams in the previous 2 editions.
- The EUF board can also give the status based on low pre-registrations, and an extended registration period will be granted for this division.
- D2.5. Player Classes – All players on a National Team Roster must belong to one of the following classes:
- D2.5.1. Legal Citizen - Players are deemed to be “Legal citizens” if they own a passport or equivalent legal document issued by the country's government
- D2.5.2. EUF Citizen - Players are also deemed to be “EUF citizens” if they have moved to the country at least forty (40) months prior to January 1st of the year of the event and spent more than 75% of those forty (40) months in the country.
- D2.5.3. Resident Non-Citizen - Players are deemed to be “Resident non-citizens” if they own a legal certificate of permanent residency issued by the country's government; or if they have moved to the country at least twelve (12) months prior to January 1st of the year of the event and spent more than 75% of those twelve (12) months in the country.
D2.5.3.1. Resident Non-Citizen - Underage Players.
Players who are on the 1st of January of the year of the competition are still underage (17 years old or younger) are deemed to be “Resident non-citizens” if they have moved to the country before the 1st of January of the year of the competition.
- D2.6. Team Roster Composition – A National Team may have on its roster:
- D2.6.1. any number of Legal Citizens or EUF Citizens
- D2.6.2. a maximum of four (4) Resident Non-Citizens
- D2.7. Team Roster Composition – Small Ultimate Community
- D2.7.1. Teams from small Ultimate communities can add one (1) extra Resident non-citizen to their Roster.
- D2.7.2. For Teams from small Ultimate communities, the length of time for Resident Non-Citizens referenced in section D2.4.3 will be reduced to six (6) months.
- D2.8. Team Roster Composition - Developing Divisions
- D2.8.1. A maximum of two (2) players 1 year outside the age limits
