European Ultimate Championship Series

The first step for qualifying for the EUCFs is to qualify for an EUCR tournament. Europe is made up of 28 Ultimate playing nations and these have been grouped together into four different geographic regions. The best teams from each nation in the four regions will, every August/September, play a two or three-day tournament to determine qualifiers for the EUCFs.

Open Division
Nations will make up the bulk of regions in the open division. Each nation which plays a national championship tournament with at least 10 club teams shall gain one automatic bid to an EUCR tournament. Nations with less than 10 club teams shall join together (called a section) and play a series or championship to determine qualifiers for the EUCR. Likewise, these sections can have no less than one bid to an EUCR tournament. There is no maximal limit on how many bids a region may have. 

An open EUCR tournament can have as many as 16 participating clubs, although a regional committee may expand or reduce the tournament. Bids to EUCRs will be allocated by results from the previous EUCR. Each year the two nations/sections with the lowest placing teams in an EUCR will lose one bid in the next EUCR tournament, providing the loss of bid does not eliminate the one automatic bid allocated above. In that case only one bid is allocated.

Women's Division
A women’s EUCR tournament can have as many as 8 participating clubs, although regional committees may expand or reduce the tournament. Bids to EUCRs will be allocated by results from the previous EUCR. Each nation/section will be guaranteed at least one automatic bid to the EUCR.

EUCR Bid allocation system

1. Every nation/section initially gets one less bid than the number of its teams participating in the prior EUCR, with a minimum of 1 bid and no maximum.
   
   
2. Last placed national/sectional teams (L) will be compared with second last placed national/sectional teams (S). L-teams from nations/sections with 6 bids and S-teams from nations/sections with only 2 bids will be disregarded (rule 1).
   
   
3. The best L-team is compared with the worst S-team. If the L-team finished better than the S-team, then the nation/section of the L-team gains a bid from the region of the S-team.
   
   
4.  Compare the next best L-team with the next worst S-team. If the L-team finished better than the S-team, then the nation/section of the L-team gets a bid from the region of the S-team.
   
   
5. A region/section may gain or lose only one bid per year according to the criteria defined above.
   
   
6. If a nation/section is unable to fulfill its bids, rule 4 is applied and either the third S team or L team will have its nation/section fill the bid. This is the only way a region may lose more than one bid.

A maximum of 7 bids to any one region may be distributed through rule 1. Usually 12 bids will be distributed this way. The remaining four bids will be distributed through rule 3.

The RSC may expand or reduce the EUCR depending on interest from the region’s nations/sections. The RSC is the final arbiter of bids offered to a region’s EUCR.

Conclusion
It is important for teams to do as well as possible at their EUCR tournament in order to earn their nation/section as many bids as possible to the following year’s EUCR. A good showing by a nation’s/section’s teams will ensure their nation/section gets a lot of spots at the EUCRs and enhances their nation’s/section’s chances of being represented in the EUCFs.