ECL Rules 2018

ECL Rules 2018 (PDF file)

ECL Report Form 2018

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

European Cheer League (ECL) is a virtual championship with a special scoring system that offers athletes an additional option to examine their skill level and to compete among themselves even if they don’t attend the same competitions. Furthermore, ECL creates an opportunity to display which teams are better in a longer term, and not in only one competition. One of the main objectives of the ECL is also to promote international competitions all around Europe.

ECL is also a qualifier for the ECU European Cheerleading Championships. The winner of each ECL division will directly qualify to Europeans with free registration.

SEASON

The ECL season 2018 lasts from 1^st of January 2018 to 31^st of December 2018.

DIVISIONS

In the ECL season 2018 teams can compete in the following divisions:

Cheerleading – Team Coed Premier, Senior
Cheerleading – Team All Girl Premier, Senior
Performance Cheer – Team Cheer Freestyle Pom, Senior
Cheerleading – Team Coed Elite, Junior
Cheerleading – Team All Girl Elite, Junior
Performance Cheer – Team Cheer Freestyle Pom, Junior

All divisions are in the Junior and Senior age group.

Further explanation:

ECU will review the success of the 2018 season and decide if other divisions should be incorporated in ECL in the following seasons.

PARTICIPANTS

Only teams that are members of a national federation which is a member federation of the European Cheer Union (ECU) are eligible to compete in the ECL.

REGISTRATION AND PARTICIPATION FEE

There is no participation fee for the ECL and no special ECL registration is necessary. The teams that participate in one of the ECL divisions on an ECL competition are automatically scored for the ECL final ranking.

Further explanation:

Regardless of the fact that no registration is necessary to participate in ECL and that there is no participation fee for that, participants must register and pay participation fee to the organizer of the respective ECL competition.

COMPETITIONS

Each ECU member federation can appoint one international competition for free that will be included in the ECL.

The ECL competition must be open internationally to all ECU members’ teams (at least in the ECL divisions).

Each ECU member federation can apply for a second ECL event for which a license fee in the amount of 500,00 EUR (Tier 1 and Tier 2 members) or 250,00 EUR (Tier 3 members) needs to be paid. The second ECL event needs to be confirmed by the ECL Steering Committee.

COMPETITION RULES

Recommended Senior age group is defined as in the ECU Rulebook:

Team Coed Premier – 15 years or older (year of birth 2003 or before)
Team All Girl Premier – 15 years or older (year of birth 2003 or before)
Team Performance Cheer – 14 years or older (year of birth 2004 or before).

Recommended Junior age group is defined as in the ECU Rulebook:

Team Coed Elite – 12 to 16 years (year of birth 2002 to 2006)
Team All Girl Elite – 12 to 16 years (year of birth 2002 to 2006)
Team Performance Cheer – 12 to 16 years (year of birth 2002 to 2006).

ECU competition rules must be followed for the ECL divisions.

JUDGING

The ECL divisions must be judged by at least one scoring judge that is ICU certified (at least level 2) and who is not from the country where the competition takes place.

Further explanation:

A judge must be an international judge (not from the same country as the organizer of the competition).

INFORMATION

All information regarding the ECL will be available on the ECU web page http://www.cheerunion.eu and will contain the ECL competition calendar, standings / ranking, rules, news and other relevant information.

SCORING SYSTEM

Clarification:

The ECL scoring system takes into account the fact that different ECL competitions are judged by different judges’ panels on different days and also under different competition conditions. To be as impartial as possible the ECL scoring system is placement based.

There are three categories of points that teams can receive and that will be added together for each ECL competition:

Attendance Points

10 points for attending

Any team that registers, shows up and competes at an ECL competition will receive 10 points, unless that team is disqualified.

100 Point System

1st = 100 pts
2nd = 90 pts
3rd = 80 pts
4th = 70 pts
5th = 60 pts
6th = 50 pts
7th = 40 pts
8th = 30 pts
9th = 20 pts
10th = 10 pts
11th and lower = 0 pts

The 100 point system is what determines the points awarded for a team’s final placement. If a tie occurs at a competition, a team will be awarded the points for a team that has placed two spots down. Example: If there is a tie for 1st place and a team is the next highest after the tie, then this team will be awarded the points for a 3rd place team.

III. Placement Points

5 points awarded for each team your team outscores will be given up to the 15th place.

These points will be awarded for scoring higher than other teams in the division at an ECL competition. Example: A team places 2nd in a division with 5 other teams in it. This team will receive 15 points for outscoring 3 other teams (3 x 5pts).

Foreign teams (teams from non-ECU members) that are participating on the ECL competition are also taken into account when placement points are calculated for the ECU teams. However, foreign teams do not get any ECL points since they are not eligible to participate in the ECL.

Final season ranking:

Each team may compete in as many competitions during the season as they want. However, only their best 3 point totals will be accumulated for their final score for the season 2018. If a team attend less than 3 competitions, all received point totals will be accumulated in their final score.

If the division is tied on the first place the following criteria will be taken into account to determine the winner of the ECL:

The winner becomes the team that has participated on more ECL events (in the division concerned).
If the winner cannot be decided by the first criteria then the winner becomes the team that has participated on more ECL events where there were 3 or more teams (in the division concerned).
If the winner cannot be decided by the first and second criteria then the winner becomes the team that has participated on more ECL event outside their country (in the division concerned).

AWARDS

The overall winner of each ECL division is the team that finished first in final ranking after the season end.

Winner of the ECL holds the title of the “European Cheer League 2018 Champion”. A trophy will also be presented to the winner and will be given at the European Cheerleading Championship 2019 award ceremony.

Winner of the ECL 2018 will directly qualify to European Cheerleading Championships 2019 without affecting the country quota for the championships. Winner will also receive free registration for the European Cheerleading Championships 2019 for all competing athletes (up to 25 competing athletes; substitutes excluded) and 1 coach.

Clarification:

The ECU member country will still have the places granted according to the ECU Competition Rulebook for each category on the Europeans even if a team from that country qualifies for Europeans through the ECL. This way it is possible that one country has one more representative on Europeans in categories that are included in ECL.

The registration fee for the Europeans for the winners of the ECL will be free (approximately 910,00 EUR per division depending on the number of the athletes in the team and height of the registration fee for the specific year).

STEERING COMMITTEE

The ECL is led by the ECL Steering Committee. The Committee is also responsible for overseeing all of the competitions that will participate in ECL and for dealing with different issues that relate to the ECL. The Committee also interprets the rules of the ECL and makes the decisions that are necessary to successfully finish the ECL season 2018.

The Committee has 3 members who are elected by the ECU Board. Among its members the committee also appoints its chairperson who is responsible for leading the committee.

If there are less than 3 candidates for the Committee, then the Committee is not formed and ECU Board takes over the Committee’s tasks.

RULES AND INFORMATION CONCERNING ECU MEMBER FEDERATIONS

Only a national federation that is an ECU member federation can submit an application for the ECL. Each ECU member federation that wants their application to be approved must be in a good standing with the ECU (member’s dues are paid in full).

There are no registration fees for the ECU member federation to apply for one ECL event.

Each ECU member federation can appoint only one (1) international competition for free for the ECL. Competition must be organized in the country which that ECU member federation is representing in the ECU.

Each ECU member federation needs to apply for the first ECL event by the end of August 2018 and for a second ECL event by the end of June 2018. The earlier that ECU receives the information, the more it can be advertised. Partial information about the competition will also be accepted but it must be complemented at a later time. A special ECL application form is provided by the ECU.

The ECL competition must be open to all ECU member federations’ teams in the ECL divisions.

The ECL competition can be organized by an ECU member federation, a sport club that is a member of the national federation, a private company or an ECU associate member that cooperates with the ECU member federation or any other organizer that is chosen by the ECU member federation. It is at the sole discretion of the ECU member federation to decide which competition will host ECL divisions and who will be the organizer of this competition.

The ECL divisions must be judged by at least one scoring judge that is registered in the ECU Judges register. This judge must be an international judge (not from country of the organizer). ECU will provide the information about the ECU registered judges or help national federations to register their judges if this is necessary.

The organizer must ensure execution of at least one ECL division in each age group.

Optional: organizer can offer lower registration fees for their event to participants who already competed at previous ECL events in 2018. Information about the participation in previous ECL events will be provided by the ECL Steering Committee.

The organizer must hand out printouts of the updated 2018 ECL calendar to teams along with their score sheets.

After an ECL competition the ECU member federation must send the following information to the ECU (special report form will be provided by the ECU):

Standings in each of the ECL divisions with the information about:
- Country name
- Sport club name (if exists)
- Team name
- Team contact (name and mail)
- Total score
Short report about the ECL divisions that can be used for the ECL press releases (up to 250 words).
Three (3) to six (6) photos of ECL divisions that can be used in the ECL press releases.
Name of the ECU registered judge(s) that judged the ECL divisions.

The ECL report form must be sent to the ECU no later than 14 days after the date of the competition. If ECU member federation fails to fulfil this duty the ECL points will not be given to the competing teams.

For any other information about the ECL, please contact the ECL Steering Committee at: ecl@europeancheerunion.com.

More information about the ECL can also be found on the following web page:

http://www.cheerunion.eu/category/european-cheer-league/

EUROPEAN CHEER UNION

The ECL, with the exception of the actual organization of the competitions, is organized by

EUROPEAN CHEER UNION

Eskildsgade 18, 2. sal,

DK-1657 Kobenhavn V

Denmark