European Grand Prix REGULATIONS 2021

1. GOALS

- The GP is the basis for a European goalball development plan, promoting club competition through international experience and young players' goalball.;

- To allow the best European goalball club teams to compete with each other;

- To proclaim goalball and to motivate people with visual disabilities to practice this sport;

- To support creation of goalball fan clubs and encourage their activity;

- To improve the visibility of goalball in media and spreading the knowledge of this sport around Europe.

2. MANAGEMENT

European Goalball Club Association (EGCA) executive board is managing the league in co-operation with the organizing clubs of the GP stages.

2.1 EGCA executive board is responsible for:

- The dates of the stages of the season;

- Exchanging contacts in order to provide information;

- Determining the regulations of the season in co-operation with the organizers of the stages;

- appointing a representative of EGCA for each stages of the season;

- In some countries, EGCA can take over the organization of the GP, and can form partnerships with federations and clubs.

2.2 Responsibilities of the club which prepares one of the GP Season stage:

A. To conduct the tournament smoothly;

B. To provide teams with information related to GP as soon as possible;

C. To control preparation for the tournament and attempt to help solving possible problems;

D. To organize the prize giving at the end of the tournament;

E. To look for sponsors for the league;

F. To release information related to the GP to the media;

G. To give information to the EGCA executive board after the stage;

H. To create Facebook event for the stage, which includes information about the event;

I. To publish results and other info during the tournament on the event page on Facebook, EGCA Social Media and Goalball TV;

J. To organize livestream from the tournament by using Goalball TV for raising the knowledge and the coverage of goalball and offering a chance to all goalball fans all around the world to follow the matches;

K. To ensure that all the relevant information of the tournament (line-ups, referees and game schedule) will be published officially on 14 days before the start of the tournament;

L. To work with people, introduce them to the game, explain goalball rules, organize sport events and let people try to play the game. In this case we could attract more crowds to our competitions and create fan clubs which could advocate this sport, collaborate with goalball teams and support them.

2.3. Responsibilities of the EGCA representative

A. To represent the Association with the official entities present in the event;

B. Ensure good tournament organization within fair play;

C. Assist the club organizer;

D. Collect information and data for communication platforms;

E. Prepare a report on the organization.

3. Participants

- The main teams of European goalball clubs that do not participate in the SEGL – Champions League (SEGL) during that sports season can participate actively;

- Clubs from European countries outside the organizing country can actively participate;

- Clubs which are competing for SEGL – Champions League can participate as guests with their first team. The games played by these teams are considered friendly, not influencing the final result of the classification of that country's GP stage;

- A SEGL club that participates as a guest can also enroll a GP team, in which case athletes are prevented from representing the main team (SEGL) that season.

3.1. Athletes

- Athletes from each gender who comply with IBSA standards can participate;

- In addition, a maximum of 2 unclassified players may be deployed on the field at the same time;

- Also 2 foreign players are accepted / GP team during the season;

- An athlete may only represent one club in official EGCA competitions each season and only one team in GP.

3.2. Registration

- There is a digital registration platform for each stage of the season on EGCA website;

- The deadline of registration is always 50 days before a stage;

- There will be published participating teams of a stage just a day after the deadline of registration;

- A stage organizer send an entry form and an invoice to participating teams not later than 45 days before the start of a stage;

- The team registration application on EGCA website must be filled and the invoice paid not later than 30 days before a stage;

- Athletes must be registered electronically with the full name, ID number, country of birth, date of birth and visual classification;

4. The Season

- The EGCA season starts on the 1st of January and ends on the 31st of December and all the GP stages will be played during this period;

- The EGCA Executive Board may approve the postponement or anticipation of the beginning or end of the season;

- GP stages are held in European countries, organized through an application approved by the EGCA. There can only be one GP per country during the season, except in the country that organizes the Final Phase;

- Clubs can participate in several GPs during the season, but when they qualify for the finals, they are considered as a guest club;

- An electronic application for candidates to organize GP stages is open on EGCA website between 22^nd October 2020 – 28^th February 2021;

- EGCA executive board will approve all the stage organizers for the GP season 2021 finally on 5th March 2021;

- The final phase of the season will be organized on December 2021.

4.1. Competition system

The GP stages will be played under the existing IBSA rules. Some tests for rules or technological means of can be used in the tournaments and they will be informed by EGCA executive board officially 50 days before the tournament.

The GP stages will be organized usually from Friday to Sunday.

The games should preferably be played from Saturday to Sunday.

There must be minimum four participating teams in the tournament and one of them must come out of the host country.

Proposed competition system by EGCA executive board for:

- Four clubs: A single round robin on Saturday. Semifinals & medal games on Sunday. Total 10 matches; 5 matches / team);

- Five clubs: A single round robin (seven matches on Saturday and three on Sunday). Two best clubs of the round robin will meet in the final and the 3^rd sand the 4^th of the round robin in the bronze game. Total 12 matches: 5 matches / team for top4 and 4 matches for the 5^{th team};

- If there are six or more participating clubs in the tournament proposed game system is a single round robin. If there are seven or more clubs in the tournament the matches should be started on Friday afternoon.

4.2. Points

- Teams will earn 3 points from a victory, 1 point from a tie and 0 points from a loss;

- With four – five clubs there are placement matches to determine the ranking of the teams;

- With six or more participating clubs - teams ranking in the tournament with single round robin will be determined as follow:

A. Earned points;

B. Goal Difference;

C. Made Goals;

D. If parameters A - C are equal between two teams, better is a team, which has won their respective match;

E. If the respective match has finished tie, better is a team, which has led at half time;

F. If parameters are still equal and two teams are competing the victory of the stage, there will be organized extra throws competition to determine the winner of the stage.

4.3. The final stage of the GP

- EGCA executive board will approve the organizer for the Euro GP’s final stage to be held in December 2021;

- The final phase of the Grand Prix is ​​played by all GP winning clubs in each country as well as the host club of the final phase;

- EGCA executive board will decide in co-operation with the organizer the game system and schedule for the final phase depending on the amount of participating clubs.

5. Responsibilities of the organizer

Host club is responsible for:

- transportation from the airport and to the airport, accommodation, meals (dinner on arrival day, breakfast, lunch and dinner on competition day / days, breakfast and lunch on departure day). All fees are paid by stage organizers;

- if walking distance is over 1 kilometer, the stage organizers must provide transportation between the hotel and the venue;

- determining an entry fee for participating teams (money collected from these teams, organizers can use up to their own needs). Maximum amount of the fee / person is 200 € between Friday and Sunday. Maximum amount of the fee for extra night is 50 € / person;

- finding prizes for the winning team of the stage. The organizer can also give a prize for the best scorer as well as the MVP of the stage.

6. Referees

- The GP is the privileged competition for developing referee training in European countries. In the stages of the GP, arbitrators who participate in the clinic of that country may arbitrate;

- If there is a lack of arbitrators IBSA level I and II referees may be invited;

- The final phase will be arbitrated by 3 level III referees and one referee trained in each country will be invited during the competition;

- The referee for each country is designated by the Referee Coordinator at the end of each GP as the level I or II referee who has performed best;

- Invited referees must ensure their travel expenses up to the final stage.

6.1 Chief Referee

The organizing team of a stage will name in co-operation with EGCA Executive Board a chief referee, who has following responsibilities:

A. Organize work of goal judges and table officials (except 10 sec timers):

B. Fill in the tournaments’ protocols and provide teams with this information;

C. Take care of the courts’ technical requirements, change game balls, remove all defects as soon as possible.

7. Protest

Protest will be analyzed only in case if officials‘ mistake may have influenced game score for the benefit of one team.

If after a match a coach is sure that officials made a harm to the team, he/she may write a protest. Protest is equivalent to 100 Euros. It is given to the chief referee within 1 hour after the end of the match. If the protest is acknowledged, the money is given back. If not, the money goes to European Goalball Club Asoociation’s fund to develop the club goalball in Europe.

7.1 Infractions, reasonable for a protest:

A. Mistakes in running the main game clock (video records can be provided);

B. Infraction of the 10 seconds rule (8-12s) (video records can be provided);

C. Goal from out of court line is scored (video records can be provided, if recorded from the back of the Goal line);

D. Players took off their eyeshades when the match had not finished yet (video records can be provided);

E. A player has cheated during a match (video records can be provided);

F. Other rude mistakes of the referees.

Video clips must always be taken from the official livestream records.

The protest is considered if the mistake of the couch could change the result of the match and one team gets an advantage.

8. RULES FOR THE FULFILLMENT OF SPORTS TRUTH

Sport Truth

- The European Association of Goalball Clubs, defends the appreciation of the athlete for his / her work and the reflection of his / her overcoming, condemning any and all actions that alter the sports truth;

- EGCA is betting on the forefront of technological innovation that allows human error to be reduced as much as possible, which can influence results;

- EGCA condemns any and all fraud or cheating initiatives by an athlete or club;

- Tournament directors at EGCA have a duty to uphold the values of ethics and prevent illegal acts in competitions, as well as comply with and enforce the World Anti-Doping Agency's World Anti-Doping Code;

- Consequently, athletes competing in EGCA tournaments can be subjected to doping control tests at any time, with or without notice.

8.1. Cheating Act

- EGCA requires strict compliance with article 29 of the goalball rules;

-If any athlete manipulates glasses or eye patches to obtain any benefit from the vision, they will be automatically expelled from the game by Personal Unsportsmanlike Conduct;

- If a player is ejected, the referee must report this action to the Chief Referee. Chief Referee, together with the EGCA Delegate will then, without delay, decide if a player will be suspended from further competition in that tournament;

- The EGCA executive board will address any cases of cheating / doping after the tournament by the report of the chief referee and the EGCA delegate and will make a decision on disciplinary proposals;

- The suspension period will be determined by the seriousness of the infraction and the previous history of an athlete / club.

8.2. Doping control

Any player, who is playing in an EGCA tournament may be asked to perform a doping control test.

Refusal to perform the test will lead to the immediate expulsion of the player and an immediate 2-year suspension from all EGCA competitions.

8.3. Disciplinary procedures

- Every player has the right to defend during the disciplinary procedure, and must submit their defense in writing, within a maximum period of 30 days after the occurrence;

- The EGCA executive board will address any cases of cheating / doping after the tournament by the report of the chief referee and the EGCA delegate and will make a decision on disciplinary proposals;

- The suspension period will be determined by the seriousness of the infraction and the previous history of an athlete / club;

- The maximum duration of the suspension for cheating is two years;

- All disciplinary reports will be sent to IBSA and the respective national federation, which may increase the penalty.