1. The ICCF Champions League is a continuous Email Team Tournament of the International Correspondence Chess Federation, organized by its Email Tournament Office.
   
   
2. All games played in this tournament will be rated.
   
   
3. The Champions League (CL) will be a championship event played in seasons, comprising several divisions with promotion and relegation.
   
   
4. Every CL season will be played under the version of ICCF Playing Rules for team tournaments played normally by Email that is valid on the official start date - downloadable from the official Website.
   
   
5. Each team in the CL consists of 4 players, which do not necessarily have to come from the same country; mixed teams are possible. All players must have a working Email address. A player can play only for one team in a season.
   
   
6. Every team must have a name, which should be related to CC or chess in general. A team will be allowed to change its name between separate seasons.
   
   
7. Each team must determine a Team Captain, who can be a member of the team
   
   
8. A team will be allowed to replace players during the season only with the prior authority of the Tournament Director. If all the 4 players in a team are changed within 2 seasons, then the team will be relegated to a lower division.
   
   
9. The CL will consist of 4 divisions, in hierarchical order, with promotion/relegation each season.
   
   The winning team of the top league (Champions League A) will become the 'ICCF Champions League winner' at the end of each season. Before the 4 leagues can be established firmly, a qualification tournament will have to be played:
   
   
   • The first cycle (start date around June/May 2002) will be played in one stage; with a number of groups, each with 7 teams.
   • The team achieving 1st place at the end of this qualification round, will start the first season in "Champions League A".
   • The teams placed 2nd and 3rd in every group, will go into "Champions League B".
   • The teams placed 4th, 5th and 6th in every group will go to "Champions League C".
   • The last team (7th place) in every qualification group will start in "Champions League D".
   
   Afterwards, the actual Champions League will begin with its first season:
   
   Champions League A
   • This league will consist of approximately 9-11 teams, depending on the number of qualified teams.
   • The winner of this group becomes the 'Champions League Winner".
   • The last 4 teams at the end of each season will be relegated to "Champions League B".
   
   Champions League B
   • This league will consist of approximately 18-22 teams, depending on the number of qualified teams.
   • This league will be comprised of 2 groups, each with 9-11 teams.
   • At the end of each season, the teams in places 1st and 2nd in every group (4 teams in total ) will be promoted to "Champions League A".
   • The last 3 teams of every group (6 teams in total) will start the next season in "Champions League C".
   • The teams in places 3-6 will remain in "Champions League B".
     
     
   Champions League C
   • Comprising 3 groups, with approximately 9 teams,
   • the first 2 teams of each group (6 teams in total) will be promoted to "Champions League B"
   • the last 3 teams of every group (9 teams in total) will start in "Champions League D" in the next season.
   • Other teams will remain in "Champions League C".
   
   Champions League D
   • Depending on the number of teams, there will be X groups, from which a total of 9 teams will be promoted to "Champions League C"
   • Every newly formed team must start in "Champions League D"
   
   
   Note: All of these arrangements, will depend on the number of starting each year and the qualified teams. The final composition of each league division will be worked out when the number of teams is clear, but will be as close as possible to the scheme described above
   
   
   
10. The tournament is available for everyone (as long as they are members of a full team). New ICCF players will be allocated a rating, but "temporary" rating will only be used for the calculation of the opponents' new ratings. Only when a player has completed 12 ICCF games, will his name appear with an official rating on the next ICCF rating list (calculated and published twice a year: April & October).
    
    If a player has no official ICCF rating at the start of the tournament, his "temporary" rating will be:
    
    CL A = (2400)       CL C = (2000)
    CL B = (2200)       CL D = (1800)
    
    New players to ICCF will be regarded as (1800) rated in the qualification round.
    
    
11. A season will last for approximately 2 years. Only after one season has been completely finished (after every game has a result)- will the new season begin. It is not yet foreseeable whether very long games will need to be adjudicated or whether the start date of the next season, should be delayed a little.
    
    
12. How to enter? ICCF offers 2 different ways of entering a team:
    
    
    1. Team Entries via a National Federation
       
       The ICCF fee will be 40 Swiss Francs per team, for teams entering through a national federation. The national federation might charge some small extra processing fee. Of course, team entries sent via one federation may consist of players from different countries.
       
       The responsibility for payment of the team entry fee will belong to the Team Captain and should be paid in full to the federation submitting the entry. It is not possible to split the payment of the entry fee.
       
       The national Email Contact person shall forward team entries to the ICCF Email Tournament Office emailto@iccf.com , filling out the following form:
       
       

       +-------------------------------------------------+
       | CHAMPIONS LEAGUE ENTRY FORM                     |
       +-------------------------------------------------+
       |                                                 |
       | TEAM NAME: ???                                  | 
       |                                                 | 
       |                PLAYER BOARD 1                   | 
       | NAME         : ?                                | 
       | SURNAME      : ?                                | 
       | COUNTRY      : ?                                | 
       | ICCF NUMBER  : ?                                | 
       | EMAIL ADDRESS: ?                                | 
       +-------------------------------------------------+
       |                PLAYER BOARD 2                   | 
       | NAME         : ?                                | 
       | SURNAME      : ?                                | 
       | COUNTRY      : ?                                | 
       | ICCF NUMBER  : ?                                | 
       | EMAIL ADDRESS: ?                                | 
       +-------------------------------------------------+
       |                PLAYER BOARD 3                   | 
       | NAME         : ?                                | 
       | SURNAME      : ?                                | 
       | COUNTRY      : ?                                | 
       | ICCF NUMBER  : ?                                | 
       | EMAIL ADDRESS: ?                                | 
       +-------------------------------------------------+
       |                PLAYER BOARD 4                   | 
       | NAME         : ?                                | 
       | SURNAME      : ?                                | 
       | COUNTRY      : ?                                | 
       | ICCF NUMBER  : ?                                | 
       | EMAIL ADDRESS: ?                                | 
       +-------------------------------------------------+
       |                TEAM CAPTAIN                     | 
       | NAME         : ?                                | 
       | SURNAME      : ?                                | 
       | COUNTRY      : ?                                | 
       | ICCF NUMBER  : ?                                | 
       | EMAIL ADDRESS: ?                                | 
       +-------------------------------------------------+          

    2. Team Entries via Direct Entry
       
       ICCF will charge USD 60 as the team entry fee for a team entering through the direct entry facility.
       
       A team can be entered by completing the online direct entry form located at http://www.correspondencechess.com/champions/league.html. Payment is made by credit card.
       
       It is not possible to split the team entry fee. The person submitting the entry (team captain, at least a team member) is responsible for the payment of the total entry fee.
       
       The Team Captain will be responsible for all matters for the team entered, including payment of fees, deciding board order and communicating with TOC/TD.
       
       Questions regarding this event should be sent to the ICCF Email Tournament Office Commissioner, Chris Lüers, at: emailto@iccf.com
       
       

The Closing Date for all team entries to the Champions Leaque shall be April 15th, although some "late entries" may be possible if needed to make up a full section

 Amici Sumus,
Chris Lüers

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