Registration
To participate in the World Championship, your country must have a National Governing Body (NGB) that is a member of the IRF. If your country is not a member yet and you want to be a part of Worlds, go to our membership page to apply!
Registration will work similarly as Worlds 22 and will happen in 3 steps:
NGB preregistration - NGBs will register to show their country will be a part of Worlds. At this point, no information on what teams/players will compete is necessary, only your best estimate on how many teams you will bring. This will also include an initial deposit of around £100. Preregistration will start around mid February.
Team registration - this is the actual registration. Either your NGB registers all teams, or your players do it themselves, during this period all the teams that are competing in the different tournaments/divisions should be registered. It’s okay if you’re still not sure about players our team compositions at this point. The tournament fee will be around £100-150 per team. Team registrations will start around mid April.
Final rosters - at a certain point, all rosters should be locked in place so we can start with the seeding of the tournament. Final roster deadline will be around mid July.
If at any point, players have any questions or uncertainties about what division to register in, feel free to send us an email.
Eligibilty
In order to be part of a country’s National Team, one must fulfill a minimum of one of the following requirements:
Be a citizen of the country
Be a permanent resident of the country*
Hold a valid immigrant visa for the country**
Have lived permanently in the country before the start of 2024
*Permanent Residency (PR) is defined as a person’s resident status in a country of which they are not citizens. PR is given by the government of a country to a person who is allowed to stay in the country indefinitely.
**Immigrant visa is a blanket term that refers to visa’s which are long term, or visa’s that are a part of the process of becoming a citizen.
Support staff
The IRF is excited to introduce two new roles that NGBs will select for their national teams – Captains and Team Managers.
Captains – NGBs must select one player on each squad to act as that squad’s captain. NGBs should designate the captain’s honor to players that they feel best represent their country both on and off the field. Captains should be a team leader that will help make decisions, communicate with observers and officials, and guide the words, actions, and character of the squad as a whole.
One captain per squad (i.e. a Men’s Squad Captain and a Women’s Squad Captain)
Captains must be active players on the squad’s roster
If an NGB desires they can designate more captains, however, for official purposes we will require notification of just one captain per squad.
Team Managers – NGBs must select two team managers per country. NGBs should designate the team manager roles to people that are organized, responsible, and great communicators. The team managers will be the main point of contact between the event organizers and the NGBs. They will disseminate information to their teams, communicate with tournament directors/staff, and make sure their teams follow the schedule and guidelines to keep everything running smoothly. During the event, a team manager would be responsible for attending any event briefings and sharing information with their teams.
Two team managers per NGB
The team manager represents the whole NGB. There does not need to be separate team managers for Men’s and Women’s squads.
The team manager can be a player, captain, coach, or any one associated with the NGB (i.e. they can be an active player, but don’t have to be).
If an NGB desires they can designate more team managers, however, for official purposes we will require notification of two team managers per NGB.
Alternates
Below you can find the way alternates will work for Worlds 2024.
Each squad (Men’s and Women’s) can have up to two alternate players.
Alternates can only be used before squad bracket play has started. Alternates cannot be used within the individual competition.
If a squad player got injured in the individual competition or squad group stage, they could be replaced as long as squad bracket play has not yet begun.
Players that are replaced are not eligible to return to play at any point.
Alternates cannot be used mid-match. If someone gets injured in the middle of a matchup they must forfeit that matchup before the alternate can be used.
The teams that start the squad bracket play must be the same throughout. Injuries after the start of the squad bracket play will result in that team needing to forfeit that position. The other squad must keep their matchups the same.
For instance, if one squad’s C team needs to forfeit their opponent’s squad’s C team will receive the win. The opponent will not be allowed to have their C team play the D team (or any other matchup within that confrontation).
If alternates are used, the order ranking of a squad’s teams can be rearranged.
For instance, if a player on a squad’s A team is replaced with an alternate that team could become the B team (or C, D, or E).
A squads’ team composition can also be rearranged.
For instance, if a player on a squad’s A team needs to be replaced, they can be replaced by an existing squad member and the alternate used in a different position. In other words, squads can decide to rearrange their entire team composition if desired.
If changing order, all teams in the squad that remain the same composition will maintain their relative positions.
If a country is using alternates, they must submit their new roster with team rankings to the seeding committee as soon as they determine that the injury will prevent the player from continuing into the squad competition.
When an NGB submits their final roster those teams are locked in to represent their country. If extenuating circumstances occur (ie an injury, sickness, etc.) after the final roster deadline, affected teams/players can be replaced. Before the event starts changes to rosters do not count as the use of alternates.