AFL Europe – European Championships 2022 Player Eligibility

Player eligibility for the 2022 European Championships has been divided into two categories. Please ensure your team list follows the player eligibility criteria within the category applicable to your team. The categories are as follows:

  • National teams – Teams representing one single country
  • European Crusaders – team consisting of players of mixed European nationalities

National Teams:

  1. Players at the European Championships must be nationals of the country which they are representing. To automatically be eligible for a team, players must:a. Be over 17 years of age; and
    b. Players must be a citizen of the country; and
    c. Players must have been predominantly a resident in the country between theages of 10 and 16 years.
  2. Players wishing to request an exemption from criteria 1.b. and/or 1.c. must do so by submitting an Eligibility Exemption Form to AFL Europe.
    1. Eligibility exemptions will be granted at the discretion of AFL Europe based on the information provided within the exemption request form.
    2. AFL Europe will assess the contents of the form and grant or deny exemptions accordingly, based on the following:
      1. Whether the player is a bona fide resident of the country they wish to represent
      2. Their football development history within the country they wish to represent
      3. Their football development/playing history in Australia
      4. Their football development history outside of the country they wishto represent
      5. Their contribution to the growth and development of AFL in Europe
      6. Whether the inclusion of the player is in the best interests of the competition and the progression of the sport in Europe.
  3. Players must not be currently under suspension from a governing body or league within the AFL Europe community, nor should they be made ineligible to compete under any other by-law as listed on www.afleurope.org. No exemptions will be made for players that are not in compliance with the AFL Europe by-laws.

European Crusaders:

4. The inclusion of a European Crusaders team will be at the discretion of AFL Europe with the decision based on the best interests of the competition and the development of AFL throughout Europe.

a. Please note the purpose of the European Crusaders team is to provide experience and generate interest among players who were unable to field a national team. We hope that this experience will see them return to their home country and grow the game to put together a national team for future tournaments.

  1. Players listed in the European Crusaders team must be eligible to play for their team. a. Players must be over 17 years of age; and
    b. Players must be European nationals; and
    c. Players must have predominantly been residents of Europe between the agesof 10 and 16 years
  2. Players listed in the European Crusaders team must NOT be eligible to play for a country already represented by a National Team at the 2022 European Championships according to the criteria for national representative players in section 1.b. and 1.c.

a. For example, if an Irish men’s team is represented at the 2022 European Championships, an Irish player will not be eligible to play for the European Crusaders men’s team.

7. Players listed in the squad must be eligible to participate in an AFL Europe competition. Players must not be currently under suspension from a governing body or league within the AFL Europe community, nor should they be made ineligible to compete under any other by-law as listed on www.afleurope.org

All teams:

  1. All teams participating in the 2022 European Championships must submit to AFL Europe no later than Monday, 22nd August 2022 an ‘Initial Registration List’ of players, coaches and officials stating:a. Full name
    b. Date of birth
    c. Email address
    d. Requested t-shirt size
  2. All Eligibility Exemption Request forms must be submitted by Monday, 22nd August 2022. No exemptions will be granted for forms submitted after the deadline.

10. All teams competing in the 2022 European Championships must submit to AFL Europe a ‘Final Squad List’ no later than Monday, 26th September. The Final Squad list must also adhere to all above criteria relating to the relevant team category.

  1. The playing number allocated to each player within the squad must be provided
  2. Final squad lists must have a maximum of 28 players.
  3. All players listed in the ‘Final Squad List’ must have signed the Waiver andRelease form supplied to their team manager prior to playing their first game.