ITHF Tournament Rules and Playing Rules must be followed during tournament.

Rules of WCC2018 are based on ITHF World Club Championships (WCC) Rules with modifications approved by the ITHF Executive Committee.

Maximum number of teams - 42.

A team can consist of 4 (four) to 8 (eight) players. The names must be provided to organizer together with confirmation of participation in the tournament.
Line up is 4 players.

Substitution of players during team matches is allowed between each 5-minute round. Once a player has been substituted, that  player cannot play again in that team match.

Registration of teams

At least 60 days before the tournament (Jan 4, 2018 at the latest), the organisers will send an invitation to the national federation of each ITHF member nation. (done on Dec 15, 2017!)

All received team registrations will be listed on a waiting list!

Before Feb 1, 2018, the national federations of ITHF member nations must register the clubs from their nation that want to participate (see info here). If more than 1 club per nation is registered, they must list the clubs in the order that they will appear on the waiting list.

Non-member nations can also submit a list of clubs before Feb 1, 2018.

Names of registered players can be changed up to Feb 1.  Lunch and transportation options can be changed up to Feb 28.


On Feb 2, 2018 organizers will announce a list of accepted teams.

If number of accepted teams will be less than maximum number, then "the late registration" will be open from Feb 2-15 and the final list of accepted teams will be announced on Feb 16, 2018.

Update (on Feb 5):

Due to the fact that number of teams applied is less than available spots
Big clubs who have applied more than 1 team (like, for example, Ventspils VJN with 8 players in “Ventspils VJN 1” 8 players in “Ventspils VJN 2”), during a late registration period may apply an extra team(s) (like, for example, “Ventspils VJN 3”) where players can be:
a) new names;
b) players from the same club already approved in team (like, for example, “Ventspils VJN 1” or “Ventspils VJN 2”).

Selection of teams

If there are still free places, then we start again from the highest-ranked country.

Playing system of WCC

Playing system depends on a final number of teams. (See complete details)
The seeding to Groups are based on the placement on World Ranking Open for the 3 best players in the team.
The participating teams will be distributed into groups according to their seeding using the “snake” system so that if having 4 groups the team seeded 1, 8, 9 etc will be placed in Group A, the teams seeded 2, 7, 10 etc. will be placed in Basic Group B and so on.


23 teams

Stage 1. Groups:
3 groups 6 teams and 1 group 5 teams.

5 rounds for all groups.

Top 3 from each group will qualify for Division 1 taking mutual results.
Bottom 3 will go to Division 2 also taking mutual results and forming 2 groups.


Stage 2. Divisions:
Division 1 will have 2 groups 6 teams each.
Division 1A will have teams from groups A, D.
Division 1B will have teams from groups B, C.

Division 2 will have 2 groups 6 teams each.
Division 2A will have teams from groups A, D.
Division 2B will have teams from groups B, C.

5 rounds for all groups.

Team who will be 6th in in Division 2B will finish as place 23.
All other teams continue in Stage 3.


Stage 3. Play-off.

Teams outside the top 8 will have 1 placement round:
Place 9: Div1A5 - Div1B5
Place 11: Div1A6 - Div1B6
Place 13: Div2A1 - Div2B1
Place 15: Div2A2 - Div2B2
Place 17: Div2A3 - Div2B3
Place 19: Div2A4 - Div2B4
Place 21: Div2A5 - Div2B5

Top8 teams of Division 1 will have 3 playoff rounds:

1/4 Final pairs:
QF1: Div1A Place 1 - Div1B Place 4
QF2: Div1A Place 2 - Div1B Place 3
QF3: Div1A Place 3 - Div1B Place 2
QF4: Div1A Place 4 - Div1B Place 1

1/2 Final pairs:
SF1: Winner of QF1 - Winner of QF3
SF2: Winner of QF2 - Winner of QF4

Bronze final:
Loser of SF1 - Loser of SF2

Final:
Winner of SF1 - Winner of SF2


Time schedule: