After a summer spent conducting trials for the inaugural European Team Championships which will make their debut in June 2009, European Athletics is pleased to announce the final regulations for the Championships. 

The new Championships, which will replace the European Cup competitions have a number of exciting innovations added to the programme where the final result will comprise of one single competition where men's and women's results are combined.

In summary the new rules are:

Track Events:

In the track events no false start will be allowed. Any athlete committing a false start will be disqualified.

Races up to 400m inclusively and relays will be staged in two heats of 6 athletes each.

In the 3000m, 3000m steeplechase and 5000m three athletes will be eliminated in the course of the race as follows:

For the 3000m and 3000m steeplechase the last athlete in each of the following laps to the end will be eliminated: 5, 4 and 3.

The relays, as always, will provide a fitting climax in the new championships.

That is, the last positioned athlete at 5 laps to the finish will be required to abandon the race immediately after entering to the 4th lap to the end and no further than 200m from the end of the 4th lap. The same procedure will apply for the last positioned athlete at 4 laps and 3 laps to the end.

For the 5000m the last athlete in each of the following laps to the end will be eliminated: 7, 5 and 3.

That is, the last positioned athlete at 7 laps to the finish will be required to abandon the race immediately after entering to the 6th lap to the end and no further than 200m from the end of the 6th lap. The same procedure will apply for the last positioned athlete at 5 laps and 3 laps to the end.

Field Events:

All field events, except vertical jumps, will be conducted as follows:

There will be a maximum of four trials in each event.

All participating athletes will have two qualification trials (1st and 2nd trial);

The best 6 athletes from the two first trials will have the right to compete in a 3rd qualification round;

The best 4 athletes after the 3 qualification rounds will compete in the 4th round;

The team is the most important aspect of the new championships

The 6 lowest classified athletes will be ranked according to ttheir best performance after the 2nd qualification trial;

The 2 athletes in the 3rd qualification trial with the lowest performance will be ranked by their best performance after the 3rd trial;

The remaining 4 athletes will be ranked by their best performance after the 4 rounds.

In the vertical jumps (High Jump & Pole Vault) each competitor shall be entitled to a maximum of 4 (four) fouls only throughout the whole field event. All the other relevant IAAF Rules for the vertical jumps will apply.

The Super League, the First League, the Second League and the Third League shall be each be regarded as a separate match and scored accordingly.

The winner of each individual event and each relay in each match shall score as many points as there are teams competing, the second will score one fewer, and so on. Athletes or relay teams disqualified or not finishing shall not score.

Overall, the participating teams will be divided into a Super League (comprising of 12 teams), a First League (comprising of 12 teams), a Second League (comprising of 8 teams), a Third League (comprising the remaining teams).

Next year's Team Champions will be a combination of men and women!

After the conclusion of each year's European Team Championships, teams shall be promoted or relegated as follows:

The lowest 3 (three) teams in the Super League shall be relegated to the First League.

The 3 (three) first classified teams of the First League shall be promoted to the Super League.

The lowest 2 (two) teams of the First League shall be relegated to the Second League.

The 2 (two) first classified teams of the Second League shall be promoted to the First League.

The lowest 2 (two) teams of the Second League shall be relegated to the Third League.

The 2 (two) first classified teams of the Third League shall be promoted to the Second League.

The divisions for the 2009 European Team Championships which will take place on the weekend of June 20/21 are as follows:

Super League: Leiria, Portugal:

Russia, Great Britain, Poland, Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Ukraine, Greece, Sweden, Czech Republic, Portugal

First League, Bergen, Norway:

Belarus, Slovenia, Romania, Turkey, Belgium, Hungary, Netherlands, Finland, Estonia, Switzerland, Serbia, Norway

Second League: Banska Bystrica, Slovakia:

Ireland, Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Austria, Cyprus

Third League: Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Moldova, Israel, Denmark, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Iceland, Luxembourg, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Montenegro, Armenia, AASSE, Albania, Andorra, FYR of Macedonia

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