Free agent and player transfer rules and Guidelines
This document is to inform players and coaches for all MEN’S teams SuperCup & EuroCup (not including the PremierCup) on the rules and guidelines when it comes to Free Agents and player transfers between teams.
Free Agents:
All players are considered free agents as soon as the previous season ends.
A season runs from the end of the SuperCup / EuroCup finals in Regensburg and starts the Monday after the tournament.
The Season includes ALL ESSC qualifying tournaments and the Championship tournament in October. So for example Barcelona and Tenerife count towards this rule. These are Qualifying tournaments
Players that are not on any team roster prior the first tournament of the new season are seen as Free Agent and / or did not have an at bat with the team he is at that time on the roster for.
Requesting Free Agency during the season:
A player has the right to file for Free Agency once during the season. This can only be done prior to his current team having played 2 qualifying tournaments that season.
Once the players team has played 2 qualifying tournaments no request for free agency is possible and the player will have to finish the season with that team.
Free Agency can only be requested if the player doesn’t have a new team he can play for yet. If the player does have a team he will have to request a transfer which will be discussed later in this document.
Procedure on requesting free agency:
A player can request free agency directly to the commissioner of softball thru email at arti@softballeurope.com
This email needs to include the following:
Current team if applicable.
Motivation on requesting free agency.
Is coach aware of your request yes/no.
The commissioner of softball will then consider the request and let the player know within 2-3 working days if his request is approved or denied.
Once the Free Agency is confirmed and approved the player will be put on the Free Agent list that will be available on the 360 Softball Europe website. This will include player level of play status as a Supercup Free Agent can not be picked up by a Eurocup team. Eurocup free agents are allowed to be picked up by Supercup teams.
Player transfer:
Besides the Free Agents there are also player transfers possible.
A player can transfer to a new team only ONCE per season and with approval of the commissioner of Softball. The procedure for this is different then requesting free agency and entails both teams cooperation in the request.
A Supercup player can not transfer to a Eurocup team. A Eurocup player can transfer to a Supercup team.
Players will not be able to transfer to a new team after their current team has played in 2 Qualifying Tournaments.
Player transfer Procedure:
When a player wants to transfer to a new team before his current team has played 2 qualifying tournaments he can request this directly to the commissioner of softball or his coach.
- If the coach agrees with the transfer he has to write the Commissioner of softball a formal release of that players thru email. If the coach does not want to release his player he will then have to write an email of objection to the commissioner of Softball.
- The Player has to send an email to the Commissioner of Softball with his motivation for moving to the new team.
- The coach of the players new team will also have to send an email to the commissioner of Softball stating that he is aware of the transfer and his motivation for picking up this player from the other team.
- The commissioner will then take all this information into consideration and either approve or deny the transfer.
On the 360 Softball Europe website there will have a dedicated page which will show the progress of the requests and their status. Only once the website shows the status approved can the player make the switch to his new team.
The commissioner of softball always has the last say in a request for team transfer or free agency. A coach can deny to release a player but the commissioner will always have the right to release a player from his current team if he deems fit.