User:Tommysteil/SCLLeaguesailing

The Sailing Champions League (abbreviation: SCL; spelling: SAILING Champions League) is a competition for sailing clubs that exists since 2014. Until 2018 it was a competition for European clubs - since 2019 clubs from Oceania have also been able to qualify. The competition consists of three qualifying regattas and a final. In the qualifying regattas, the best clubs of the national sailing leagues compete against each other. The winner of the final will be awarded the title "Best Sailing Club of the Year".

History
After the German Sailing League was introduced as the first national sailing league in 2013 and the Danish Sailing League in 2014, with the SAILING Champions League a European sailing league was established to which the participating sailing clubs qualify in their national sailing leagues. On 17 June 2016, the International Sailing League Association was founded in Hamburg as an umbrella organisation comprising the national sailing leagues and the SAILING Champions League.

In 2018, in addition to the SAILING Champions League, a Youth SAILING Champions League for club sailors aged between 13 and 21 and a Women's SAILING Champions League for women-only teams of international clubs were held for the first time.

Format
A regatta is held over four days. Up to 32 clubs compete against each other in a qualifying regatta. In 2019, the seven best clubs of each qualifying regatta qualify for the final of the SAILING Champions League.

Sailing is based on the low-point system widely used in sailing. On a regatta day, several flights are sailed, consisting of several races. In one race eight boats of boat class J/70 sail against each other. A race consists of two rounds on an "up and down" course marked by buoys and lasts approx. 15 minutes. Several races follow each other, in which each participating club sails once. These races together result in a completed flight. Depending on the number of participating clubs, the number of races and flights can vary.

In the 2018 season, the Final Series format was used for the first time in the final. Terminating the regatta the four best clubs sail for the overall victory of the SCL. The team that takes the first two wins is the overall winner of the SCL. Only the first placed team needs just one victory in the Final Series to win the SCL. Thus it can take at maximum four races in the Final Series.

Qualification
In 2014 and 2015 the SCL consisted of only one final and there was no regulated qualification mode. In 2016 there was a qualifying regatta before the final for the first time, for which the best clubs of national sailing leagues qualified. In 2017, for the first time, there were two qualifying regattas before the final, to which the qualified clubs were drawn by lottery. Since 2019, the best five clubs of a national sailing league have qualified for the qualification round of the SAILING Champions League. These clubs get drawn to three separate qualifying regattas. The best seven clubs in each regatta qualify for the final.

The reigning SCL winner is already qualified for the SCL qualifying round. The host clubs automatically qualify for the respective regatta they are hosting.

In addition to the qualified clubs, in special cases wild cards are awarded to other clubs.

Wild Cards
In special cases wild cards are awarded to sailing clubs. Nations in which a new national sailing league has been founded have the opportunity to have a club participate in the SAILING Champions League via a wild card. Nations that do not yet have a national sailing league have the possibility to let a team participate in the SCL, if certain criteria such as club membership and proven, relevant sailing successes of the team are met.

== List of National Sailing Leagues ==

== Results of the SAILING Champions League ==

== Results of the Youth SAILING Champions League ==

== Results of the Women's SAILING Champions League ==

Live Broadcasting
The last two days of each regatta are broadcasted live. Spectators from all over the world have the possibility to watch the races live and free of charge. The live broadcast is available on the official Facebook page of the SCL, on the YouTube channel of the SCL and on the website of the SCL.

The live broadcast is powered by the production company SailTracks.

International Sailing League Association
The International Sailing League Association (ISLA) is the umbrella organisation of the national sailing leagues and the SAILING Champions League. It was founded on 17 June 2016 in Hamburg, Germany, to give structure to the family of the sailing leagues, to create a clear set of rules and to represent the interests of the sailing leagues and the SCL. ISLA is registered in Hamburg as a non-profit association; the national sailing leagues are members of ISLA.

Weblinks

 * Website of the Sailing Champions League (english)
 * Newsletter of the SCL (english)
 * National Sailing League Management Manual (Rule Book) – „Management Rule Book for National Sailing Leagues“; ISLA's Rule Book as a PDF file (english)