Detailed Enhanced Player Eligibility Guidelines

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1. All tournament participants are required to provide a government-issued birth document certifying the participant’s date of birth. The issue date (or record date, registration date, file date, etc.) of the original birth registration document must be within 30 days of the date of birth. If a participant cannot meet these criteria, the participant will be required to provide additional information to become eligible.

2. Regulation II(a) is amended to ensure that all players must meet Little League Baseball’s “Residence Eligibility Requirements”. This clarification will strengthen a policy that was already in place. 

Regulation II(a) - Each league shall determine actual boundaries of the area from WITHIN which it shall select players. Only those participants whose residence is within the boundaries of the league shall be eligible to participate. Residence, for the purposes of this regulation, is defined in “Residence Eligibility Requirements” in the first section of this book. These boundaries MUST be described in detail AND shown a map when making application for charter. The local Little League…

3. Regulation IV (j) establishes a deadline for waiver requests regarding player eligibility:

Regulation IV(j) - Any request for a waiver pertaining to the eligibility of a player must be submitted in writing, by the president of the local Little League through the district administrator, to the Regional Director not later than June 1 of the current year. Requests submitted after that date will not be considered.

4. To be eligible for tournament play, non-citizens of a country are required to meet one of the three criteria below. This new requirement for non-citizens is incorporated into Little League Baseball’s “Residence Eligibility Requirements” and the “Tournament Rules” governing player eligibility.

Tournament Requirement for Non-Citizens: A participant who is not a citizen of the country in which he/she wishes to play, but meets residency requirements as defined by Little League, may participate in that country if:

1. his/her visa allows that participant to remain in that country for a period of at least one year, or;

2. the prevailing laws allow that participant to remain in that country for at least one year, or;

3. the participant has an established bona fide residence in that country for at least two years prior to the start of the regular season.

Exceptions can only be made by action of the Charter Committee in Williamsport.

5. The tournament affidavit now provides a detailed explanation of each of the eligibility criteria.

6. The tournament eligibility verification process now requires the following additional information for players, managers, and coaches:

• A league boundary map must accompany the affidavit.

• Waivers for players outside the league boundaries must accompany the affidavit.

• The total number of games the player’s team played and the total number of games in which the player participated is required on the affidavit. 

7. The player agent and league president are both required to sign, attesting the accuracy of the information on the affidavit. The manager must also sign the affidavit, signifying that he/she understands the rules with regard to eligibility of pitchers and players, as well as his/her right to refer protests to the Tournament Committee.

8. All of the tournament eligibility information will be verified at the Regional and World Series levels in addition to the original screening by the District Administrator. The eligibility information will be required to accompany each team at all levels in case of a discrepancy.