Breaking News: The Belgian clubs have voted for a 6th division on the EGA

Today, Saturday June 20th, there was an Extraordinary General Assembly (EGA). Unfortunately, the turnout was very low: only 51 clubs were present (either physically or mainly online) or represented out of 125 voting clubs. This EGA was called for because, at the GA in December 2025, there were already insufficient clubs present or represented (a 2/3 majority was required) to vote on the proposed statutes. Fortunately, at this EGA, a full attendance was not required; only a 2/3 majority of the positive and negative votes was needed. Additionally, competition regulations, heavily prepared by the interclub working group, were put to a vote, which have a significant impact on the national interclubs.

Since the enormous costs within the RBCF, namely the participation of youth and adults, occur almost exclusively in the autumn and are therefore actually included in the wrong financial year, it was proposed to align the financial year with the calendar year. This proposal was approved. This means that a long financial year is now approaching, running from 01/09/2026 to 31/12/2027. And from 2028 onwards, the financial year begins on 01/01 and ends on 31/12.

It was also proposed to increase the possible maximum amount for the membership fee from 15 EUR to 50 EUR. Under Belgian law, it is mandatory to state a maximum amount in the statutes. However, please note that this is not the amount of the membership fee to be paid. If the Board wishes to propose a membership fee increase, it may do so. Even then, the GA must approve it. This proposal also obtained a 2/3 majority and has therefore been approved.

Furthermore, several competition regulations were proposed. The first 5 proposals were developed by the working group. Next come proposals regarding the abolition of the national Elo rating. Finally, there are the proposals that the board had already approved during the season, and which must be ratified at the next (E)GA. All these proposals were accepted.

• a third date (14/02) by which players may be added to the player list.
• the flexible rotation of players will be limited by one less board.
• the average of the strongest series in a division will be taken as the average base for that division. These are by the way the new Elo limits for next season:
  • 1st Division: 2350
  • 2nd Division: 2200
  • 3rd Division: 2050
  • 4th Division: 1950
  • 5th Division: 1800
  • 6th Division: 1600
• the introduction of the 6th Division

The entire proposal (including the upcoming timings) was explained in detail via this PowerPoint presentation: https://blog.frbe-kbsb-ksb.be/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Interclubs-2026-2027.pptx. What this would mean for the clubs can be seen in this Excel document: https://blog.frbe-kbsb-ksb.be/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/welke_ploegen_in_welke_afdelingen_2026-2027.xlsx.

• limits for players to play in the 1st Division and to play on higher boards in the 1st Division.
• participation eligible following the abolition of the national Elo
• changes to the entire regulations following the abolition of the national Elo
• a more flexible application of the rules for players with motor disabilities
• adjustments regarding the promotion of arbiters requested by the FEFB
• abolition of the appeals committee in the Belgian Youth Championships (BYC)
• the norm of deputy chief arbiter in the BYC applies as a norm of chief arbiter

Finally, a new board member has been elected: Jorian Burssens. And the members of various appeals committees have also been confirmed or, in the case of Valère DeBuck, elected.

Read the full meeting report here, together with the updated articles of association and the updated tournament regulations.