WSL TO CHANGE THE GAME IN 2021

The World Surf League (WSL) has announced a fundamental change for the Championship Tour surfers with World Titles to be decided with a ‘surf-off’ at the end of each season. The WSL has been considering this for many years but after the surf-off between Italo Ferreira and 2x World Champ Gabriel Medina last year, crowning Italo Ferreira the 2019 World Champion with the WSL saying “…it was one of the most exciting moments the sport has seen in sixteen years…” 

The WSL also announced that all events will be postponed through to the end of June with a call to be made on July 1st. The CEO Erik Logan announced this along with the new changes to the 2021 Championship Tour. 

He also announced dramatic changes to the World Qualifying Series events, especially the Championship Series events. With a clear and set schedule being introduced with the first few months of the year being dedicated to the Championship Series events and the other months to the Championship Tour events. 

Now usually, if a surfer falls off tour one year, they have to spend the rest of the next year trying to re-qualify. This change pretty much eliminates that. 

Erik Logan has also introduced a new change for the QS surfers introducing ‘regional domestic  tours’ to help aid financially struggling QS surfers. He states “ still to be called the qualifying series and radically improving the pathway to pro for up-and-coming surfers…”