The World Bridge Federation's Executive Council has decided to raise the age requirement for Senior players to 65 over the next 8 years in accordance with the following schedule:
| Born in 1957 or earlier | for the championship in 2018 |
| Born in 1958 or earlier | for the championships in 2019 and 2020 |
| Born in 1959 or earlier | for the championships in 2021 and 2022 |
| Born in 1960 or earlier | for the championships in 2023 and 2024 |
| Born in 1961 or earlier | for the championships in 2025 and 2026 |
The European Bridge League and Bridge Great Britain have changed the eligibility criteria for their Seniors competitions in line with this, and therefore the EBU have introduced this change for all trials in 2018 and onwards.
EBU Congresses/Knockout Competitions
As the change was made by the WBF at short notice, no changes were made to the eligibility criteria for EBU Congresses/Knockout Competitions until 2019 and the criteria will 'catch up' over the first three years of the changes.
| In 2019 | Age at least 61, or your 61st birthday falling in 2019 (i.e. born in 1958) |
| In 2020 | Age at least 62, or your 62nd birthday falling in 2020 (i.e. born in 1958) |
| In 2021 | Age at least 62 or your 62nd birthday falling in 2021 (i.e. born in 1959). |
| In 2022 | Age at least 63, or your 63rd birthday falling in 2022 (i.e. born in 1959) |
| In 2023 | Age at least 63, or your 63rd birthday falling in 2023 (i.e. born in 1960) |
| In 2024 | Age at least 64, or your 64th birthday falling in 2024 (i.e. born in 1960) |
| In 2025 | Age at least 64, or your 64th birthday falling in 2025 (i.e. born in 1961) |
| In 2026 or later | Age at least 65 or 65th birthday falling in the year of the competition. |
For the Gerard Faulkner Salver (Seniors KO) eligibility is for the year in which the competition starts.
Last updated: 29th May 2019