Seeking to expand the number of wildcards available, the World Surf League has informed its surfers that it will keep the double qualification spots for itself, seeking to award more wildcards annually and not allowing them to drop in the QS ranking to complete the quota of 32 surfers, Stab reported based on a letter sent by the WSL to surfers to which the media was able to access.

As in professional surfing you can compete in both the A and B rankings at the same time, it often happened that those who qualify for both rankings would use the CT spot and give up the QS spot to the next person in the ranking. Apparently, from now on, each spot created by the double qualification will be reserved by the WSL to assign wildcards.

For example, this year, Australia's Morgan Cibilic placed 11th in the QS but still qualified because Yago Dora made it into the top 22 in the CT and top 10 in the QS. Next year, the letter says, this will no longer be the case and Cibilic's spot will be used to award wildcards.

The letter also details that from now on, wildcard spots will not necessarily be based on injuries. They will create an advisory panel that will consider all proposals.

“We believe this adjustment will give us flexibility in awarding wildcards each season,” the letter said.