The Société Nautique de Genève, whose Alinghi Team won the Cup two days ago, released details of the new Protocol for the next America’s Cup on Tuesday evening in Valencia.

Contrary to what expected, no details were given on the date of the next event, or the venue, apart from the provision that the America’s Cup will be contested on European waters. Full details for dates and venue will be specified before 31 December 2007.

The next America's Cup will either be held in the Spanish city of Valencia in 2009 or, if agreement cannot be reached, at another European venue by 2011 at the latest, organisers announced here on Thursday.

"We have several good European candidates including Valencia to host the 33rd America's Cup," said Michel Bonnefous, the CEO of America's Cup Management (ACM), the sole authority organizing the event.

"Today we have a natural relationship with Valencia and Spain, and obviously we are discussing extensively the renewal of Valencia as a venue," he said. "But we haven't reached an agreement so far. I imagine if we can reach an agreement with Valencia it will happen fairly soon, so we will be able to announce it quickly".

"If it is Valencia, the cup will be contested in 2009, if not it will be staged at the latest by 2011", he said, adding that discussions were well underway with the Valencia authorities and that the chances of an agreement looked promising.

According to Bonnefous, the only disagreement between ACM and the city of Valencia is the latter's plans to expand the commercial harbor, already Mediterranean's biggest one. It is exactly this point that seems to have stalled the negotiations, rather than any other financial issue.

"We have a good chance to go very fast with Valencia, and if we don't reach an agreement we will go to bid," Bonnefous said. "Changing places ... gives the Cup a new flavor, but it's a difficult process."

Without any doubt, the day's other most important announcement made concerning the decision to change the America's Cup class.

The new class rule, the first since the 1992 competition and which will be decided by the end of the year, will see the carbon-fiber boats extended to 27.4 metres, longer than the 24-metre America's Cup Class boats, and will have a deeper keel to keep the yacht upright when the wind is powering into her huge sails.

Alinghi skipper Brad Butterworth, who has won the last four Cups and committed himself to Alinghi, said the new class will be more interesting for sailors who have raced ACC yachts for years.

"This is a design contest, a technology race," he said. "I think that's the way the Cup has always been and we are going to keep it that way."

But the new protocol came in for criticism from Louis Vuitton Cup spokesman Bruno Troublé.

"The decision to introduce a new boat is not good news for the smaller teams", he told AFP. "Not only will Alinghi have an enormous advantage but on top of that it will prove very costly".

"I don't know whether this is the America's Cup, in any case it's not the one I recognise."

However, the new class of boat will not be sailed competitively until at least 18 months after the new rule is published sometime before the end of the year. During the interim period, the existing cup boats will continued to be used for racing.

The protocol also allows Alinghi to take part in the challengers' series.