Quidditch World Cup

The Quidditch World Cup is an international Quidditch competition held every four years. The first Quidditch World Cup was held in 1473, with the final match being Transylvania v Flanders (PS11, QA8).

The 1994 World Cup was held in Devon in a new stadium built on Dartmoor (GF6). The final match was Bulgaria v Ireland (GF8). Twenty years later in 2014, the 427th Quidditch World Cup took place in the Patagonian desert of Argentina and the final match was played between Bulgaria and Brazil (QWC). Harry Potter attended both of these matches.

Regulation and arrangements

The history of the Quidditch World Cup tournament is set out in ‘The Official Guide to the Quidditch World Cup‘, which is published by the International Confederation of Wizards Quidditch Committee (ICWQC), who oversee and regulate the tournament. They also enforce a large number and complicated set of rules about the use of magic both on and off the pitch.

The arrangements for the tournament are a “logistical nightmare”, particularly since 1692 when the International Statute of Secrecy came into force. Although the International Confederation of Wizards (ICW) thought the Quidditch World Cup was too much of a security risk to keep running, the popularity of the sport and outcry from wizards around the world meant that they were obliged to reconsider, and the ICWQC was formed to regulate the four-yearly event. It is considered “a task generally agreed to be among the most thankless and difficult in the wizarding world” (QWC).

“….no dragon is to be introduced into the stadium for any purpose including, but not limited to, team mascot, coach or cup warmer.”
— from the 19-volume rulebook for the Quidditch World Cup (QWC)

Qualification

Any country able to put together a national Quidditch team is able to enter the World Cup draw. During this stage, the teams are divided into 16 groups who play each other over a two-year period until there is a single winner in each group. The general rules for these games are:

• game length is a maximum of four hours
• games where the Snitch hasn’t been caught within four hours will be decided on the final goal score total
• a win in the group phase earns the team 2 points
• a win by more than 50 points earns an additional 1 point
• a win by more than 100 points earns an additional 3 points
• a win by more than 150 points earns an additional 5 points
• in case of a tie at the top of the group, the winners will be the team who caught the Snitch most often (or quickest) during their matches.

The 16 qualifying teams from the group phase then enter the “knock-out” stage playoffs. The team with the highest number of points plays the team with the lowest number etc, until the last two teams left battle it out in the final game (QWC).

These qualifying matches take place over several months, with the final match falling in July, as in 2014 (QWC) or August, as in 1994 (GF8).

Past controversies

A Quidditch World Cup is always entertaining and newsworthy. Some famous (or infamous) tournaments were:

• The first World Cup tournament in 1473, where all 700 methods of Quidditch fouling were committed by the participating teams (PS11).
• The Attack of the Killer Forest in 1809 (QWC).
• The Tournament that Nobody Remembers in 1877 (QWC).
• The failure of Royston Idlewind to regulate the use of Dissimulators in 1974 (QWC).
• Chaos in the campground when the Dark Mark appeared overhead after the final in 1994 (GF9).
• The bloodbath at the mascot-themed Opening Ceremony in 2014 (QWC).

Notes and interesting facts

There is some inconsistency in dates surrounding the World Cup. In GF8, Ludo Bagman welcomes everyone to the "four hundred and twenty second Quidditch World Cup". However, Quidditch through the Ages and Pottermore (QWC) both set forth the history of the World Cup competition and say that the Cup was first held in 1473, and held every 4 years since. That means that the Cup had been held around 130 times by 1994. Not even close to 422.

Also, if the Cup has been held every four years from 1473, then 1993 and 1997 would have been Cup-years, not 1994. However, the Quidditch World Cup of 1877 is known as The Tournament That Nobody Remembers because, for reasons unknown, no one has any recollection of the matches taking place (though they undoubtedly did). Therefore, the Tournament was re-staged in 1878, and from then on the World Cup was held every four years from the new date (QWC).

At least the 2014 Quidditch World Cup is the 427th Cup-year if you are counting from the tournament that was held in 1994 (GF8, QWC).