Quidditch, officially known as quadball since 2022, is a team sport that was created in 2005 at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont, United States, and was inspired by the fictional game of the same name in the Harry Potter books by the author J. K. Rowling. Two teams of seven players each, astride broomsticks and opposing each other on a rectangular pitch, compete with the primary objective of passing a ball through the defenders' hoops, while preventing their opponents from passing it through their own hoops. The real-world sport is sometimes referred to as "muggle quidditch" to distinguish it from the fictional game of the books, which involves magical elements such as flying broomsticks and enchanted balls—a muggle in the Harry Potter series being a person without magical abilities. The sport is played around the world.
The International Quadball Association (IQA), previously known as the International Quidditch Association, is the governing body for the sport of quidditch. It was founded as the Intercollegiate Quidditch Association in 2009 following the very first intercollegiate quidditch match. In 2010, the IQA added the "international" term to its name, and 2016 saw its induction as an international sports federation with its creation of the Congress. It now comprises more than ten national associations governing quidditch in their respective nations.
Oxford Universities Quidditch Club (OUQC) is the quidditch club of both the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University. It is composed of two teams: a first team, the Radcliffe Chimeras, and a reserve second team, the Quidlings. Both teams are official QuidditchUK (QUK) teams. QUK is the UK quidditch governing body, and is a constituent part of the International Quidditch Association (IQA).
The Belgium national quidditch team, also known as the Belgian Gryffins, is the national team of Belgium in quidditch. The team was founded in 2014 upon the announcement of the 2014 IQA Global Games, the International Quidditch Association's second international tournament featuring national teams.
Quidditch Canada is the governing body that oversees quidditch within Canada under its mother organization, the International Quidditch Association. In August 2022, QC announced plans to rebrand with the new name Quadball in 2023.
The United Kingdom National Quidditch Team, colloquially known as Team UK, was the official national Quidditch team of the United Kingdom. Team UK made its debut in 2012 at the IQA Summer Games in Oxford, UK where it placed 5th of 5 teams. The team then played in Canada at the 2014 IQA Global Games in Burnaby, BC on July 29, 2014 where it placed 4th of 7 teams and in the European Games in Sarteano, Italy in July 2015, placing 2nd of 12. Team UK gained its first medals at the IQA World Cup 2016 in Frankfurt on July 23–24, 2016, finishing 3rd out of 21 teams. In 2017 the team gained its first international trophy, winning the IQA European Games, beating France in the final. Team UK's final tournament appearance was a 3rd place medal at the 2019 IQA European Games in Bamberg.
Belgian Quidditch Federation, or BQF, is the governing body of quidditch in Belgium. It was founded in 2012 as a Facebook page to garner interest from potential players and teams within Belgium and began to take shape in 2013 with the introduction of its first two teams: Deurne Dodo's and the Brussels Qwaffles. The organisation began to take shape as a non-profit in early 2014 with the formation of the newly-international International Quidditch Association in the form an international federation. Belgian Quidditch Federation maintains one delegate within the IQA Congress as a member of Quidditch Europe alongside Quidditch Nederland (QNL) and the Luxembourgish Quidditch Federation (FLQ). On 10 October 2014, BQF changed its name from Belgium Muggle Quidditch to its current name to better integrate with other sports in the country.
Quidditch, also known as Quadball, in Australia is played by a mixture of university and community teams. Due to the geographic demographics of the country, most major competitive tournaments are held in the eastern states. There are currently over 30 registered teams in the country.
The IQA World Cup is an international quidditch tournament contested by the national teams of the members of the International Quidditch Association, the sport's global governing organisation. The championship, which was named Summer Games and Global Games in its first two editions, has been awarded every two years since 2012. The current champions are the United States, who defeated Germany in 2023, after having also beaten Belgium back in 2018.
Quidditch is a growing team sport in Canada. Due to its relative youth within the sports scene of Canada, adoption is not as widespread as other sports such as rugby or ultimate. However, adoption is picking up with additional university and community teams each year. As a result of its inclusivity and its many niche styles of play, a wider spectrum of individuals are drawn to this sport than other mainstream sports. For the moment, the majority of teams are based in Ontario, Quebec, British Columbia and Alberta, but teams are rapidly starting up in Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. Quidditch Canada is the governing body for the sport across the country; there are no associations within Quidditch Canada that govern provincially/territorially.
The IQA European Games (EG) are the biennial games for the sport of quidditch held in Europe where national governing bodies send national teams to compete. The European Games were created in response to the IQA World Cup, the biennial tournament wherein nations from around the world compete in a similar style to the FIFA World Cup. Both Games alternate years so in the off years regional tournaments such as the European Games or the Asian Quidditch Cup can occur. These games are the highest level of championships in quidditch aside from Global Games. The 2015 champions were Team France, narrowly beating Team UK.
The 2014 IQA World Cup, known at the time as the Global Games, was the second edition of the international team quidditch championship. It was played in Burnaby, Canada, and the United States won the tournament for the second time in a row, winning 210*–0 over Australia in the final.
The Spanish national quidditch team is a team created with Spanish quidditch players. Since 2015 it has represented Association Quidditch Spain in the different national team tournaments organized by the IQA.
Major League Quadball (MLQ), formerly Major League Quidditch, is an amateur quidditch league based in the United States and Canada. The league is composed of 16 city-based teams—14 in the U.S. and 2 in Canada. The MLQ season runs from June to August, with each team playing twelve games in the regular season. The playoffs includes the top 12 teams competing in the MLQ Championship in late August, culminating in the championship series. The winning team is awarded the Benepe Cup.
The 2016 IQA World Cup is the third edition of the IQA World Cup, the international quidditch championship organized by the International Quidditch Association. It was held in Frankfurt, Germany on 23–24 July 2016. Australia won the cup 150*–130 against the United States; the latter team had won all the previous editions. 21 nations competed, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. A crowdfunding campaign aimed to send the Ugandan team as the first-ever African nation to compete internationally. However, the team members failed to obtain a German visa and withdrew from the competition. The Peruvian team also withdrew before the competition due to a lack of funds. A documentary entitled Fly the Movie: Journey to Frankfurt followed the British team in their preparation before the cup.
The Australian national quidditch team is the official quidditch team of Australia. The team is regulated by Australian Quidditch Association and is a national member of the International Quidditch Association. Australia made its debut in 2012 at the IQA Summer Games in Oxford, UK.
The United States national quadball team, previously known as US Quidditch, is the official quadball team of the United States. The team is regulated by US Quadball and is a national member of the International Quadball Association. The team has won the most IQA World Cup titles, winning the 2012, 2014, 2018, and 2023 titles. The USNT only competes in events once every two years; at the IQA World Cup, as it is geographically ineligible for the only other current international quadball event; the IQA European Games.
The 2018 IQA World Cup was the fourth edition of the IQA World Cup, the international quidditch championship organized by the International Quidditch Association, the sport's global governing body. It was held in Florence, Italy between 27 June and 2 July 2018. Australia were the defending champions. The United States won their third championship after beating Belgium in the final. Over 800 athletes participated in competition.
The English national quadball team is the official national quadball team of England. The team, which is organised by QuadballUK, was founded in 2021 after the splitting of Team UK into separate teams for each of the individual Home Nations. They made their debut at the 2022 IQA European Games in Limerick, winning the tournament.
The Scottish national quadball team is the official national quadball team of Scotland. The team, which is organised by QuadballUK, was founded in 2018 and made its tournament debut at the 2019 IQA European Games in Bamberg.
