Global

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Quidditch: A Global Overview

Nations and Teams

As the inventing and pioneer country in quidditch, obviously the US is the leader of the sport in terms of both quantity and quality. There are now almost 200 teams in the US, mostly college-based, beside a significant minority of community-based teams, and major league teams.

After the initial invention in the US, thanks to the growth of the internet in a flat world, quidditch has been widespread and growing rapidly on a global scale. The first team in Canada was founded in 2008, and Europe in 2010.

So far there have been more than 300 active teams all over the world, while more than 500 teams have been reportedly founded. Below is a live-updated map of all quidditch teams ever registered to Quidditch World Map, an independent project.

Another map below, created by the IQA and updated in 2016, illustrates the current situation of quidditch development in the world by country. Darker shades of blue denote the more developed and organised of quidditch events and activities in the countries.

IQA Quidditch World Map

Leagues and Tournaments

The first inter-collegial quidditch match was held in 2007 in the US, two years after the invention of the sport, and one year later, the first then-Quidditch World Cup came about, calling 12 teams including one from Canada.

Here it should be clarified that before 2016, the so-called “Quidditch World Cup” was the name of the team-level tournament among teams that were mostly from the US. Since 2016, Quidditch World Cup has referred to the national-team-level cup, hosted by the International Quidditch Association, which was called the Global Games before; and the national tournament of the US has become US Quidditch Cup.

In 2011, the fifth then-Quidditch World Cup held in New York featured 96 teams, and over 10,000 tickets were sold. It was one of the most remarkable turning points of quidditch in history, marking the fast growth and spread of the sport in the continent and surroundings.

Governing Bodies

The highest governing body of quidditch in the world is the International Quidditch Cup (IQA).
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