- "A source of vehement disagreements, a security risk for all who attend it and a frequent focus for unrest and protest, the Quidditch World Cup is simultaneously the most exhilarating sporting event on earth and a logistical nightmare for the host nation."
- — Description of the Quidditch World Cup[src]
The Quidditch World Cup (also called the World Cup or World Championship)[1] has been held every four years since 1473. The competition sees Quidditch teams representing countries around the world compete for the World Cup, while the International Quidditch Tournament is between regional teams.
History
The Official Guide to the Quidditch World Cup was the official guidebook to the Quidditch World Cup, written and published by the International Confederation of Wizards' Quidditch Committee, providing information on the rules and history of the Quidditch World Cup. Sold in most reputable bookstores, this tome costs thirty-nine Galleons, leading most wizards and witches to call it overpriced.[2]
The tournament has been held every four years since 1473. As with so much else about the wizarding world’s most important sporting competition, many query the accuracy of this statement. As only European teams competed during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, purists prefer to date the Quidditch World Cup’s inception from the seventeenth century when it became open to all continents.> There is also heated debate about the accuracy of some historical accounts of tournaments. A substantial amount of all post-game analysis centres on whether magical interference took place and whether it made, or ought to have made, the final result moot.[2]
Regulations
- "The ICWQC has the unlucky job of regulating this contentious and anarchic competition."
- — Description of the ICWQC [src]
The ICWQC is an international regulatory body, subject to the International Confederation of Wizards, that oversees international Quidditch competitions, such as the World Cup. Namely, it locates suitable venues, arranges transportation for spectators, and provides policing for the games themselves. It is also the ICWQC that chooses the referees for World Cup matches.<[2]
The rulebook concerning both on- and off-pitch magic is alleged to stretch to nineteen volumes and to include such rules as ‘no dragon is to be introduced into the stadium for any purpose including, but not limited to, team mascot, coach or cup warmer’ and ‘modification of any part of the referee’s body, whether or not he or she has requested such modification, will lead to a lifetime ban from the tournament and possibly imprisonment.'[2]
Mentor Metaxas, a Greek wizard, was the chairman of the International Confederation of Wizards Quidditch Committee in 2014.[3]
Statute of Secrecy
A watershed moment for the Quidditch World Cup was the implementation of the International Statute of Secrecy in 1692, which was intended to conceal the existence of magic and wizards. The International Confederation of Wizards (ICW) saw the Quidditch World Cup as a security risk of the highest magnitude because of the mass movement and congregation of so many members of the international wizarding community.[2]
However, following mass protests and threats to the ICW, it was agreed that the tournament could continue and a regulatory body — the ICWQC — was set up to locate suitable venues — usually remote moors, deserts and deserted islands — arrange transportation for spectators (as many as a hundred thousand routinely attend finals) and police the games themselves, a task generally agreed to be among the most thankless and difficult in the wizarding world.[2]
Format and Qualifying
The number of participating countries varies from tournament to tournament. Any country may enter a team within twelve months of the previous final.[2]
Quidditch World Cup Qualifying
Sixteen separate groups of teams are formed. Each team plays all of the other teams in their group over a two year period. During the group phase there is a cap of four hours on every game to avoid player exhaustion. On the occasion that the game ends after four hours of play and the Snitch isn't caught, the result is decided on goals. A win earns two points. In addition to these two points a win by 150 points earns five points, by 100 points an extra three points and by 50 points an extra one point. If two teams are level on points, they are separated by whichever team captured the Snitch most often, or most quickly during their matches. The sixteen teams who have finished top of the sixteen groups qualify for the World Cup.[2]
The Quidditch World Cup
The tournament proper is straight knockout. The sixteen qualified countries are ranked according to how many points they obtained in the qualifying groups. The team who won the most points play the team who earned the least, the team who earned the second most play the team who earned the second least, and so on. This theoretically allows the two best teams from the qualifying phase to meet in the final.[2] For the 2014 Quidditch World Cup though, Nigeria and Norway were the top seeded teams and could face each other as early as the semi-finals.
Recorded World Cups
15th-18th century
Wizard(s) | Notes |
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1473 | This was the first ever Quidditch World Cup. Only European teams participated. The final was contested between Flanders and Transylvania. During the match, all 700 known fouls were committed (and several new ones subsequently created), including the Transfiguration of a Chaser into a polecat, the attempted decapitation of a Keeper with a broadsword, and the release of a hundred vampire bats from underneath the robes of the Transylvanian Captain of a hundred blood-sucking vampire bats.[4] The Transylvanian Tackle was also first performed in the 1473 World Cup.[5] |
17th century | Non-European teams compete in the tournament for the first time.[4] |
1801 or 1805 | The Cup is held in Great Britain as a result of lobbying by British Minister for Magic Artemisia Lufkin.[6] |
1809 | The 1809 Quidditch world Cup was a major catastrophe and one of the most notorious controversies in the history of the World Cup, as well as the worst exhibition of temper ever given by a player.[2] It resulted in several injuries and even death. |
1877 | The 1878 Cup was a restaging of the 1877 Cup (dubbed 'The Tournament That No One Remembers').[2] The tournament has been held every four years since the recall. A tournament was arranged for 1877, with a venue chosen, tickets sold and merchandise produced, but nobody, player or supporter, could remember having attended any matches.[2] |
20th Century
Date | Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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1878 | Argentina and Brazil reached the quarter finals.[4] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
c.1964 | Britain hosted the World Cup.[7] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1966 | Australia won this tournament, with Chaser Royston Idlewind.[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1974 | The 1974 Quidditch World Cup was an international Quidditch sporting event that took place in the summer of 1974. It was the 417th edition of the World Cup.[8][2] It was won by the Syrian Quidditch team.[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1982 | The Brazilian National Quidditch team participated in the Quidditch World Cup. The team made it to the finals. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1986 | The American National Quidditch team participated in the Quidditch World Cup. Maximus Brankovitch III was their captain and Seeker. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1990 | The U.S.A. participated in this year's World Cup. Brankovitch III was their captain again.[9] The final went on for five days, in which Scotland suffered a bitter defeat against Canada.[10] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1994 |
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1998 |
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2002 | Egypt won against Bulgaria when Rawya Zaghloul caught the Snitch right before Viktor Krum. It was such a loss that Viktor Krum then tearfully resigned. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2006 | Burkina Faso won against France. The Burkinabé Seeker Joshua Sankara, became the Minister of Magic in his country for 2 days before he resigned to continue playing Quidditch. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2010 | Moldova won against China. The match lasted 3 days, and contained some of the finest Quidditch ever seen. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2014 |
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Winners
- 1473 - Transylvania or Flanders
- 1966 - Australia
- 1974 - Syria
- 1982 - Brazil (possibly)
- 1990 - Canada
- 1994 - Ireland
- 1998 - Malawi
- 2002 - Egypt
- 2006 - Burkina Faso
- 2010 - Moldova
- 2014 - Bulgaria
Behind the scenes
- The cup was held every four years until the Tournament that Nobody Remembers, at which point it was held two years in a row because nobody recalled it. Then it was held every four years again from 1878 onwards.
- The mathematics relating to the World Cup are contradictory, as if 1994 cup was the 422nd, the tournament should have begun in 309 rather than 1473, as it is a proud boast of the International Confederation of Wizards' Quidditch Committee that the competition has been held only every four years, not more or less, since 1473.
- In chapter 3 of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Mrs Weasley mentions in her letter to Harry that "Britain hasn't hosted the Cup for thirty years"; thirty, however, is not a multiple of four, and so it could be assumed that she was simply rounding.
- The Quidditch World Cup seems to corresponds to the Muggle Football World Cup, which takes place every four years, is hosted by a different nation at each occurrence, and has the best players from many countries participating in it. Furthermore, British nations frequently disappoint at this tournament, despite characteristic high hopes.
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (First mentioned)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film) (Mentioned on poster in extra feature on Disc 2)
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup
- Quidditch Through the Ages
- Harry Potter Film Wizardry
- Pottermore
- Harry Potter: The Character Vault (mentioned only)
See also
Notes and references
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Chapter 13 (Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 Writing by J. K. Rowling: "History of the Quidditch World Cup" at Pottermore
- ↑ 2014 Quidditch World Cup final (Archived from Pottermore)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Quidditch Through the Ages, Chapter 8 (The Spread of Quidditch Worldwide)
- ↑ Quidditch Through the Ages, Chapter 10 (Quidditch Today)
- ↑ Writing by J. K. Rowling: "Ministers for Magic" at Pottermore
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 3 (The Invitation)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 8 (The Quidditch World Cup)
- ↑ Quidditch Through the Ages (real)
- ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Chapter 5 (Weasley's Wizard Wheezes)
- ↑ "Divulgado roteiro COMPLETO de Relíquias da Morte: Parte 1 - FULL Deathly Hallows: Part 1 script released″ on Oclumencia.com.br. (translation here)