Quidditch World Cup
The Quidditch World Cup (also called the World Cup or World Championship) is held every four years. The competition sees Quidditch teams representing countries around the world to compete for the World Cup, while the International Quidditch Tournament was between regional teams.
The QWC was 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.
The tournament is held every four years reportedly since 1473. 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 is centred on whether magical interference took place and whether it made, or ought to have made, the final result moot.
Secrecy
The International Statute of Secrecy was signed in 1692, 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.
However, following mass protests and threats to the ICW, it was agreed that the tournament could continue and a regulatory body — the ICWQC (International Confederation of Wizards' Quidditch Committee) — 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.
Format and Qualifying
The number of participating countries varies from tournament to tournament. Any country can enter a team within twelve months of the previous final.
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 Golden Snitch isn't caught, the result is decided by the amount of goals scored. 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 finish top of the sixteen groups qualify for the World Cup.
The Quidditch World Cup Tournament
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 plays the team who earned the least, the team who earned the second most plays 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.
For example, in the 2014 Quidditch World Cup Nigeria and Norway were the top seeded teams and could have faced each other as early as the semi-finals.
ICWQC Rules
The ICWQC is an international regulatory body, subject to the International Confederation of Wizards, that oversaw international Quidditch competitions, such as the World Cup. They choose the referees for World Cup matches.
The rulebook concerning both on-and-off pitch magic stretches to nineteen volumes and includes 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.'
Locations and Results
HP Wiki[1]
