After consulting with event partners and NGBs, the International Quidditch Association and US Quidditch have decided to postpone the IQA World Cup from 2021 to either 2022 or 2023. This decision was made primarily due to the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on national teams, as well as the ongoing safety concerns with holding large, international, in-person gatherings. The precise year of the next World Cup will be released in early 2021.
“We believe that the IQA World Cup should strive to offer the highest level of competition, and showcase our incredible sport, while offering an equal opportunity for all our members to bring their best players, with adequate time to prepare and train for the event, and ensure an enjoyable and safe event for all attendees,” commented Pauline Raes, IQA Events Director.
Since the announcement of the initial postponement in April, IQA and USQ staff have consulted with medical professionals, NGB representatives (survey results can be found here), and event partners like Richmond Region Tourism on the feasibility and safety of having World Cup next summer. Following these discussions, it became clear that the pandemic’s effects on national teams were significant. Many national teams cannot practice and they face difficulties fundraising and obtaining travel visas. Given the importance of this event to the international community and the high standards of competition it has, it made sense to postpone World Cup by at least another year.
The IQA and USQ thank the local event partners in Richmond for their unwavering support over the past many months.
“We love working with the creative and passionate staff at the International Quidditch Association and look forward to partnership opportunities with the team in the future,” said Jerrine Lee, Director of Sports Development at Richmond Region Tourism. “Like the Richmond Region, quidditch is incredibly inclusive and diverse and we can’t wait to welcome athletes from all over the world.”
The postponement will also give an opportunity for the new IQA BIPOC Committee, formed this summer, to engage with stakeholders to determine more specific event host selection criteria sensitive to the needs and desires of all potential event attendees. The goal of the committee is to deliver actionable steps to make IQA events more welcoming, safe, and accessible for all attendees. Any feedback from athletes, administrators, and spectators with regard to this may be submitted via email to [email protected]. The IQA will be publicizing calls for feedback about this once the BIPOC Committee has determined the processes by which it will be hosting these consultations.
Following the feedback from the NGBs, we will be opening bidding for the 2021 IQA Continental Games. The bid manual will be released in the upcoming week. Due to concerns around COVID-19, the IQA Events Department will establish conditions and timelines for the events to be able to go ahead. These will be made available on the IQA website and constantly evaluated for each event during the planning process.
For any additional questions you can reach out to [email protected].