IQA Quadball World Cup set for London in 2027

Barn Elms Sports Centre will host the 7th IQA Quadball World Cup from July 23-25, 2027, putting the sport’s highest national-team stage in London. The International Quadball Association lists the event as its premier international quadball tournament, and entry is not open-entry or club-based: elite competition teams are selected by the IQA’s eligible national governing bodies.

That structure is what separates the World Cup from the rest of the calendar. Quadball Europe says the tournament is an international competition between national teams that takes place every two years, usually every other summer. In practice, that means the World Cup is where countries bring representative squads built through their own national systems, not ad hoc rosters. Team UK is one example of that pathway, with QuadballUK saying its national teams were founded in 2012 and represent England, Scotland and Wales on the international stage.

The event also sits inside a sport that has already gone through a major identity shift. In July 2022, the IQA joined US Quidditch and Major League Quidditch in changing the name of the sport worldwide from quidditch to quadball. Reuters reported at the time that the move was intended in part to distance the sport from J.K. Rowling. Two years before that switch, the IQA said quadball had grown from its inaugural match in 2005 to a game played by thousands of athletes in more than 40 countries.

That international reach is already visible in World Cup fields and results. A July 15, 2023 IQA broadcast described USA vs. Belgium as a rematch of the 2018 World Cup final, with the 2023 tournament held in Richmond, Virginia. An IQA social post for that event listed teams including African Nations, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India and Japan, a snapshot of how widely the sport now extends. The most recent ranking post available from the 2025 World Cup put Belgium first, Germany second and Australia third.

The history behind the event adds another layer to London’s turn. Quadball Europe says the IQA World Cup has been organized every two years, and older editions carried different names, including the 2012 IQA Summer Games and the 2014 IQA Global Games. That continuity gives the 2027 edition a clear place in the sport’s record book, with London offering a venue that matches the IQA’s push for visibility, legitimacy and broader international reach.