Team Canada Reveals Who Will Be Representing It at the Quidditch World Cup!

As the International Quidditch Association World Cup draws closer, Quidditch Canada has released its roster detailing which players will represent it at the elite international tournament! The World Cup will take place in Florence, Italy, from June 27 to July 2 and will see over 30 teams come together to battle for the honor of being named world champion!

Qualifying for the Canadian national team is certainly no mean feat. Applicants attended selection camps for the chance to be chosen for the national standing team. Once shortlisted, the selection committee considered factors such as experience, performance, and development potential to decide the final 21 players.

Two of the players chosen to represent Team Canada come from the Edmonton Aurors Quidditch Club: Chaser and head coach Chris Radojewski and Keeper James Neuman. Radojewski represented his country in both 2014 and 2016 and will be able to see the tournament broaden even further as it welcomes countries sending their very first teams!

Before the 2016 World Cup, Radojewski remarked that he was full of confidence in the team.

Team Canada is an experienced team with lots of depth. We are excited going in to the tournament with a team that has incredible skills. Playing a number of other teams from around the world is a great experience for our players, and at the same time we are excited to show them what we can deliver. I am personally very happy to be representing Edmonton and the Aurors in Frankfurt. Thanks to the support of the team, I’ve been able to ensure I am prepared to play.

No doubt he, and the rest of the team, feel the same about their chances at the upcoming World Cup in Florence!

Radojewski, who has been playing for a number of years, has seen the sport evolve from something very similar to the game played in the Harry Potter books to something more independent.

When I first started there were bristles at the end but as the sport has refined itself in a way where … I don’t want to say separate from Harry Potter — we’ll never lose that connection — but in the sense that a lot of people come to play the sport.

Furthermore, he has seen a diversification in the types of people attracted to the sport, from Harry Potter fans to players without any Harry Potter knowledge at all!

I would even make the argument to you that there’s a number of individuals on my team who’ve never even read the books. They’ve never seen the movies because Quidditch is so great that everybody has something to contribute.

Canada is one of the oldest participants in international competitions. In 2014, the World Cup (then known as the Global Games) was held on home soil in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada, where they beat Team UK 70*–40 to claim the bronze. However, at the 2016 World Cup in Frankfurt, Germany, Team UK took revenge in the bronze match playoff, beating Canada 190*–60 and leaving them off the podium.

You can follow Team Canada’s efforts across the tournament on its Facebook and Twitter.

Looking for an excuse to visit Florence? Tickets for the World Cup have been released! Book yours now!