Danube Cup Recap: The Wiener Does Take It All

General information by Emina Botic Analysis by Martin Hofbauer

The first international quidditch tournament in Austria, the Danube Cup: The Wiener takes it all, took place on the weekend of Oct. 8 and 9 in Vienna.  Eight teams competed in the tournament: the host teams (Danube Direwolves and Vienna Vanguards), four teams from Germany, one team from Slovenia, and one from Slovakia.

World Cup From Their Perspective: A View From Eastern Europe

By Kinga Robutka, with contributions from Marian Dziubiak (Poland), Martin “Hofi” Hofbauer (Slovakia), and Verena Deutsch and Borut Bezgovšek (Slovenia). 

In comparison to the 2014 IQA Global Games held in Burnaby, Canada, the 2016 World Cup expanded dramatically, with 21 teams competing in the tournament held in Frankfurt, Germany – a stark contrast to the seven teams of the previous event. Being invited to the tournament was a unique chance for smaller developing leagues from around the world to challenge themselves and have what remains their only chance to compete against such international powerhouses such as Team USA and Australia. However, a greater number of teams competing naturally results in greater diversity in the level of play across the tournament. To some commentators, this was one of the main drawbacks of the tournament as the stronger teams, presumably, felt less challenged, especially during the group stages of Day One.

World Cup 2016: Spotlight on Slovakia | Majstrovstvá sveta v metlobale 2016: Zamerané na Slovensko

By Martin “Hofi” Hofbauer

Slovenský preklad nižšie

History

Slovakia is one of the youngest nations to join the global quidditch community. Even though quidditch was played on various different occasions in the nation (the most notable one probably being fantasy convention SlavCon), the first time playing under the IQA set of rules happened in May at SlavCon 2015, where the Vienna Vanguards, an Austrian team, were invited as guests to promote quidditch as a real sport in Slovakia. One thing led to another, and there are now two teams in Slovakia: the Pressburg Phantoms from Bratislava, and the Cassovia Crows, based in Košice. Both teams are community-based, and together the Slovak quidditch community comprises about 50 players and volunteers.

Quidditch Takes Off in Slovakia

by Martin “Hofi” Hofbauer

Editor’s Note: The author has been playing quidditch since 2013 at SlavCon and is now a keeper/seeker for the first Slovak quidditch team.

Believe it or not, the first quidditch match and tournament in Slovakia was held in 2012 at SlavCon, one of the biggest fantasy and sci-fi conventions in Slovakia. Because quidditch has been in the country for several years, one may assume Slovakia has some of Europe’s most developed teams. Sadly, the opposite is true. The fact is, although matches were held annually for three consecutive years, each year they were played under a set of rules that were not the same as the IQA’s.  But this year, big changes came to the SlavCon tournament. Slovakia was pleased to welcome six players from the Vienna Vanguards who taught us about the world of quidditch and helped us by refereeing at the tournament and explaining the IQA rules. So special thanks to Anna Koivu, Greta Ehlers, Lena Mandahus, Stephanie Rasch, Lukas Linser, and Max Liebetreu. We also got word that there is a plan to start the first Slovak team.