2025 IQA World Cup Recap: Tell Us How You Really Feel
Author: Whitney Ho
Introduction
The 2025 IQA World Cup was certainly an event to remember. Held in Brussels, Belgium, it was the largest tournament in IQA history with 31 participating teams. After a long three days of games, the hosts, Belgium, became champions and Germany and Australia placed second and third respectively. However, I had the opportunity to witness the tournament first hand, and there was a lot more that happened than the on-paper result. After the tournament concluded, FastBreak News asked the people what they really thought about the tournament, allowing players, fans, staff and more to tell us exactly what their experiences were like, give compliments and dish out criticism. Who had the most obnoxious fanbase? What happened with the buses? What did everyone really think about the original Pitch One? We’ve got the answers here.
Disclaimer: all quotes in this article have been anonymously sourced from players, fans, coaches and staff from the 2025 IQA World Cup. None of the claims in these quotes represent the views of the writer or FastBreak News as an organization.
The Numbers
We received 64 total responses! Thank you to everyone who replied — we’re excited to allow your voices to be heard!
Answer Demographics:
66.7% Players
15.9% Staff
11.1% Fans
6.3% Coaches
We asked our readers: “On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your IQA experience?”
Player average: 6/10
Staff average: 4.7/10
Fan average: 5.8/10
Coach average: 6.3/10
Overall: 5.8/10
We asked our readers: “On a scale of 1-10, how would you describe the quality of officiating throughout the weekend?”
Player average: 5.7/10
Staff average: 6.7/10
Coach average: 5.5/10
Overall: 5.9/10
Quotes:
We asked our readers: “How would you describe the efficiency of IQA World Cup from your experience?”
“Checking the tickets of players on day one was horribly inefficient and led to teams with the first slot standing in line and being late, while others went in first.”
“All problems that occurred got solved really well given all circumstances and the organisers did an amazing job this weekend.”
“I thought that information was everywhere and hard to find…the information was inconsistent, and I had to go looking for info that was very important. That was quite frustrating and confusing at times.”
“In terms of playing, it was good, pitches were good (despite Pitch 1). In terms of organisation, pretty bad. Quadball is already expensive enough, no need to make us have mandatory shuttles that are not flexible. Having us getting a hotel far away. Getting a cool spot for the venue (on paper) but in the end not so great (except for the finale and 3rd place). Why bother trying to have such a nice place if we have to pay so much for attending? Supporters don't even get a seat to watch games and they have to pay for that?”
“IQA are yet to do a good World Cup in the post-2016 era. From a bid that badly misrepresented the facilities, not booking backup pitches, a social venue wholly unsuitable for the number of tickets sold, a tendency to be caught out with problems rather than disclose proactively limitations, the IQA does itself no favours by failing to do the basics and also failing to admit they make mistakes. Individual volunteers as always do their best with what is given. But they need to be given a lot more to get basics done.”
“Slightly positive, but with many flaws. WC should be the best tournament in the calendar and promote Quadball to bring new people to our community.”
“It was not efficient. Games were constantly rescheduled and start times pushed back. The bigger issue is that there was no communication.”
“Running such a huge event with limited staff is not easy, so props to everyone that tried, but there were many decisions that felt avoidable.”
We asked our readers: “How would you describe [the original, infamous] Pitch One?”
“Dangerous.”
“I am going to be very clear with this (perhaps even harsh), for me it is a disgrace that this bid was presented knowing the quality of the pitches for such an event, and…‘a milestone for the sport’ is just indescriptible.”
“Despite injuries happening, I do not think it is as dangerous as people would have it out to be, but I understand that people didn't want to play there.”
“Unplayable.”
“It was tough to hear any decisions by the referees, and with the cheering crowd especially overwhelming. In addition, there was close to zero air circulation which led to unnecessary high temperatures in the hall.”
“Watched India v Slovenia and noticed there were visibly no tackles and then got confirmation afterward the teams agreed to wraps only.”
“Graveyard for peoples ACL, MCL, PCL, LCL.”
We asked our readers: “Describe your experience with referees and ref calls throughout the weekend.”
“Most of ARs were not focused on the bludger game, and as a result there were a lot of miscalls (either because they were wrongly called or because they just weren't aware that players of some teams would blatantly ignore when hit by a dodgeball). Last but not least, I'd like to point out the ‘lack of interest’ from the goal refs in many cases. I understand they don't get paid (also not required to get a certification), but they should take their job more seriously and pay attention to what matters, the volleyball and the hoops.”
“Probably the best refereeing I myself experienced at any quidditch event so far. However it was very visible that different (geographical) regions have slightly different views, interpretations and opinions on Rules, on how to make certain Calls and on how to penalise Offenses.”
“HR calls were pretty consistent game to game.”
“The only HR that we had all weekend that we truly felt was unbiased, fair, and patient was Alex Amodol. All our games with him went extremely smoothly with zero conflict/confrontation.”
“The quality of flag-running really varied. There were some Snitches that were very good and challenging for the Seekers, but there were others that lasted 10-15 seconds. In high stakes games like these, why are inexperienced Snitches being chosen? Catching the snitch has such a large impact on the game as a whole in IQA. The flag-running refs did a good job though.”
“I really hope that in a World Cup, refs are chosen based on real experience, not just what's on paper.”
Hot Topics:
Bussing
One of the most discussed topics from the weekend was something a lot of people didn’t expect — problems with transportation. For those readers who weren’t at the tournament, teams stayed at an assortment of different hotels that were all located closer to the inner city, and the fields were over thirty minutes away in a suburb of Brussels. The solution that was offered was that as part of the team pass, teams could allow their players to purchase a charter bus ticket to and from the fields. Teams were then assigned to one of two pickup/drop off points based on proximity to their hotel, with some teams walking upwards of 20 minutes to reach these spots. The first day went smoothly, with all teams arriving with few problems. However, Day Two was when it went downhill. For a reason that I have yet to receive official confirmation on, the buses didn’t go to one of the checkpoints, leaving multiple teams stranded, even ones with games in less than an hour. Teams waited for over an hour and a half, arriving at the fields almost two hours late and forcing the committee to essentially completely change the schedule. This was a catalyst for other bad things to happen, too, and like other problems during this tournament, it probably could’ve been prevented with some better communication and planning.
The transportation issues didn’t end there — after the committee made the executive decision to change the final and third place game to a different venue, the question arose as to how people were going to get from Point A (the original fields) to Point B (the new fields, almost two miles away). The committee’s solution: hire a different bus company to act as shuttles for players, coaches and volunteers only — leaving spectators to fend for themselves as staff boarded the buses and kicked off fans to make room for players. Our readers had a lot to say about this, with one entry stating, “the fans, who traveled and paid out of pocket to support their team in a sport that already asks so much of them, had no seating, no shade, and had to spend more money to find their own way to the final. If this is how we treat our fans, how can we expect to grow the sport?”
Now, is this a little blunt? Maybe. But is this response valid? I think yes. One of the biggest concerns that we have about our sport is that it might die out in the near future. It’s important to note that we at FastBreak News are from the good ‘ole USA, so we can’t accurately speak on the state of Quadball around the world, but from our perspective, we might be in trouble soon. With teams disbanding left and right and the USNT under fire (check the reddit for context), it’s more important than ever to think about ways we can improve experiences and recruitment ideas. Sports are nothing without fans, and when spectators have to pay money to get into the venue, have no provided seating or shade and have to either A) walk nearly two miles or B) arrange transportation and pay even more money to see the main event, we should be thinking of them more. However, I want to make it clear that I’m not dogging on IQA for what happened. It’s no secret that they had to change the finals venue last minute, and I think a lot of people would agree with me when I say that it was an amazing experience to watch the final in the stadium. After the venue change, it would’ve taken a miracle to find a solution that pleased everyone in such a short time frame, so my takeaway from this is that IQA should continue to have backup plans and communicate throughout a World Cup weekend and make sure something like this is avoidable in the future.
Finally, the last issue that a lot of our readers had problems with was transport back to the city from the finals venue. Allegedly, bus drivers (the original bus company) were hired for an 8-8 shift instead of morning/evening, and the final ended well past that time. Therefore, bus drivers were under the assumption that they would be taking people back to the city at the usual time and not waiting for the final to be finished, and players — worried that they’d be stranded in Tubize after the final — took the opportunity and gave up watching the end of the tournament. I’m going to chalk this situation up to miscommunication, mostly, but it did cause people to miss the final as a result, which needs to be fixed in preparation for the next World Cup. However, IQA needs to get their props for their problem solving in tough situations like these. One could argue that all the problems we experienced this past weekend could have been solved with better awareness and more preventative measures, but overall, they did a pretty good job coming up with solutions. At the end of the day, the bus aspect of the tournament was a good idea, and while there were some executional errors, it’s hard to judge the organization unless the next World Cup has the exact same problems as this one.
Player Check-In
Another complaint that stuck out to me as I read through our readers’ responses was the overwhelming distaste for player check-in — both before the tournament at a separate venue in downtown Brussels and ticket scanning for players at the fields. This is one of the aspects of the tournament that I feel like I don’t have much ground to stand on because I’m not a player and didn’t experience it first hand, so I’ll let the players speak for themselves on this one:
“Player check-in is not efficient at all. This could be done online somehow and I don't think the IDs are really necessary. I guess if someone wanted to commit fraud, they would manage with a fake ID anyways (because who really knows what IDs from 31+ nations look like?)... In my opinion one QR code per team (stating the amount of players/staff) would be fine & you just count the amount of people per team walking in and keep track of that. Most teams arrive together anyway, and late comers can just show the team QR code as well.”
“Whats even the point of the player check in, it adds so much work and in the end if teams would want to cheat they could easily do so anyways, and there is nothing to win. I think we could skip these in future, until we actually have something important to verify.”
My question is: how important is player check-in to the committee? If it really is necessary, is this the most efficient way to continue to do them? To the players: is it really that bad? That’s a genuine question, too — if the IQA came out and said that the current player check-in works the best for them, what would your reaction be? Again, I’m not a player, so I don’t think I should form an opinion on this, but it’s an interesting topic to debate.
Ireland vs Vietnam
Unlike player check-in, what happened on Day One for the Ireland and Vietnam game is something I definitely feel comfortable talking about. Some background information: the original Pitch One was 100% the reason why this happened. Throughout the day, players talked and word made its way around about the indoor field, and the general consensus was that no one wanted to play on it after what had happened earlier that day (I.e. a tournament-ending injury during the first game, India vs Slovenia agreeing to only wrap and not tackle, etc.). By the end of the day, the two teams scheduled to play on Pitch One at 4 pm (Italy and Türkiye) agreed that they didn’t want to risk it and requested to move to another pitch. The IQA agreed, which is a good showing of their prioritization of player safety, but their solution to this incident might’ve made things worse. Italy and Türkiye were instructed to start warm-ups on Pitch Five, which was the slot that belonged to Ireland and Vietnam.
Essentially, Ireland and Vietnam got kicked off their field and were forced to either play at 6:30 pm (two and a half hours after their scheduled game slot) or double forfeit the game. Don’t get me wrong — I don’t think that what happened to Ireland and Vietnam was Italy or Türkiye’s fault at all. In fact, I respect that they agreed to prioritize their players’ safety. However, the situation led to an outcome for the two smaller teams at the tournament that was completely unacceptable. Ireland and Vietnam had both only played one game up until that point compared to other teams playing three, and both teams were ready to play on the pitch that had been reserved for them. If anything, the clear solution to this was to ask Italy and Türkiye to wait until a pitch became available, which I’m sure they would have agreed to do. It’s honestly beyond me as to why two smaller teams were kicked off of their reserved pitch to make way for a different game scheduled on a different pitch. If anything, this should be a lesson to everyone on how not to handle something like this, because it’s just a bad look. Respect to Ireland and Vietnam for making the most of the situation.
Southern Bias
For the last hot take of the day, I have something that I wasn’t expecting to show up in the responses from our readers as much as it did. Allegedly, many teams — specifically teams from the southwest like LATAM, Brazil and Mexico — had problems with referee bias. One entry stated, “I felt some regional bias towards ‘southerners’, some refs were predisposed to carding certain teams based on perceived dirtiness or aggression. Also, smaller teams were not allowed to be as physical as bigger teams”.
Now, it’s important to remember that there will never be a time in Quadball history when everyone is happy with reffing. In fact, I could probably count on one hand the amount of Quadball tournaments in general that had a ref satisfaction rate higher than 60%. But when I see something like this pop up in replies as much as it did, it’s probably worth looking into.
Another response says, “if I'm not mistaken a lot of Latin American teams were given a lot of yellows and reds.” At the time of writing this article, I’m not sure if the official statistics of the tournament are public yet, so I have no way of knowing if this statement is true. However, if it is true, it’s definitely something the IQA needs to investigate immediately.
Compliments
The most complimented team throughout the tournament was Japan! Fans loved their kindness, positive attitude and dedication to the sport.
“I LOVED the Japanese team. They were so good and spectacular. It was so great to see them playing. I felt like I discovered another style of high level Quadball.”
“I loved to see the individual and team-related development and the heartwarming politeness of Team Japan.”
“Japan is one of the most interesting teams to watch with a beautiful style.”
“Shoutout to Japan, great players and nice people.”
Overall, our readers enjoyed getting to meet and know the Quadball community as much as we did. Many responses talked about how amazing the diversity was, and seeing this many teams on the global stage of Quadball gives us hope for the future of the sport.
“Great to see new teams / returning teams after COVID. Scotland, Wales, Basque debuts at world cups, lots of European teams returning after hiatus / unable to travel to WC 23.”
“It's been incredible seeing teams like team Japan and African Nations - I enjoyed it because they are so nice and so fun to watch play! Also - wooow so many cool jerseys this year! India’s light kit, Latam’s green kit, African Nations’ kit in both colours were amazing!”
“Australia is essentially peak fun and performance - their incredible depth makes it near impossible to distinguish between their first and third lines, a testament to their work and development as well as putting trust in all their players.”
“I think everyone can agree when we say the Quadball community is amazing. As a team Japan representative, I’m especially extremely honored and grateful for all the love and support we received from the other teams.”
“Most teams really contributed to the good atmosphere within the tournament. It is a pleasure to spend a (long) weekend with such fantastic people from all over the world.”
“Overall the community was very welcoming to newer/non-european teams and I'm once again very grateful to be a part of it all.”
“Japan for all, France for their fair-play and Belgium for the victory!”
Trash Talk…
“As a volunteer, I overheard the committee speak in their HQ speak disparagingly about teams, players, officials and volunteers.”
“The officials coordinator also had strong biases when scheduling refs (friends over competence). His referee ranking spreadsheet was made public on accident causing much discord amongst the referees.”
“As spectator, the food was bad. I think that a tournament with teams from 31 countries, which gathers people with different religions, there should be at least one vegetarian or even vegan food option per day. Coming from Germany, almost 2/3 of the community are vegetarians/vegans. So there were little to no food options for these or anyone who doesn't eat beef for religious reasons.”
“The lack of shade resulted in me feeling incredibly unwell on Sunday after three days of reffing all day in direct sun.”
“Flag gate was definitely bad. Thank god the fans that threw a hissy fit about showing support for a country facing genocide were kicked out. Seriously, we’re at a Quadball tournament - one of, if not the most inclusive sport in the world - and people were upset about players and fans wanting to recognize that there are children dying? Check your privilege."
“Heard some fans were being racist to teams like LATAM, Mexico and African Nations. This is unacceptable - do better.”
We asked our readers: “If you could change 1 thing about IQA 2025 for the next World Cup, what would it be?”
“Good thinking before you start selling tickets. 300 tickets for a final is way too thin with 700 players / staff over 31 countries. No changes in prices during the ticket sale.”
“Be more player oriented. Flexibility, easy access. It doesn't have to be Salou all the time, but it's a great venue that has set the bar high as a standard. Both in terms of pitch/venue and accommodation. It's accessible, near the pitches, all inclusive. There is no surprise outside of the games themselves.”
“No tickets for team supporters. We are a growing sport. Tickets should not be mandatory, they could be donations, if someone wants to provide something. Give the teams a number of invitations, and once they are over, if there is any extra spot we can give some more for teams bringing more people.”
“Reduce the number of pointless Round of 32 games. There was no reason for anyone below the rank of 20-ish to be in the championship bracket. That would have given teams the chance for another consolation game against a team closer to their level.”
“Maybe an event before the tournament starts as well to let everyone get to know each other before competition. Maybe a tour of the host city or something?”
“Set merch location. Get them setup somewhere easily found and get individual teams selling merch sat in one location. It will help them meet funding.”
“Definitely make sure that the venue is accessible by public transports, both by players AND volunteers from their respective accommodations.”
“Provide more vegan & vegetarian food with shorter queues (standing in line could take up to 1 hour from what I heard)”
“More pitches, so the tournament can be played out. Sad to come all the way and not play a full number of matches.”
“Referee evaluation: No ref receives real feedback after a game or truly knows about their mistakes.”
Conclusion
One thing that I believe is pretty important when it comes to journalism is offering solutions, because criticism without reflection is pointless. While IQA received a lot of condemnation this weekend, I’m sure that the majority of it comes from a place of love for the sport and wanting it to grow so everyone’s experiences can be better next time. A lot of the problems that were spoken about this World Cup were the results of miscommunication and errors of judgment — which are all things that can be easily fixed. In the future, it would be wiser to pick hotels and venues that are a lot closer together so players have the option to walk if necessary. Additionally, reevaluate the player check-in system and its efficiency, maybe having a separate entrance for players and spectators if ticket scanning is that important. Keep experimenting with communication until there’s a way that works best for everyone. Continue to make adjustments as needed based on feedback.
Ultimately, I want to congratulate Belgium on their first ever World Cup Championship, Germany and Australia on their podium finishes, and all of the teams for an amazing weekend of Quadball. Additionally, IQA deserves all the praise in the world for an incredibly successful weekend that brought everyone together. While it had its ups and downs, the experience was amazing and I know I’ll cherish the memories I made. Nick Love and I had an absolute blast meeting everyone (shoutout to those who let us interview them!) and we want to say thanks for all the support we received this weekend — you all really helped FastBreak News grow, and we’re really looking forward to continuing our coverage of MLQ this summer and maybe even bringing you USQ content in the fall and spring!
